Snapchat Planets

Ever tapped on a friend’s Snapchat profile and noticed a tiny glowing planet sitting next to their Bitmoji? You’re not imagining things, and no, your app hasn’t glitched. That little icon is part of a feature called Snapchat Planets, and once you know what it means, you’ll probably start checking it more than you’d like to admit about Snapchat Planets.

Snapchat Planets is one of those features that sounds a bit odd at first — planets, on a messaging app? — but once you understand the logic behind it, it actually makes a lot of sense. It turns your friendships into something visual, something you can see rather than just feel. And for a platform built almost entirely on streaks, snaps, and constant back-and-forth chatting, that’s a pretty clever move.

This article breaks down exactly what Snapchat Planets are, how the ranking works, what affects your position, how to enable and change your planet, and a few extra details that are worth knowing if you want to actually understand your Snapchat friendships instead of just guessing.

What Are Snapchat Planets?

Snapchat Planets is a feature inside Snapchat+ (the paid subscription tier) officially called the Friend Solar System. Instead of showing your best friends as a plain list or a row of emojis like the old system did, Snapchat turns your top eight closest friends into planets orbiting around you.

Picture it like this: you’re the sun. Your eight closest friends are the planets circling you, and just like in an actual solar system, the closer a planet sits to the sun, the stronger the pull. On Snapchat, that “pull” is your interaction level — how often you snap, chat, reply to stories, and keep streaks going with that person.

The planets follow the same order as our real solar system:

Mercury – your #1 best friend
Venus – your #2 best friend
Earth – your #3 best friend
Mars – your #4 best friend
Jupiter – your #5 best friend
Saturn – your #6 best friend
Uranus – your #7 best friend
Neptune – your #8 best friend

Snapchat launched this feature back in mid-2022, rolling it out gradually across a handful of countries before expanding it worldwide. By now, it’s a fairly well-known part of the app, especially among younger users who treat their best friends list almost like a badge of honor.

Why Snapchat Built the Planets Feature

Snapchat has always leaned into gamifying friendships — streaks are the obvious example. But streaks only tell part of the story. Two people could have a six-month streak and barely talk otherwise, while another pair might chat constantly without ever bothering to keep a streak alive.

The Friend Solar System was designed to fix that gap. It looks at your whole relationship with someone, not just one metric, and turns it into something visual and, frankly, a bit addictive to check. It also gives Snapchat+ subscribers a reason to feel like their subscription is doing something extra, since free users don’t get to see any of this.

How the Snapchat Planets Ranking Actually Works

So how does Snapchat decide who becomes your Mercury and who ends up stuck out at Neptune? The system runs quietly in the background, pulling from several signals:

Snap Frequency

This carries the most weight. The more snaps you send and receive with someone, the more likely they are to land near the top of your solar system. It’s the single biggest factor Snapchat looks at.

Chat Activity

Sending snaps back and forth is only half the equation. Snapchat also tracks how often you’re chatting with someone and how consistent that chatting is over time. A friend you text daily will usually rank higher than one you only snap occasionally.

Story Replies and Reactions

Watching, reacting to, and replying to someone’s story counts too. It’s a smaller signal than snaps or chats, but it adds up, especially with friends you interact with in smaller, more casual ways.

Streak Length

Long-running streaks still matter. A streak that’s lasted several months signals sustained interaction, which nudges that friend closer to Mercury.

Two-Way Engagement

One-sided interaction won’t get someone very far. Snapchat seems to weigh mutual engagement more heavily than one person doing all the work, so the friendship has to feel balanced on both ends.

None of this is manual. You can’t just decide who your Mercury is going to be — the app calculates it based on real behavior, and it updates as your habits change.

How to Change Your Snapchat Planet Ranking

This is probably the part you actually clicked on this article for. If you want to move up in someone’s solar system — or help a friend move up in yours — here’s what tends to make a difference.

Send More Snaps, Not Just Texts

Since snap frequency carries the heaviest weight, this is the fastest way to shift your ranking. Regular photo or video snaps, even simple ones, count more toward your position than plain chat messages.

Keep the Conversation Going

Chat consistency matters almost as much as snaps. A quick “good morning” or random check-in adds up over weeks. It’s not about one massive conversation — it’s about showing up regularly.

React to Stories

This one’s easy to overlook, but replying to or reacting to someone’s story is a small, steady signal that you’re paying attention to their life on the app. Do it often enough and it becomes part of your ranking pattern.

Protect Your Streaks

If you already have a streak going with someone, don’t let it die. Long streaks are one of the clearer signs of a sustained friendship, and Snapchat treats them that way too.

Make It Mutual

You can snap someone constantly, but if they never respond, your ranking with them likely won’t budge much. The system rewards friendships where both people are putting in effort, so encourage the same energy back.

Keep in mind: there’s no toggle, setting, or trick that lets you manually assign someone as your Mercury. The ranking reflects actual behavior, which is honestly what makes it interesting — you can’t fake your way to the top.

How to Enable Snapchat Planets

Here’s the part people often get stuck on. Even with a Snapchat+ subscription, the Friend Solar System doesn’t automatically turn on.

