Snapchat is among the most commonly used social media applications today. Its reliance on an image-based model of communication makes it unique among the other players in the market and is one reason for its continued popularity.
However, given the app’s popularity, it’s also often subject to hacks across the world. There are various ways to hack someone’s Snapchat, which means that every user needs to take certain precautions to ensure that their account doesn’t fall prey to these attempts. This article will dive into five key steps you can take to keep your account safe from hackers and spies.
5 Ways to Keep Your Snapchat Account Safe
Set Up a Strong Password
The most basic yet important step to safeguard any social media account from hackers is to set up a strong password. Many users often set up their accounts with passwords that are simple, most often because they’re easy to remember. However, while such passwords can be convenient, they can often be the weak link in the chain of ensuring your account’s safety.
As a result, it’s crucial that you set up a password that can’t easily succumb to a brute force attack or a simple guess by someone who might know you well. Your password must contain the tick the following parameters –
- It must be a combination of upper and lower case characters
- It must have a combination of numbers and alphabets, i.e., it must be alphanumeric.
- It must not be based on your name, birthday, anniversary, or any such easy-to-hack detail.
Once you’ve changed your password based on these parameters, you can rest assured that you’ve taken the first step towards safeguarding your Snapchat account.
Set Up Two-Factor Authentication 
The next step in setting up your Snapchat account’s defenses is to enable two-factor authentication. This is a very important feature that makes it harder for someone with access to your device or your password to hack into your account for some malicious purpose. It works by sending a One Time Password or a secret code to the number or email ID registered with the Snapchat account as a second layer of defense. This way, even if the hacker manages to find your password, they won’t be able to log into your account unless they can also access this secret code.
Don’t Add Strangers to Your Friends List.
One of the most important thumb rules of using any social media account is to not add strangers to your private friend list. Unlike Instagram and Facebook, which give you the option to have open profiles, Snapchat relies on consent-based friendships. What this means is that even if someone adds you as a friend, they’ll only be able to see your profile in its entirety if you add them back.
As a result, keeping your friend’s list limited to people you know and trust, such as your friends and family, is the best way to keep potentially malicious people off your list. While such people might seem like innocent Snapchat users, you can never really tell what they intend to do once they manage to befriend you on the app.
Block People Who Seem Suspicious or are Intrusive
Sometimes, even the people already present in our friend list can seem suspicious or behave in a manner that makes us feel uncomfortable. The best thing to do in such situations is to either remove them as your friend or block them entirely so that they can’t get in touch with you in any way. Always use the Block option freely and without hesitation, especially when it’s a matter of your safety and privacy.
Hide the “Quick Add” Option
Have you ever seen friend recommendations on the social media apps you use? You might have come across them under the section “People You May Know.” In the same way, Snapchat also has a Quick Add option through which friends of friends or people on your phone’s contact list can easily add you to their friend list. While you can always ignore these requests if you don’t want to add them back, you can also disable the option entirely.
To turn it off, go to Settings, scroll down and then select See Me in Quick Add and then toggle it off. This will remove your name from other users’ Quick Add lists so that they can’t add you.
In Conclusion
Keeping your Snapchat account safe from hackers is crucial, but the good thing is that you don’t need to be an advanced coder to take the necessary precautions. This guide has listed five simple things you can do to keep your Snapchat account safe, be it from hackers or from spy apps, which the research on CellTrackingApps.com says can monitor your device in many different ways.
