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What Does “Seen Just Now” Mean in Snapchat?

What Does

Snapchat is one of the more popular social media outlets available to users around the world today. Initially, a platform that honored user privacy with disappearing messages, but now it’s more than that. Some privacy features and notifications are native to the app to let friends know where you are, if you’re responding to their messages, and the last time that you were online.

What is “Seen Just Now?”

The ‘Seen just now’ notification in Snapchat is a Snap Maps message that tells you where a friend who uses the feature was last seen. This basically means the other user is online with Snapchat open. Other updates under the users Bitmoji may say something like “12 minutes ago” meaning the user was recently active.

For those who haven’t turned off Snap Maps or not set it permanently to Ghost Mode, this is one of the messages others will see when your presence has been shown on the map feature.

If you have used Snap Maps, you will likely know that while you have the app open, it will update your location to selected friends or the wider world at regular intervals until you shut down Snapchat or use Ghost Mode. ‘Seen just now’ is what the app says when Snap Maps is updated with a location.

Snap Maps

To say Snap Maps was initially controversial is an understatement. While widely accepted as a neat feature to have, the privacy concerns over the amount of information you were potentially sharing on Snapchat didn’t go down well. It still doesn’t in some circles and some people refuse to use it altogether because of this.

If you use it sensibly and limit who can see your location to friends you actually know, it should be much less of a security risk. Otherwise, you can pick and choose who sees what with Ghost Mode.

Open Snapchat and zoom out on the main or camera screen to access Snap Maps and you can see who of your circle has it enabled. You will see their Bitmoji on the map screen at a location. Zoom into the map to get a much better idea of where they actually are.

If you want to say Hi, tap their name on the map and either Send or Request Location. As well as those two options, you should see a small Chat or Snap icon. Select that and you can say Hi to the person wherever they are. This only works if you follow each other. It won’t work for those you follow but who don’t follow you. For example, the celebrities or brands you follow won’t appear or be selectable unless you’re lucky enough to be followed back.

Snap Maps and privacy

A lot of the controversy around the original launch of Snap Maps was the fear that everyone would know your location and could do whatever they wanted with that information. When people found out about Ghost Mode or the ability to restrict who sees what, that furor died down somewhat.

My friends still refuse to use it and that’s fine. I’m content to share elements of my life with friends but not everything. If you’re the same and don’t yet know how to use Ghost Mode, here’s how to enable it.

  1. Open Snap Maps in the usual way.
  2. Select the gear icon to access Settings.
  3. Select Ghost Mode to toggle it to on.

This still allows you to use Snap Maps but not share your location. You will also not be able to see other’s location. I think that’s a fair trade.

If you don’t want to turn the feature off altogether, you can control who sees your location on Snap Maps if you prefer. In the same window you accessed Ghost Mode, you should also have seen ‘Who Can See My Location’. This lets you control who sees what in Snap Maps.

  1. Open Snap Maps in the usual way.
  2. Select the gear icon to access Settings.
  3. Select Who Can See My Location.
  4. Select a setting from the options.

Your options here are Ghost Mode, My Friends which requires you to be following each other rather than one just following, My Friends Except, which should be self-explanatory, and Only These Friends.

If you choose the latter option, select Next, and you are presented with a list of your Snapchat friends to choose from with a checkbox. Check the box next to each friend you don’t mind sharing your location with and select Finish.

Can Someone See My “Last Seen” Status?

As mentioned previously, one of the best things about Snapchat is the privacy features. As long as you’re sharing your location with another user who is your friend they’ll see your online activity status.

If you’d like to hide your online status, set your Settings to Ghost Mode, or hide your location from that particular user. Aside from the possible glitches, Snapchat will only show you online while the app is open. If you don’t want to hide your location from certain friends, the only option to hide your online activity is to avoid using the app.

Key privacy facts about Snap Maps

There are a few things it might be useful to know about Snap Maps that may make it a little easier for you to use.

  • Your location is only updated when you’re using Snapchat and are not in Ghost Mode.
  • Snapchat will periodically remind you that Snap Maps is sharing your location so you don’t forget.
  • Only mutual friends can see each other’s location. One-way friends cannot.
  • Snapchat deletes your position after a set amount of time.
  • If you close the map, your last seen position will remain for up to 8 hours before being dropped.

Sure Snap Maps can seem a little creepy but if you know how to use it and protect your privacy while using it, it isn’t so bad.

Do you use Snap Maps? Do any of your friends? Have any privacy concerns about using it? Tell us about it below!

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