How To Tell if Someone Else is Using your Snapchat Account

Just like other social media platforms, Snapchat is often a target for hackers and scammers who want to access private accounts and take advantage of users’ personal information.

If you think your account may have been compromised, read on to learn how to detect if someone else is using your Snapchat account and how to get a hacked Snapchat account back

How to Tell if Your Snapchat Account Has Been Compromised

There are several ways you can tell if someone else is using your Snapchat account. By keeping a close on your account activity, you can quickly notice if your account has been compromised and take the steps necessary to secure it.

Depending on your login credentials and the personal information attached to your Snapchat account, hackers may be able to access other important accounts, like your email or bank account. So, if you notice any unusual activity on your Snapchat account, such as someone logging in from a different location, it’s important to address the situation quickly.

With that in mind, let’s take a look at the three main ways you can tell if someone is using your Snapchat account.

Unusual Activity

Spotting unusual activity is usually the first sign someone else is using your Snapchat account. If you see snaps that aren’t yours, new friends you didn’t add, or you are suddenly following people you didn’t follow, your account may have been compromised.

These signs may be easier to spot if you are a regular Snapchat user as opposed to an occasional user. If you notice anything like this, be sure to promptly change your account information.

Being Logged Out of Your Account

Using multiple mobile devices with Snapchat often means one will log out when the other is logged in and vice versa. If someone has gained access to your account, you may notice more frequent log in prompts.

Usually, a Snapchat login will last a while. At least until you manually log out, restart the app, or reboot your device.

Once in a while, your account may be logged out due to an app or device glitch, but if you find you keep having to log back into your account, it may be a sign that someone else is logging in and forcing you out. It isn’t definitive by any means, but it is definitely a sign that you need to investigate further.

Suspicious Emails from Snapchat

Snapchat does what it can to monitor account activity and will notify you via email if any changes are made to your account. If the username or password is changed, for example, you will see an email. If someone logs in from a completely different location, Snapchat should detect that and alert you.

If you begin seeing these kinds of notifications, you need to take action to recover your account.

How to Secure Your Snapchat Account

If you suspect that your Snapchat account has become compromised, you first need to secure the account and then find out how it was compromised.

Log into Snapchat as soon as possible and change the password, then enable two-factor authentication as an extra safeguard.

1. Log into Snapchat from here
2. If your password is still valid, change it immediately
3. If your password has already been changed, use the Forgot Password link and change it

Unfortunately, if someone has changed your recovery email and phone number; there is not a lot you can do to recover your account. Snapchat does notify you of changes made to your account before the hacker can get this far. It’s important to keep this information updated to protect your account.

Once you have changed your password to something complicated but memorable or used your password manager to come up with something good, go ahead and enable two-factor authentication.

This will add either an Authenticator App step or SMS verification to the login process. From now on, when you log in you will have to enter a code from the app or SMS message. It is an extra step but means it is almost impossible for a hacker to access your account if they don’t have your phone.

More Tips

Once your Snapchat account is secure, take the time to do a little investigation of your own to see how they got your details. Check that your email is secure, never leave your phone or device unattended, and make sure you use unique passwords for every account and use two-factor authentication wherever you can.

Understanding how the hacker got in will prevent further access. Whether it was your email is compromised or someone close to your figured out your password, following these steps will ensure the hacker is locked out for good.

Here are some general recommendations to keep your Snapchat and other social media accounts more secure:

• Make your password at least 8 characters long
• Use a combination of letters, numbers, and symbols
• Use a combination of upper case and lower case letters.
• Do not use any common words or phrases as there are hacker programs that can easily run through every word in the dictionary when trying to guess your password
• Do not use a birthday or other personal information, as it is very possible the hacker already has personal information on you to help them hack your account
• Do not re-use passwords across multiple accounts because that will enable a hacker to hack more than one of your accounts at once
• Use a password manager such as 1Password or LastPass to manage your Snapchat and other account passwords

The Bottom Line

Hackers use a variety of tricky methods to gain access to users’ social media accounts, and once they accomplish this, there’s a lot that they can do with your personal information.

By following the tips in this article to secure your Snapchat account, you can make sure your account and personal information are safe.

If you have any more tips, comments, or questions, be sure to let us know in the comments below!