Step-by-step:

Open Snapchat and tap your profile icon.
Tap the Snapchat+ banner or subscription section.
Scroll until you find Solar System (sometimes listed under Friendship features).
Toggle it on.

Once it’s switched on, planets should start appearing next to your Best Friends within a short while, as the app has enough interaction data to work with.

How to Check Your Friend’s Solar System

Curious where you land in someone else’s solar system? Here’s how to check:

Open your friend’s profile.
Look for a Best Friends badge with a gold outline.
Tap that badge.
Your planet ranking with them will pop up, showing where you sit in their friend solar system.

One thing worth noting: you’ll only see your own position, not their entire lineup. Snapchat keeps the rest of someone’s best friends list private, so you can’t snoop on who else made their top eight — you can only find out where you personally stand.

What Each Planet Actually Looks Like

Each planet has its own color scheme and little decorative details, which makes it easy to tell your ranking apart at a glance without reading anything.

Mercury – a red planet surrounded by red hearts, representing your closest bond.
Venus – light brown, with yellow, pink, and blue hearts orbiting it.
Earth – colored like our actual planet, with a small moon, stars, and hearts.
Mars – red, with stars plus purple and blue hearts.
Jupiter – reddish-orange with dark orange stripes and stars.
Saturn – orange with a ring and scattered stars.
Uranus – green, without hearts, marking a more distant friendship.
Neptune – blue, plain, and a little lonely-looking compared to the rest.

The visual design isn’t random either. Notice how the hearts fade out as you move further from Mercury — by the time you hit Uranus and Neptune, there are no hearts left at all. It’s a subtle way of showing that the friendship, while still real, isn’t as active.

Common Myths About Snapchat Planets

A few misconceptions tend to circulate about this feature, so let’s clear them up.

Myth: Streaks alone decide your planet. Not true. Streaks help, but Snapchat weighs several factors together, so a long streak with little other interaction won’t guarantee a top spot.

Myth: You can pick who your Mercury is. Also false. There’s no manual override anywhere in the app settings.

Myth: Friends can see your whole solar system. Nope. People can only see their own ranking in your solar system, never the full list of your top eight.

Why You Might Not See Snapchat Planets on Your Account

If you’ve tried checking and nothing shows up, a few things could be going on:

You (or your friend) aren’t subscribed to Snapchat+.
The friend in question isn’t actually in your top eight.
Your app version is outdated and needs updating.
Interaction between you two simply isn’t frequent enough yet.
There’s a glitch, which sometimes gets fixed by clearing the app’s cache or reinstalling it.

Does This Feature Affect Real Friendships?

Here’s an interesting side note worth thinking about. Turning friendships into a rankable, visible system has an obvious upside — it’s fun, it’s gamified, and it gives people something small to look forward to. But it also opens the door to a bit of unnecessary anxiety, especially for teens who might read too much into being an Uranus instead of a Mercury.

Snapchat itself seems aware of this. The company has kept the feature limited to paying subscribers and hasn’t pushed it as aggressively as streaks, which suggests some intentional restraint around how competitive it becomes. Still, it’s worth remembering that a friendship being ranked as Neptune doesn’t mean it’s any less real — it might just mean you two talk in person more than you do on an app.

Recent Updates to the Friend Solar System

Since launch, Snapchat has continued tweaking the feature rather than leaving it untouched. Recent changes include smoother planet animations when rankings shift, added Bitmoji reactions inside the solar system view, and a refreshed interface in select regions. Snapchat has also reportedly been testing something called Galaxy Badges, which could reward consistent long-term interaction beyond the standard eight-planet system. Nothing’s confirmed as a permanent addition yet, but it points to Snapchat treating this feature as something worth building on, not a one-off gimmick.

Final Thoughts on Snapchat Planets

Snapchat Planets takes something that used to be a flat, forgettable list and turns it into a small, ongoing story about your friendships. It’s not perfect — the ranking can feel a little opaque, and there’s always a temptation to read too much into it — but it does what Snapchat clearly intended: it gives people a reason to keep showing up for the people they care about on the app.

If you’re chasing a better spot in someone’s solar system, the formula isn’t complicated. Snap more, chat consistently, react to stories, and keep your streaks alive. Do that regularly with someone, and your planet position will shift on its own, no shortcuts required.

Snapchat Planets Frequently Asked Questions

1. Do I need Snapchat+ to see Snapchat Planets? Yes. The Friend Solar System is exclusive to Snapchat+ subscribers. Free users can’t view planets, either their own or anyone else’s.

2. How long does it take for my planet ranking to change? There’s no fixed timeline. Snapchat updates rankings based on ongoing behavior, so consistent interaction over a couple of weeks tends to produce noticeable shifts.

3. Can two people both be each other’s Mercury? Yes, this happens often when both people interact with each other more than with anyone else, since the ranking is calculated separately for each person’s solar system.

4. Does watching someone’s story without reacting help my ranking? Not much. Passive viewing barely registers compared to actually replying or reacting, since Snapchat weighs active engagement far more heavily.

5. Can I hide my Snapchat Planet from certain friends? No. If someone is in your top eight and Solar System is enabled, they’ll be able to see their own ranking with you. There’s currently no way to hide it selectively.