Snapchat is one of the most popular social media apps in the world. People love and flock to it because it allows them to live in the moment and document their lives and experiences in real-time without having to worry about perfection.
It also has lots of great features and filters that make the app fun to use. Like most social media networks, Snapchat allows you to add friends from all over the world who can view your stories and interact with you and become a part of your online community.
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You just have to search for their usernames and add them to your friend list. Snapchat also gives you the option to remove or delete friends from your list for whatever reasons you may have.
But what happens if after deleting a friend you have a change of heart or realize your error but too much time has passed and you no longer recall their username? Is there another way to add them back?
If you’re familiar with this predicament, we are going to show you some creative strategies you can use to re-add someone on Snapchat without their username.
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How To Re-Add Someone On Snapchat If You Lost Their Username?
1. Use Your Friends List to Re-Add Them
The great thing about Snapchat is that people don’t necessarily have to add each other back to be friends on the social network.
So if you have accidentally or intentionally removed someone from your Snapchat and you want to rectify things, there’s a good chance that you’ll still be able to find them on your Friends list.
However, this only works if they still have you added to their account and if you only removed the person recently. Also, this method assumes that you’ll be able to remember the person’s username if you come across it.
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So before you try other ways of re-adding the friend again, go through your Friends list to see if they’re still there.
Here’s how to go about this:
- Open the Snapchat application on your phone.
- Go to the top-left corner of the screen and click on your User Profile. It’s usually represented by your Bitmoji icon.
- Scroll down to the Friends section and select My Friends.
- You will be able to see all the people you follow and who follow you from the screen that appears. Scroll through the friends on the list until you find the username of the person you want to add back.
- Tap on the + icon next to their username to re-add them.
If you can’t find the person there even though you only deleted them recently, it means that they have stopped following you. In this case, you will need to try one of the other methods below to get them back on your list.
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2. Use the Snapcode Feature to Re-Add Someone on Snapchat
At one point or the other, you’ve probably had to point your camera at a QR code to view the menu at a restaurant or bar or maybe even connect to someone on an app.
Snapcodes pretty much function in the same way as QR codes except that they can only be accessed within the Snapchat app. Every Snapchat user account has a unique Snapcode that contains information about the account such as the owner’s username.
The Snapcode is represented by an image of the Snapchat logo—the yellow and white ghost icon—surrounded by black dots. If you’ve lost someone’s username and you want to re-add them on Snapchat, you can do so by scanning their Snapcode.
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To execute this strategy, you need to have an image of the person’s Snapcode saved on your phone. You can either ask the person to share their Snapcode with you or check other social media accounts belonging to them to see if they’ve shared their Snapcode there.
Alternatively, you can have someone else who is friends with the person on Snapchat share it with you. Also, if you happen to have physical access to the phone belonging to the person you’re trying to re-add on Snapchat, you can snap a picture of their Snapcode.
Here’s how to re-add someone on Snapchat by scanning their Snapcode:
- If the Snapcode image isn’t saved in your camera roll but you have access to it, simply open your phone or Snapchat camera and take a picture of it. Skip this step and move to the next one if you have the Snapcode image stored on your phone.
- Open Snapchat and click on the Add Friends icon at the top-right of the screen then tap the Add by Snapcode button to the right of the search box. At this point, you may be prompted to give the app access to your photo gallery so you can browse through your saved images.
- Select the photo containing the Snapcode of the person you want to add back to your list. Snapchat will then scan the image to unlock the user information hiding behind it.
- Tap the Add Friend button that pops up to confirm you want to add the user to your Friends list.
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3. Make Use of Your Contact List to Find Them
Snapchat syncs your phone’s contact list to your account so if you’ve lost someone’s username but you have their phone number, you can locate their account and re-add them via your contact book.
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Even if you’ve never deleted a friend from your Snapchat but you suspect they might have an account and you want to find them, you can still put this strategy to use.
Below are the steps to help you find people you may know or might have removed on Snapchat and reestablish a connection with them without their usernames.
- Launch Snapchat and tap on your User Profile or Bitmoji icon in the top-left corner. You can also try swiping down on the Snapchat camera screen to reveal your profile page.
- Scroll down the page to the Friends section and tap Add Friends.
- Scroll to the All Contacts tab next to Quick Add and click on it. If you are yet to grant Snapchat access to your phone’s contacts, you will be prompted to do so at this step
- Next, you’ll be shown an expanded list of people in your contact list whose phone numbers are connected to their Snapchat accounts and are not on your friend list. Scroll through the list to find the friend you want to re-add on Snapchat.
- Once you locate their contact information, press the Add button next to their name.
Voila! You’ve successfully restored the person to your list so you resume messaging them right away or wait for them to add you back if you’re no longer on their list anymore.
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4. Re-Add Them by Searching for Their Name
If you’ve lost someone’s username but want to re-add them on Snapchat and are willing to play the guessing game, you might be able to find them via their actual name.
