What Does The Purple Circle Mean On Snapchat?

Snapchat lets you send messages, photos, and videos that disappear after a single view, 24 hours, or, occasionally, up to seven days. If you have been away from the social media app for the past few years, as you have been too busy using Instagram and its perks, you might realize a lot has changed in the meantime. One of the most important questions might be what the purple circle on the app means. The answer is that there's a new photo or video that your friend, an influencer, or a follower posted that you haven't seen yet.

If you've seen a purple circle with a lock, you're about to see a Private Story. The person sharing that content is only doing so with a handful of people, which works similarly to Instagram's Close Friends feature. As long as it's a purple circle, you should know the app is telling you there's a Snap ready to be seen. There are other colors that are important to know about when using Snapchat, as they represent different things on the app.

Snapchat uses three main colors you should be aware of: purple, blue, and gray. As already explained, the purple color means you have a new Snap ready to be seen, while a blue circle on your Snapchat means someone sent you something in a chat. The gray circle, on the other hand, means that a person still has content that can be seen, but you've already seen it. If you already checked someone's Snaps that day and they haven't posted anything new, but they're still within the 24-hour window, the gray circle will indicate you can tap it to watch the content again.

It's important to note that while these rings tell the status of some Snapchat content, the colors and icons won't change based on privacy or friend status. As such, these three colors don't indicate whether someone took a screenshot of something you shared or whether a person is online.