Why Can’t I See Someone on Snap Map Anymore?

2

When your friends have fallen asleep, meaning that they haven’t been on Snap for a while during the night, then you will see little Z’s appear on the top of their head. If someone is listening to music, then you will see music notes near the top of their head.

If you don’t like how invasive this feature is, then you can turn off Snap Maps so that your location isn’t visible to your friends – you can also choose certain people that you want to know your locations.

Does Someone’s Snap Location Turn Off if You Check it Too Much?

No, checking someones snap location too much won’t make it turn off. This isn’t a feature built into snap maps. You can check someones snap location as many times as you want in as little time period as you want and it won’t turn turn.

Why Does Snapchat Location Disappear Sometimes

If someone hasn’t replied to you in a long time, then it’s probably because they haven’t visited Snapchat for over 8 hours so their location will be hidden automatically. This is because Snapchat doesn’t want to show people the wrong location – Snapchat only shows people your last location so if you haven’t been on the app in over 8 hours, chances are that you’re busy and in a different location.

If someone is replying to you and their location on the maps has disappeared, then chances are that they’ve turned on Ghost mode to hide their location or they haven’t chosen you to view their location (they may have made a custom list).

1. They Haven’t Been on Snapchat for 8 Hours

If you and your friends regularly share your location on Snapchat, every time they open the app, it updates so that you see their location. If a friend does not use the app within 8 hours, their area will disappear on the Map until the app is opened again and the buddy’s location is updated. A Snapchatter’s location may get removed entirely from the Map if more than 8 hours have passed since they last accessed the app.

2. They Turned Off Their Location on Snap Maps

They may have turned on Ghost Mode, making it impossible for anybody to see where they are. It will prevent their location from being displayed on the Snapchat Map, allowing them to remain anonymous to their friends and followers. Moreover, by navigating to the settings menu on your iPhone or Android device, they can completely overrule these app settings. There, they can switch off Snapchat’s location services, which will take precedence over any other settings in the app. Some people feel that it’s not safe that their location is updated every time they go on Snapchat, so they choose to turn off their location.

3. They Removed You From People Who Can View Their Location

If Ghost mode is turned on, their location gets hidden from everyone else. There’s another option that allows them to share their location with certain friends, your friends except, or your friends. If you could see someone’s location and you suddenly can’t, you could be in the “your friends except” category. It means you would have gotten removed from people who can view their location.

This allows them to avoid going entirely MIA from the Map. They’ve probably selected a few friends that they want to see their location which means that no one else can see it. This allows them to have privacy whilst also sharing their location to people that matter to them.

4. They’re Unaware of Snap Maps

Some people are completely unaware of the Snap maps feature as it’s not common on other social media platforms. Most Snapchat users don’t realize that their location is being shared with all of their friends until someone tells them. If you were to message half the people on your friends list about something in relation to their location, half of them won’t even realize that their location is on. If you’ve been viewing someone’s location and you suddenly realize that their location has disappeared from the map, it could be because they’re completely unaware of Snap maps. Someone must’ve told them about it and they’ve done to switch it off.

5. Low Usage of Snapchat

Snapchat has plenty of features that keep users engaged with the main features trying to keep you connected with your friends. From things to Snap streaks, emojis, stories, conversations, and snap maps. If someone hasn’t used the app for longer than 8 hours and they’ve disappeared from snap maps, then it’s because they’ve been inactive for too long. To be on Snap maps, you need to be on the app quite often. If your friend isn’t opening their Snapchat often, then they might disappear from the app until they come back on.

6. They’re Toggling Snap Maps On/Off

Snap Maps are a big feature on Snapchat and it can be opened by clicking on the pin icon in the bottom left corner. Snap locations are kept up with just like the way people keep up with stories. For some, it can be anxiety-inducing to have your location on all the time, and for others, they don’t mind it. Due to this, many users actually toggle their location on and off depending on their convenience which is why you’ll see their Bitmjoi appear and disappear from Snapchat.

7. They’re In A Location With No Reception

Since Snapchat Maps requires an active internet connection in order to work, some users may not be connected to the internet all the time. When the app isn’t connected to the internet, the location may not get updated or it could go entirely off the radar. The friend’s location you may be looking at may be in an area with low connectivity such as the countryside, a basement, or the club. So if you notice that you’re unable to see someone’s Snapchat location, wait a few more hours for them to come out of the area with a low signal.

