How to check who you and another person both follow on Snapchat
Snapchat shows you mutual friends in two places: on someone's profile card and in your friends list. To see mutual friends with a specific person, open their profile by tapping their name or username, then look for the "Mutual Friends" section — it displays a row of profile pictures showing people you both follow. The number of mutual friends appears next to their name at the top of the profile.
The mutual friends list only shows people you both follow, not people who follow only one of you. If you follow someone but they don't follow you back, Snapchat still counts them as a mutual friend if you both follow a third person. This is different from other platforms: Snapchat's definition is one-directional, based on who you've added to your friends list, not on reciprocal following.
You can also see mutual friends in your main friends list by long-pressing on a friend's name. A menu appears with options including "View Profile" — tap that, and the mutual friends section shows at the top. On some accounts, Snapchat also displays a small number badge next to a friend's name if you have mutual connections, though this feature is not available to all users.
Key Takeaways
- Mutual friends on Snapchat means people you both follow, regardless of whether they follow you back.
- You can view mutual friends by opening someone's profile and looking at the profile pictures displayed in the "Mutual Friends" section.
- The mutual friends feature works the same way whether someone is a close friend, a regular contact, or someone you recently added.
- Snapchat does not notify the other person when you view their mutual friends list or their profile.
What mutual friends tell Snapchat about your network
Every time you view someone's profile, Snapchat records that action. The platform uses mutual friend data — along with who you message, whose stories you watch, and how long you look at each snap — to build a map of your social connections. This map helps Snapchat decide which friends to suggest to you, which stories to show you first, and which ads might interest you based on the interests of people near you in the network.
Snapchat's parent company, Snap Inc., shares aggregated network data with advertisers. They do not sell your individual friend list, but they do tell advertisers things like "people in this demographic who follow these accounts also follow these brands." Mutual friends are part of that calculation. The more mutual friends you have with someone, the more likely Snapchat's algorithm considers you part of the same social cluster, and the more your behavior influences what the algorithm shows you both.
The mutual friends feature is also visible to the other person. If someone views your profile, they can see your mutual friends with them. This means your social connections are not private on Snapchat — anyone who finds your profile can see at a glance which of their friends know you.
Why Snapchat shows mutual friends to other users
Snapchat displays mutual friends as a trust signal. When you are considering whether to add someone new, seeing that you have mutual friends with them suggests the person is part of your real social circle rather than a stranger. This reduces friction in adding new people and encourages network growth, which benefits Snapchat because larger networks mean more messages, more story views, and more time spent in the app.
The feature also serves a safety purpose, though a limited one. If you receive a message from someone you do not recognize, you can check their profile to see if you have mutual friends. If you do, it is more likely the person is someone you actually know or someone known to people you trust. If you have zero mutual friends with a stranger who messaged you, that is a signal to be cautious.
However, mutual friends alone do not may provide safety. Someone could add many of your friends without you knowing them, or could have added friends specifically to appear more trustworthy. Snapchat does not verify that mutual friends actually know each other in real life — it only confirms that you both follow them in the app.
Controlling who can see your mutual friends
Snapchat does not offer a setting to hide your mutual friends from other users. If someone can view your profile, they can see which of their friends you also follow. You cannot make this list private or limit who sees it.
What you can control is who can view your profile at all. Open Settings (tap your profile icon, then the gear icon), scroll to "Who Can..." and select "Contact Me." Choose between "Everyone," "Friends," or "My Friends" to limit who can message you or view your profile. If you set this to "Friends," only people you have already added can see your profile and your mutual friends list. If you set it to "Everyone," anyone on Snapchat can view your profile and see your connections.
You can also block specific people. If you block someone, they cannot see your profile, your mutual friends, or your stories. Blocking is the only way to completely hide your network from a particular person.
What happens when you or someone else deletes a friend
If you remove someone from your friends list, they disappear from your mutual friends counts with other people. If you and Person A both followed Person B, and then you remove Person B, the mutual friends number between you and Person A decreases by one. Person A will see this change the next time they view your profile.
If someone removes you as a friend, you disappear from their mutual friends lists, but they do not disappear from yours. You can still see them in your friends list (they will show as "Added by [name]" rather than a two-way friend), and you can still see your mutual friends with them. However, they will no longer see you in their mutual friends with other people.
Snapchat does not notify you when someone removes you as a friend. The only way to know is to check their profile and notice the status has changed, or to try to send them a snap and see that it goes to "Added by [name]" instead of a regular friend.
How mutual friends differ across social platforms
Snapchat's mutual friends feature works differently than on Instagram, Facebook, or TikTok. On Instagram and Facebook, mutual friends are people who follow you and you follow them — it is a two-way connection. On Snapchat, it is one-way: you both just need to follow each other, regardless of who added whom first. On TikTok, the platform does not show a mutual friends list at all; it only shows follower counts.
Twitter (now X) shows mutual followers in a similar way to Snapchat — anyone can see who you both follow. LinkedIn shows mutual connections but only to people in your network, not to the general public. The more restrictive a platform is about showing your network, the more control you have over who knows your social circle.
Privacy considerations when viewing other people's profiles
Snapchat does not notify someone when you view their profile or their mutual friends list. You can look at someone's profile as many times as you want without them knowing. However, if you view their story, send them a message, or add them as a friend, they will see that activity.
Keep in mind that while Snapchat does not tell the other person you viewed their profile, the platform records that you did. This data is part of your activity history and contributes to Snapchat's understanding of your interests and social connections. If you are concerned about your browsing behavior being tracked, remember that opening profiles, viewing stories, and messaging all create records that Snapchat stores and uses for recommendations and advertising.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I see mutual friends with someone who blocked me?
No. If someone blocks you, you cannot view their profile at all, so you cannot see their mutual friends list. You also disappear from their mutual friends counts with other people. If you try to search for their name, their profile will not appear in results.
Do mutual friends on Snapchat mean those people actually know each other?
Not necessarily. Snapchat only confirms that you both follow the same person in the app — it does not verify that person actually knows you both in real life. Someone could add many people without knowing them, so mutual friends is a weak trust signal, not a may provide of real connection.
What if I want to hide my friend list from someone specific?
You cannot hide your mutual friends from one person while keeping your profile visible to them. Your options are to block them entirely (which hides your whole profile), or to change your profile visibility to "Friends Only" (which hides your profile from everyone except people you have added). There is no middle ground.
Does Snapchat tell someone when I remove them as a friend?
No. Snapchat does not send a notification when you remove someone. They will only know if they check your profile and notice the status changed, or if they try to message you and see the interaction has changed.
Can I see how many mutual friends I have with someone without opening their profile?
On some accounts, Snapchat displays a small number next to a friend's name in your friends list indicating mutual connections, but this feature is not available to all users. The most reliable way is to open their profile and look at the mutual friends section.