How to Tell if Someone Has Snapchat Plus (10 Signs)

Spotting a Snapchat Plus subscriber used to require guesswork. In 2026 it does not. Snapchat has layered half a dozen visible badges, chat features, and profile indicators on top of the paid tier, which means a quick glance at someone’s Chat, Profile, or Snap Map answers the question in under 10 seconds.

The sections below walk through all 10 ways to tell if someone has Snapchat Plus, what each badge actually means, how Snapchat Plus differs from the newer Platinum, Diamond, and Ruby tiers, and why most of these signals cannot be hidden by the subscriber. Creators who care about Snapchat Plus badges almost always care about their handle too, and the 660-strong library of Snapchat username ideas is the companion piece most readers of this piece land on next.

Key Takeaways

What Is Snapchat Plus (and Why Its Signs Are Everywhere)

Snapchat Plus launched in June 2022 as the app’s first paid subscription, priced at $3.99 per month. The idea was simple: give subscribers early access to experimental features and exclusive personalization options, from custom app icons to the ability to pin a single Best Friend permanently. Four years later, the subscription has grown to over 15 million subscribers and now layers in Platinum, Diamond, and Ruby tiers that push the per-month price up to $17 and bundle in AI-first features.

Why does any of that matter for spotting a subscriber? Because almost every Snapchat Plus feature leaves a visible trace on the subscriber’s profile or inside the chats they open with you. Some signals (the gold star, the pinned BFF heart) are enforced by the app and cannot be hidden. Others (the ghost trail, the custom wallpaper, the Priority Story Reply spot) only show up when the subscriber actively uses that feature. Combined, they give a reliable read on whether someone is paying for Plus.

10 Ways to Tell if Someone Has Snapchat Plus

The 10 indicators below are ordered from most obvious to most subtle. In practice, the first three are enough to confirm Snapchat Plus for 95% of users. The later ones help confirm the tier (Plus vs Platinum vs Diamond vs Ruby) and catch the subscribers who only use Plus for a single feature.

1. The Gold Star Badge Next to Their Display Name

The single most direct sign someone has Snapchat Plus is a gold star emoji that Snapchat auto-displays next to their Display Name. Open their Profile card and look right next to the name; if a yellow star is sitting there, they are a current Snapchat Plus subscriber.

The gold star also appears in three other spots: at the top of your Chat conversation when you open their thread, inside the Chat list where you see all your friends, and on their Story when it appears in your Stories feed. Snapchat refreshes these indicators within minutes of a new subscription, and the subscriber cannot turn them off.

Crucially, the star stays even if the subscriber downgrades inside the app; it only disappears once the billing cycle ends. That is why a subscriber who canceled yesterday may still carry the badge for another week or two.

2. A Pinned Best Friend With a Heart-and-Sparkle Emoji

Snapchat Plus is the only tier that lets a user pin one Best Friend permanently, which overrides the automatic Best Friends list that normally rotates with activity. If someone has pinned you (or anyone else) as their BFF, Snapchat adds a pink heart with a small sparkle next to that friend’s row in their Chat list.

The giveaway is that you can see this badge on their shared Best Friends chat too. If you open your mutual Chat and spot the pinned-heart emoji at the top near their Display Name, they are using the Plus feature.

Non-Plus users have no way to force a BFF slot, so the pinned heart is a near-perfect Plus signal in practice.

3. A Custom Chat Wallpaper Behind Your Conversation

Opening a chat and seeing a custom background (a photo, a pattern, a solid color that is not the Snapchat default white) is a Snapchat Plus feature. Chat Wallpapers were added as a Plus-exclusive in late 2023 and remain locked to subscribers in 2026.

Two caveats on this signal. First, the wallpaper only shows up in the chats the subscriber has customized, not every chat. Second, both participants see the custom wallpaper, but only the subscriber can set it. If you did not set the wallpaper and the chat still has one, they have Snapchat Plus.

4. A Ghost Trail on Snap Map

Snap Map normally shows your Bitmoji at your current location only. Snapchat Plus subscribers get an opt-in Ghost Trail feature that reveals where their Bitmoji has been over the last 24 hours as a dotted line across the map.

If you open Snap Map and see a trail of ghost footprints or a dotted path trailing someone’s Bitmoji, that friend has Snapchat Plus and has enabled the Ghost Trail setting. Non-Plus accounts never leave a trail, even if their location is shared.

Equally, the subscriber can turn this off, so the absence of a ghost trail does not prove the opposite. However, its presence is a near-definitive Plus indicator.

5. A Story Rewatch Count on Their Posted Stories

Snapchat Plus subscribers can see how many times each viewer has rewatched their Story. More importantly, they can display that rewatch count on the Story itself as a small badge, which non-Plus users do not have access to.

If you tap into someone’s Story and see a small rewatch counter indicator at the bottom or top of the frame, they are on Snapchat Plus. The counter looks like a circular arrow with a number next to it.

6. A Custom App Icon on Their Phone

Snapchat Plus unlocks over 50 custom app icons that replace the default yellow Snapchat tile on the home screen. Icons range from pastel-coated squares to animated ghost mascots.

