What is the green dot on Snapchat?

Have you ever seen a green dot on your screen when opening Snapchat? Many users have reported seeing it and it has sparked confusion among them.

Snapchat continues to be one of the easiest ways to connect with your friends online, allowing you to send each other disappearing photos, videos, and much more.

When using the app, you have likely seen a small green dot appear on the top right corner of your camera screen. This is a feature of the iOS and Android operating systems, but it isn’t exclusive to Snapchat. 

While the green dot on your friends’ avatar on Snapchat indicates that they are currently online, the green dot that appears on top of the screen means something else. Here’s everything you need to know.

Unsplash: Thought Catalog

What does the green dot on Snapchat mean?

The green dot is usually a privacy indicator, letting you know that the app is accessing your camera, or camera and microphone.

The feature is designed to provide users with immediate, visual feedback when their device’s camera or microphone is in use. While it’s not unique to Snapchat, it plays a prominent role in keeping users informed as it maintains transparency about the use of these functions.

If you swipe to the Chat or Stories screen, the green dot may still be visible, but it usually disappears after a few seconds when your phone detects that the camera is no longer in use. If you send a voice note to a friend, you might see an orange dot. This indicates that the app is using only the microphone.

Snapchat users can turn off the green and orange dots, by going into their phone settings and disabling camera and microphone permissions for the multimedia messaging app.

What does the green dot mean on a Snapchat profile?

You may also notice a green dot next to the Bitmoji of suggested friends on Snapchat. This green dot represents the Activity Indicator, a feature that shows other users you’ve recently been active on the app. The Activity Indicator is turned on by default but can be disabled in the privacy settings.

To disable it, just tap the gear button in your Profile screen to open Settings. Scroll down to the ‘Privacy Controls’ section, select ‘Activity Indicator,’ and toggle it off.

If you want to learn more about how to use Snapchat, you can check out some of our other guides, including how to allow camera access on Snapchat and how to make a public profile on Snapchat.