What happens when you block someone on Snapchat?
When you block someone on Snapchat, you’re essentially cutting them off from your account. But blocking isn’t instantaneous erasure—it’s a permission change that takes effect immediately and affects what the blocked person can see and do. Understanding what actually happens helps you decide if blocking is what you really want, or if removing a friend would be better suited for your situation.
What blocking actually does
Blocking is Snapchat’s most aggressive privacy tool. The moment you block someone, they’re removed from your friends list, and Snapchat prevents them from contacting you in any future way. They can’t send you Snaps, messages, or video calls. Any messages or Snaps they attempt to send will simply fail—they’ll see an error or their message won’t go through.
The blocked person also loses the ability to see your Stories. If you post to My Story, they won’t see it, even if they search for your account. Your public content becomes completely invisible to them. If you’re worried about location sharing through Snap Map, blocking handles that too. The blocked person can no longer see your location on the map, and you won’t see theirs.
What happens to your past conversations
If you had existing chat history with this person before you blocked them, that chat still exists in your conversation list. From their perspective, the conversation becomes read-only. They can see the past conversation, but they can’t type new messages into it. The conversation will linger there for them until they decide to delete it themselves.
When the blocked person tries to type or interact with the thread, they’ll get a message that they’re blocked. They aren’t able to send anything through it. On your end, the conversation is still there too, but you’ll see they’re blocked and cannot respond. Any Snaps you previously sent remain in the conversation for both of you, but they’re locked in time. Neither of you can add to that conversation anymore.
What they can’t see
Beyond messages and Stories, blocking prevents the blocked person from finding your profile if they search for you. Your account becomes invisible to them in search results. If you were following each other, that relationship is severed and they can’t easily find their way back to your profile.
They also won’t see if you’re online or offline. Snapchat doesn’t broadcast your status to blocked users. If you use Snap Map to share your location with friends, blocked people are excluded from seeing that. Your Bitmoji location is also hidden from them.
One thing worth noting: if you’ve posted to public Stories, a blocked person technically can’t view your public profile at all. They would get an error if they tried to navigate to your account directly.
How blocking differs from removing a friend
It’s easy to confuse blocking with simply removing a friend, but they’re different actions. When you remove a friend, you simply take them off your friends list. They can still see your public Stories, and they can still search for you and add you back. It’s a quieter way to end the friendship; they probably won’t notice right away unless they try to snap you.
Blocking is the nuclear option. It’s a hard stop. The blocked person might realize they’re blocked if they try to message you and it fails, or if they search for you and can’t find your account. Blocking sends a clearer message that contact is unwanted. If someone is harassing you or you want to completely cut off contact, blocking is the right move. If you just don’t want to see someone’s content anymore but don’t mind if they see yours, removing them is gentler.
Can you unblock, and what happens then?
Snapchat lets you unblock anyone you’ve blocked, and it’s a straightforward process—just find them in your blocked friends list and tap unblock. It’s reversible, which makes blocking less permanent than on some other social media platforms.
When you unblock someone, they don’t automatically become your friend again. The block is simply lifted. They’ll be able to see your Stories again, add you back to their friends list, and message you. But they’re not automatically re-added to your friends list. If they want to snap you again, they’ll need to send you a friend request, and you’ll need to accept it.
The blocked person won’t get a notification that you’ve unblocked them. Unblocking is quiet and private. If you unblock someone and then they happen to find and re-add you, they might not even realize you’d blocked them in the first place.
The practical side
Blocking is useful when you need a hard boundary. It stops someone from contacting you and hides your content from their view. But it’s also something they might notice. If they try to message you or look for you, they’ll quickly realize something changed. If you’d rather avoid that awkwardness or confrontation, removing a friend is more subtle.
If you’re dealing with harassment, unwanted contact, or just need some space from someone, blocking is the right tool. If you’re just trying to quietly distance yourself, removing them might be better. And remember: unblocking is always an option if you change your mind later.
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