Snapchat has plenty of buttons and icons for users to follow, including the confusing ‘X’ that appears next to some Snapchat names on the chat screen. On the surface, Snapchat should be a pretty simple app. You can receive photos/videos from friends, send photos of yourself to share, and view public posts from friends on Snapchat. The Spotlight page has even more content to watch – it has tons of TikTok-like videos to scroll through.
With so much going on on Snapchat, it’s no surprise that people often wonder about the functionality of certain buttons/settings in the app. The best example of this is the X that often appears next to the Snapchat name. The Snapchat chats page displays a list of all your ongoing chats. If you last received a photo from someone, a camera icon will appear next to their name. If you receive a text from them, a chat icon will appear in its place. But sometimes the camera and chat icons are replaced by an X.
The true meaning behind the gray ‘X’ on Snapchat
Like many parts of Snapchat, the X next to people’s names isn’t clearly explained. Some names have a camera and chat icon next to them, others have an X icon, and there are no instructions on what that means. Fortunately, the answer is actually quite simple. If you see an X next to the Snapchat name, it means the person sent you a friend request that you didn’t accept.
When you touch the name, two buttons appear: ‘Alright‘accept friend request’ buttonreport or blockThe ‘ button allows you to log in or block a person. Also, tapping the X next to the name brings up a few options directly from the chat page, allowing you to report, block, or remove the chat from the screen. That’s all! The X next to the Snapchat name is not a bug or problematic feature. If you see it, it’s just a reminder that you have friend requests pending. It would be great if Snapchat made it more clear, but you know.
What do the icons on the chat screen mean?
Besides the X icon next to the person’s name, there are a few other icons that appear on the chat screen that can confuse Snapchat users. The most important thing to remember is that the icons are color coded, with each color representing a specific type of Snap. Red means Snap has no sound, purple means Snap has sound, and blue means chat. With no colors getting in the way, here’s what the different symbols mean.
Solid colored arrows are for Snaps you sent to a friend, while dashed arrows mean the Snap was opened by that friend. Shaded squares indicate when you have an unread chat or unopened Snap, while selected squares appear next to viewed Snaps. The screenshot icon has two overlapping arrows, while the redo icon is marked with a circular arrow. Sometimes the icons may be grayed out. A gray arrow may appear next to the sent chat if the person hasn’t accepted your friend request yet. On the other hand, a square with a gray border means that you have a pending or expired chat from a Snapchat user.
Source: Snapchat
