Snapchat Planets
Explained

What Are Snap Planets?

Snap planets are a visual feature within Snapchat Plus that maps your eight closest friends onto a solar system. Officially called the Friend Solar System, this feature treats you as the Sun and assigns each of your top 8 friends a planet based on how much you interact with them. Your #1 best friend is Mercury (closest to the Sun), and your #8 friend is Neptune (farthest away).

The Snapchat planet feature was introduced as a Snapchat Plus exclusive and has quickly become one of the most talked-about additions to the platform. It gives users a fun, visual way to see exactly where they stand in a friend's ranking — and where their friends stand in theirs. If you have ever wondered who your closest Snapchat friends really are, snap planets provide a clear answer based on actual interaction data.

Snap Planets in Order — Full Chart

Below is the complete Snapchat planets chart showing all eight planets in order, from your #1 best friend to your #8. Each planet has a unique color scheme and set of emojis that make it easy to identify at a glance.

Notice that the inner planets (Mercury through Mars) are decorated with hearts, while the outer planets (Jupiter through Neptune) gradually lose those decorations. Uranus and Neptune have no hearts at all, reflecting that these friends interact with you less frequently than the inner planets.

How to Check Your Snapchat Planets

Checking your position in someone's Snapchat Friend Solar System requires a Snapchat Plus subscription ($3.99/month). If you are already subscribed, follow these steps:

1. Open Snapchat and go to the profile of a friend you want to check.
2. Look for a Best Friends or Friends badge on their profile. It appears as a gold-outlined badge near their Bitmoji.
3. Tap the badge. Snapchat will reveal which planet represents your ranking in that person's top 8 friends.
4. The planet displayed tells you your exact position — Mercury means you are their #1, Neptune means you are their #8.

If you do not see a badge on a friend's profile, it means you are not in their top 8 friends. Only your eight closest friends receive a planet assignment. Want to know more about Snapchat Plus and its features? Check out our guide on how to tell if someone has Snapchat Plus.

Best Friends Badge vs. Friends Badge

When you tap into someone's profile and see a planet badge, you will notice it falls under one of two categories: Best Friends or Friends. Understanding the difference between these two badges is key to interpreting your Snapchat friend planets accurately.

Best Friends Badge

The Best Friends badge appears when the friendship is mutual — meaning you are in their top 8 and they are in your top 8. This badge is displayed with a smiley face icon alongside the planet. It confirms that both of you interact with each other frequently enough to be considered close friends by Snapchat's algorithm.

Friends Badge

The Friends badge appears when the friendship is one-directional — you are in their top 8, but they are not in yours. This could happen if you interact with many people but they primarily interact with a smaller circle that includes you. The badge still shows your planet rank in their solar system, but the absence of the smiley face indicates the ranking is not mutual.

How Snapchat Planet Rankings Work

The Snapchat planet rankings are determined by how frequently you interact with each friend. Snapchat's algorithm considers multiple signals to calculate your Friend Solar System order:

• Snaps sent and received — The most heavily weighted factor. Friends you exchange the most snaps with will rank highest.
• Chat messages — Text conversations within Snapchat contribute to your ranking, though they may carry less weight than photo and video snaps.
• Story interactions — Viewing, replying to, and reacting to a friend's stories can also influence your position in their solar system.
• Overall engagement frequency — Snapchat looks at recent activity patterns rather than all-time totals, so your rankings reflect current friendships, not old ones.

The algorithm weighs recent activity more heavily than older interactions. This means your planet position reflects who you are currently closest to, not who you used to talk to months ago. If you want to learn more about how Snapchat measures engagement, our Snapchat story downloader page explains how story interactions factor into Snapchat's features.

Do Snapchat Planets Change?

Yes — your snap planets are not fixed. They change dynamically based on your ongoing activity. If you start snapping a new friend frequently, they will rise through the ranks and potentially become your Mercury (#1). Meanwhile, friends you interact with less often will drift to outer planets or drop out of the top 8 entirely.

Here are common scenarios that cause planet rankings to shift:

• New friendships — When you start chatting and snapping with someone new regularly, they can quickly climb to an inner planet position.
• Decreased interaction — If you stop snapping a close friend for a while, they may shift from Mercury or Venus to an outer planet like Saturn or Neptune.
• Seasonal changes — Your top friends might shift around holidays, school breaks, or other periods where your social habits change.
• Group chat activity — Active group chats with certain friends can influence where they appear in your solar system.

