Putting together a Story is one of the fastest ways to post the main highlights of your day or an event. It’s also one of the quickest ways for people to catch up with what you’ve been doing without going through entire albums with hundreds of photos.
But if you’re an outgoing person, you’ll eventually add Snapchat friends you may not know. This means that when you want to share some personal stories, it would be very convenient to have the option to be more selective about who gets to see them. Luckily, this is not an issue on Snapchat.
How to Create a Private Snapchat Story
Sometimes you want to share your best moments with everyone. Then, there are other times when you only want to share with a few select people. Snapchat’s Private Stories allow you to create a small group of people who can see your Story.
If you want to create a Private Story on Snapchat, follow these steps:
- Open Snapchat and tap on your profile icon in the upper left-hand corner.
- Tap on + New Story on the right.
- Tap on New Private Story.
- Tap the bubbles to the right of the friends you’d like to add. Then, tap Create Story.
- Now, you can name your Story. Then, tap Save.
- Now, you can select the Private Story from the list and begin sharing.
That’s all there is to it! Any time you want to share your Stories with only those friends, simply tap the Story and add to it.
How to Add or Remove Viewers in Your Private Story
Fortunately, you can add and remove viewers from a Private Story rather than making a brand new one. If you’d like to edit the audience, follow these steps:
- Open Snapchat and tap on the profile icon in the upper left-hand corner.
- Tap on the three dot line to the right of the Private Story you’d like to edit.
- Tap Edit Viewers.
- Select the bubbles next to the viewer you’d like to add or remove.
Now, only those who have a blue checkmark next to their name will see the Story you post. You can add and remove viewers as needed. You can also create an entirely new Private Story by following the steps listed above.
How to Delete a Private Story
If you want to delete a Private Story, you can. The instructions are fairly simple, here’s what to do:
- Open Snapchat and tap on your profile icon in the upper left corner.
- Tap on the three dot icon to the right of the Story you’d like to delete.
- Tap Delete Story.
- Confirm that you’d like to delete the Private Story.
Now, you can abandon Private Stories altogether or you can create entirely new ones.
Understanding Snapchat Stories
Snapchat allows you to use “My Story” and “Our Story.” Each feature is designed for a very specific purpose. While everyone should know by now what “My Story” stands for, there are probably still a few users that haven’t tried “Our Story.”
This feature was introduced to allow Snapchatters to contribute to stories in groups. Snapchat designed the app for use at events, to discuss various topics, capture amazing scenery or travel adventures, and so on. The main idea is that more than one person can contribute.
Both types of stories will stay up for 24 hours before being automatically deleted, and all of them are essentially customizable.
A Private Story is different from other types because no matter your account’s privacy settings, you can control the audience. For example, when you share a Story, all of your friends can see it (even if your account is private). But, a Private Story allows you to narrow down the audience even further.
Assigning Viewing Privileges
What’s also nice about Snapchat is that the app allows you to change viewing privileges on stories even after posting them. The steps involved are easy to follow.
- Go to your profile page.
- Tap “Settings.”
- Go to the “Who Can…” tab.
- Select “View My Story.”
- You will get three choices: Everyone, Friends Only, and Custom.
- Choose one and tap the “Back” button to save the changes.
Choosing “Everyone” is not the way to go if you want privacy for the content you’re posting with the story. Selecting “Friends Only” will make the story private for anyone outside your contact list. This includes friends of friends and people inside your geofence.
The “Custom” option will allow you to choose which friends you want to block from seeing new snaps you add to your story. Whether you pick one or two friends or select a group, it’s totally up to you.
Frequently Asked Questions
Here are the answers to more of your questions about privacy on Snapchat.
Will other people know that I’ve made a private story on Snapchat?
No. The only people who can see your Private Story are those to who you’ve granted that permission. But, the viewers can see that they are viewing private content.
Can I see who can view a private story?
No. If someone else posted a Private Story and added other users, you won’t be able to see who all can see it too. Unless the other user adds to your Story, no one will know who else has viewing privileges.
Can I add more people to my existing Private Story?
Yes. All you need to do is tap on your profile icon in the upper left-hand corner and tap on the three dots next to your Private Story. Your friends’ list will appear, and you can select the friends you’d like to add, then click ‘Save’ at the bottom.
Additional Information on Private Snapchat Stories
There are no notifications sent out when you allow someone to view your private story – to them; it will just look like any other story. So you can’t really use this feature as a marketing tool unless you let people know that they’re the only ones getting access to your content. If you do want to use it that way, announce that you’re going to post an exclusive story, and only a select few get access.
Private or not, all stories on Snapchat last 24 hours. Even group stories created during events or trips last only one day. So don’t forget to tick the save option when you’re creating a new private Story, as it will keep you from losing your snaps.
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