With this method, you’re taking a chance that the person somehow uses their real name or a moniker that you know in their profile.
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By searching for that name, you’ll be able to find and re-add them from the results that pop up. To use this method, simply follow these steps:
- Launch the Snapchat application and click on the Add Friends icon in the top-right corner.
- Enter the person’s name or the moniker they usually go by into the search name.
- As you type, Snapchat will show you suggestions for users who have that name, as well as people with that name that were previously added to your account. Go through the list of results to see if your friend’s account appears among them.
- If you’re lucky enough to find their account, just click on the + button to the right of their username and they’ll be re-added to your Snapchat contact list.
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5. Try the Quick Add Function
Snapchat allows users to locate other users that are within their vicinity. So if you’re wondering how to re-add someone on Snapchat and they happen to live or be nearby, you’re in luck.
This strategy saves you the awkward conversation of having to walk up to the person or reach out to them via some other means to ask for their Snapchat username. So you won’t have to explain how they ended up being removed from your friend list in the first place.
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There’s one caveat for this method though and it’s that the person you’re trying to connect with must have Quick Add turned on for their account. Otherwise, they won’t show up in your scans.
To find and add friends who are nearby to your Snapchat account, simply follow these steps.
- Open Snapchat and tap the Add Friends button at the upper right corner of the screen.
- A list of Snapchat users who are nearby will be displayed under the Quick Add section. Browse through the list until you come across your friend and tap the Add button next to their name to add them to your list.
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6. Download Your Snapchat Data
If all else fails, you have one last option to explore to help you re-add someone on Snapchat when you can’t remember their username. This option is to download your Snapchat data.
It contains all the information pertaining to your account and its activities including the logs from people you’ve received Snaps from or sent Snaps to and the list of accounts you’ve deleted or blocked.
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So as long as you once had this person on your friend list, you’ll be able to find their account here regardless of how long ago you intentionally or accidentally removed them from your friend list.
Here’s how to go about recovering your Snapchat data:
- Visit the Snapchat website and enter the username or email address and password linked to your account to log in.
- Once you’re in, head to My Data, then scroll to the bottom of the page and click on Submit Request if you’ve previously verified your account email. If your email hasn’t been verified yet, you’ll need to do that first before you can proceed.
- Wait for Snapchat to prepare your files and send you a download link via email. Keep in mind that this might take a while so just sit back and wait for their message.
- Once the email comes through, open it and click on the link.
- Type in your Snapchat login details once more to confirm it’s really you trying to access your account data.
- You’ll be taken to the My Data page. Scroll to the Your Data Is Ready section of the page and click on the link for the zip file you find there to download your Snapchat data.
- After the download completes, go to the location or folder where it is stored, (right) click on it, and select Extract.
- When the extraction is done, open the file, look for the account of the person you want to re-add, and send them a fresh friend request.
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Why You Can’t Re-Add Someone on Snapchat?
If you are unable to re-add someone to Snapchat after following the steps outlined above, there are a couple of reasons behind this. Let’s look at some of the factors that could be standing in the way of you reconnecting with an old friend.
1. The user has blocked you
It could be that the person noticed when you blocked them, deleted or accidentally removed them from your account and decided not to take it lying down. As a result, they blocked your profile to prevent you from having access to them in the future.
And if you’ve been blocked, there’s simply no way you can re-add the user as a friend on your Snapchat, so you’ll just have to cut your losses and move on.
If you suspect that someone has blocked you on Snapchat and you think there’s room for reconciliation, you can try reaching out to the person via some other channel to plead your case and get them to unblock you.
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2. The account has been deactivated
If the user has deleted their account, you may not be able to find their profile or even add them as a friend.
However, if the account was only recently deleted, you may still be able to find it and add it to your friend list. But the moment you log out of your account and log back in, the account will have disappeared back into the void and will no longer show up on your list.
3. You’ve exceeded the friends limit
Snapchat has a limit on the number of friends you can have on your list at any given time. The current cut-off is at 5000 friends so once you hit this number, you will be barred from adding new friends to your list unless you create space for them by removing some other friends.
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What Happens When You Re-Add Someone on Snapchat?
When you remove a friend from your Snapchat, they may remain blissfully unaware of this event for a long time. But the moment you re-add them to your list, they will be notified accordingly.
This means that they will now know that you once removed them which can create a bit of an awkward situation. You might need to prepare to do some explaining and apologizing before you can hope of getting things back to the way they used to be.
Additionally, when you re-add someone and they accept your request, Snapchat will restore your history of interactions with that account.
You’ll be able to see any messages you exchanged in the past as well as snaps they might have sent in the time when they stopped being on your friend list.
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Conclusion
Forgetting someone’s username after you removed them from your Snapchat is not the end of the world. There are still other ways you can add them back without their username.
Before you think of throwing in the towel, try the methods discussed above to find, reconnect, and resume sharing snaps with that friend.