Snapchat recalculates rankings regularly, so checking your Friend Solar System periodically will show you how your closest friendships evolve over time.

Tips for Understanding Your Snapchat Friend Solar System

The Snapchat universe of friend planets can be confusing at first. Here are some practical tips to help you get the most out of this feature:

• Remember the order — The solar system follows the same order as our real solar system. Mercury is always #1, Neptune is always #8. If you know the planets in order, you know the ranking system.
• Hearts mean closeness — Inner planets (Mercury through Mars) display hearts, indicating stronger friendship bonds. Outer planets have fewer or no hearts, reflecting less frequent interaction.
• Check both badges — Look at whether you see a Best Friends or Friends badge. A mutual Best Friends badge is a stronger indicator of a close relationship than a one-way Friends badge.
• Do not obsess over rankings — Planet positions fluctuate based on recent activity. A friend dropping from Venus to Jupiter does not necessarily mean the friendship is fading — it might just reflect a busy week.
• Use it as a conversation starter — Comparing planets with friends can be a fun social activity. Many users enjoy discovering where they rank in each other's solar systems.
• Keep your subscription active — If your Snapchat Plus subscription lapses, you will lose access to the Friend Solar System until you resubscribe. Your data is not deleted — it just becomes hidden.

Snap Planets — Detailed Breakdown

Let's take a closer look at each Snapchat planet and what it means when you see it on a friend's profile.

Mercury — Your #1 Best Friend

Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun, which makes it the most prestigious position in the Friend Solar System. If someone is your Mercury, they are the person you interact with the most on Snapchat — more snaps exchanged, more chats, and more overall engagement than anyone else. Mercury appears as a small red planet surrounded by red hearts.

Venus — Your #2 Best Friend

Venus represents your second closest friend. This planet appears as a light brown or beige globe decorated with pink, yellow, and blue hearts. Being someone's Venus means you are extremely close to them — just one step behind their #1.

Earth — Your #3 Best Friend

Earth is easy to recognize thanks to its familiar blue and green appearance, complete with a moon orbiting nearby. Red hearts surround the planet. Your Earth friend is solidly in your inner circle — the third person you interact with most.

Mars — Your #4 Best Friend

Mars — the red planet on Snapchat — represents your #4 friend. It appears with a distinctive red color, surrounded by stars and blue or purple hearts. Mars marks the boundary between your closest inner friends and the wider circle. Many users wonder "what is the red planet on Snapchat?" and the answer is almost always Mars at the #4 position.

Jupiter — Your #5 Best Friend

Jupiter is the first of the outer planets in the Snapchat solar system. It appears as a large orange planet with red tints, surrounded by stars but notably fewer hearts than the inner planets. Your Jupiter friend is still in your top 8, but they are on the outer edge of your closest social circle.

Saturn — Your #6 Best Friend

Saturn is instantly recognizable by its gold ring. Stars surround the planet, but hearts are absent. Being someone's Saturn means you are in their top 8 but not among their very closest friends — you are in the outer half of their Friend Solar System.

Uranus — Your #7 Best Friend

Uranus appears as a green or teal planet with no hearts and no stars. It is a minimalist design that reflects its distant position. If you are someone's Uranus, you made their top 8 but only just — there is only one position below you.

Neptune — Your #8 Best Friend

Neptune is the farthest planet and represents your #8 friend — the last person to make the cut for the Friend Solar System. It appears as a plain blue planet on Snapchat with no hearts, stars, or other decorations. While being Neptune might feel less special, it still means you are in someone's top 8 out of all their Snapchat friends.

Snapchat Plus and the Friend Solar System

The Snapchat Plus best friends planets feature is one of the most popular reasons users subscribe to Snapchat Plus. At $3.99 per month, the subscription unlocks the Friend Solar System along with other premium features like story rewatch indicators, custom app icons, ghost trails on the Snap Map, and priority replies.

Without Snapchat Plus, you can still see who your best friends are through the standard best friends list, but you will not get the planet-based visual representation or the ability to see your rank in someone else's solar system. The planets feature adds a layer of gamification that makes Snapchat's social dynamics more transparent and engaging.

Curious whether someone you know is a Snapchat Plus subscriber? Our detailed guide on how to tell if someone has Snapchat Plus covers all the visual indicators and features that give it away.