8. They’re Not Connected To The Internet

Snap Map will still display your location even if you are not connected. When you are not connected to the internet, your place will not be updated in real-time, as you would expect. It implies that your position on the Snap Map will be the last known location pinged to Snapchat when you were tagged on the Map. Another fantastic feature of Snap Maps is that it recognizes nightfall at your present site, which is quite helpful. For example, if you are offline for a few hours throughout the night, the Snap Map will interpret this as a period of sleeping. As a result, your Bitmoji will be changed to make it appear as though you are asleep. This function, once again, does not require your phone to be connected to the internet. Snapchat will assume that you are sleeping because it is dark and your phone is not connected to the internet.

9. They Deleted the Snapchat App

When you delete your Snapchat app within the first 8 hours, you will be online. After 8 hours, Snapchat will assume you don’t want your location to be known and remove your site from the app. Your Snapchat friends will not see your place because you won’t be connected to the Snapchat server. If you cannot see someone’s location on Snapchat and it has been a couple of days, it is safe to assume that they deleted the Snapchat app.

10. Snapchat is Glitching

Snapchat glitches are not a new thing. A while ago, Snapchat appeared to have had a privacy issue when its Snap Map function mistakenly displayed the whereabouts of more users than it should have done. While the scope of the problem and the number of people affected are unknown, the incident once again brings to light the broader concerns surrounding services that use location data for app functionality. The glitch got fixed quickly, and a Snapchat update followed.

If you can not see a person’s location on Snapchat, you or the other person may be having a glitch. To avoid Snapchat glitches, you need to ensure that you stay up-to-date with Snapchat updates. You can change your settings to ensure that your Snapchat automatically updates each time there is a new update.

11. Their Phone Turned Off

Snap Maps only displays your last known location before your phone turns off. If their location has changed since they’ve been on the Snapchat app, this won’t be shown on Snap Maps – only their last location will be shown to you.

However, Snapchat knows that this can happen, and it knows that some people don’t visit the app for hours, therefore, there’s a chance that the location they’re currently showing to you is incorrect. To stop this, Snapchat stops showing their location to you on the map 8 hours of their phone dying or them not visiting the app. If they’ve been asleep for over eight hours, then their last location will no longer display.

Does Snapchat Turn Off Someone’s Location If You Look At It Too Much?

There is no way to know who looked at your Snapchat location, but you can hide or restrict what other people see on Snapchat, which is a good thing. When Snap Maps got launched, several users were angry about what they thought to be a breach of their privacy. However, Snapchat responded by enhancing its privacy settings, which addressed those worries. It means you can view a person’s location as many times as you want, and they will not know. Snapchat will not turn off someone’s location because you look at it too much. If someone turns off their location, it could just be a coincidence.

How to Know If Someone Turned Off Their Location on Snapchat?

If you want to know if someone’s location is turned off on Snapchat, you’ll go from being able to see their bitmoji on the map to not being able to see their bitmoji. When someone’s location is turned off and has gone into ghost mode, their bitmoji will no longer be visible on the map. To check if they’re in ghost mode or not, you can hold down on their profile, and if you can see their snap location is available, then they’re not in ghost mode. But if their bitmoji isn’t there, chances are that they turned their location off.

Another way to know if someone turned off their location is to ask them. If they’re close enough to you, you can simply send them a message saying, did you turn off your Snapchat location? If they say yes, then you’ll know that they’ve turned it off and Snapchat hasn’t turned it off for them. If their location is turned off due to them being inactive for 8 hours, if you try to message them, then they’re not going to respond. If they open your message and you notice that their bitmoji is now showing on the Snapchat maps, then you’ll know that their location was only off because they weren’t on the app.

The Takeaway

It is possible to tell whether or not a friend has turned off their location on Snapchat. It will say “Location Paused” in the message box below their name if they have done so in the past. Ghost mode provides you with the option of blurring or freezing your current location in real-time. You will not receive any alerts from your pals if you enable ghost mode. Their location gets determined from the place where they last opened the app. If a friend doesn’t use the app again within 8 hours, their location will stay on the Map until the app is opened again and the friend’s location is updated. A Snapchatter’s location may get removed entirely from the Map if more than 8 hours have passed since they last opened the app.

David Johnson is a freelance writer with 9 years of experience writing for Techzillo and other established tech outlets like iMore. His focus and key interests are Apple and accessibility as well as consumer technology in general. Read our Editorial Guidlines and Fact Checking process.

2 COMMENTS

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here