You will only spot this sign if you glance at their phone directly. The custom icon appears on their home screen in place of the standard Snapchat logo. The default yellow icon is still available to Plus subscribers, so this signal only confirms Plus when a non-default icon is in use.

7. Priority Story Replies in Their Inbox

Priority Story Replies push any reply a subscriber sends on your Story to the top of your Chat list, labeled with a distinctive small arrow or star icon. If their replies to your Stories consistently land at the top of your inbox regardless of when they came in, they likely subscribed to Snapchat Plus.

This signal is subtle; most people only notice it after comparing where several friends’ replies landed. If you want to confirm, check whether their reply shows a special icon that your other friends’ replies do not.

8. The Platinum Crown or Diamond Badge for Higher Tiers

Snapchat Platinum (launched 2024) adds a crown icon next to the gold star, removes ads entirely for the subscriber, and bundles in exclusive filters. Snapchat Diamond (2025) adds a shimmering border animation around their Display Name on their Profile card. Snapchat Ruby (2026) adds a red gem icon and layers in AI generation features.

All four tiers (Plus, Platinum, Diamond, Ruby) include the base gold star, but the extra icon tells you which tier they are on. A crown means Platinum. A shimmering border means Diamond. A red gem means Ruby.

9. Birthday Visibility on Their Profile Card

Snapchat Plus unlocks the ability to see any friend’s birthday, assuming the friend has added one to their profile. If you can see someone’s birthday on their Profile card (next to their Bitmoji under the Display Name), you may have Plus; the reverse is also true.

More directly, if someone can tell you a friend-of-a-friend’s birthday without having asked, they have Snapchat Plus. This signal is behavioral rather than visual, but it reliably indicates the subscription.

10. The Snapchat Plus Icon on Their Profile Settings Page

The final way to tell if someone has Snapchat Plus is to look at the top of their Profile page. Subscribers see a dedicated Snapchat Plus panel at the top of their Profile settings, labeled with their current tier (Plus, Platinum, Diamond, or Ruby) and renewal date.

You cannot see this panel on their phone unless they show it to you directly. Still, if they open the Snapchat app in front of you and the Snapchat Plus panel appears, that is the final, definitive confirmation.

Snapchat Plus vs Platinum vs Diamond vs Ruby

Snapchat now runs four paid tiers. The base Snapchat Plus tier starts the ladder; each higher tier adds exclusive features and a different badge. Knowing which tier someone sits on sharpens the read on what they can see about you (rewatch counts, birthdays) and what they are paying each month.

Can Someone Hide Snapchat Plus From Other People

The short answer is no, not fully. Snapchat enforces the gold star badge, the pinned BFF heart, and the tier-specific icons on every account that currently subscribes. There is no toggle buried in settings that removes these indicators.

That said, several Snapchat Plus features ARE optional and only show up when the subscriber uses them. The ghost trail, the custom chat wallpaper, and the Story rewatch display are all opt-in. A quiet subscriber who never uses those features will only be flagged by the gold star and the pinned BFF (if they pinned one).

In practice, that means the gold star is the single most reliable signal to look for. If you spot it anywhere on their profile or in a Chat, they are a current Snapchat Plus subscriber.

Why People Pay for Snapchat Plus

Snapchat has crossed 15 million Plus subscribers because the feature set hits a specific audience: heavy Snapchat users who send 50-plus Snaps a day and treat the app as their primary chat platform. The pinned BFF, the custom app icons, and the ghost trail are small quality-of-life wins, but they add up to a visibly different experience.

The higher Platinum, Diamond, and Ruby tiers target a smaller cohort of power users and creators. The no-ads crown, the AI-first Ruby features, and the exclusive filters are the current carrot for Snapchat’s most engaged accounts. Creators in particular tend to upgrade to Platinum or above because Priority Story Replies and the rewatch counter convert directly into more visibility inside their followers’ inboxes, which matters for anyone working on how to become an influencer on Snapchat today.

For creators who want to build audience across Snapchat and every other platform, picking a consistent handle matters more than any single Plus feature. The badge, the pinned BFF, and the ghost trail all reinforce that commitment, but the handle itself travels further than any Plus feature can.

One Link in Bio for Snapchat Plus Creators

Here is the follow-on question most Snapchat Plus users land on: once Snapchat’s own badge sits next to your name, where do you point the rest of the audience? Snapchat does not do profile links. Everyone else does.

brandID is a free forever link-in-bio page built for creators who use Snapchat Plus features alongside TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube. One short URL carries every link, every affiliate product you promote, and every piece of content you want new followers to see first.

Bottom Line on Spotting a Snapchat Plus Subscriber

In 2026 you no longer have to guess whether someone subscribes to Snapchat Plus. The gold star next to their Display Name is the one signal that catches almost every subscriber. Pinned BFF hearts, custom chat wallpapers, ghost trails on Snap Map, and tier-specific badges (crown, shimmering border, red gem) fill in the rest.

If the only signal you see is the gold star, you are looking at a base Snapchat Plus subscriber. Spotting a crown means Platinum. A shimmering border means Diamond. A red gem means Ruby. That three-second glance tells you everything you need to know about which tier they are on, which features they can see about your activity, and roughly how much they pay per month.

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