How to Video and Voice Call Your Friends on Snapchat

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An easy-to-follow guide on making voice or video calls with Snapchat

Written by Travis Boylls

Last Updated: July 18, 2024 Fact Checked

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Making a Voice Call

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Making a Video Call

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Q&A

With Snapchat's Chat 2.0 update, you can now make free voice and video calls with any of your Snapchat friends. As long as you and your friend are running the latest version of Snapchat, you can call each other by tapping the phone icon (for an audio call) or the video camera icon (for a video call) at the top of the chat. This wikiHow article teaches you how to call your friends on Snapchat using your Android or iPhone.

Things You Should Know

To call a friend, tap your friend's name on the chat screen, then tap the phone icon.
To make a video call instead, tap the video camera icon.
Both you and the friend you're calling will need to use the latest Snapchat update to make audio and video calls.

Method 1

Method 1 of 2:

Making a Voice Call

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1
Open the Snapchat Chats screen. To do so, open the Snapchat app, then tap the speech bubble icon at the bottom of the screen.
- If you haven't updated Snapchat in a while, you'll want to grab the latest version so that you have access to the new voice and video calling features. You can update the Snapchat app using the Google Play Store on Android or the App Store on iPhone and iPad.
- Voice calls are not available in all areas.
2
Open a chat with the person you want to call. You can do so by tapping the person you want to chat with on the Chats menu or tapping the blue pen-and-paper icon in the lower-right corner and then tapping the person you want to chat with.
- If the person you want to call is not a Snapchat friend, you will need to find out their username and add them as a friend.
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3
Tap the Phone icon to place a voice call. You may be warned that calls will use Wi-Fi or mobile data. The call will be placed, and the recipient will receive a notification that they are being called. If they have notifications enabled for Snapchat, they'll be notified no matter what they're doing. If they don't have notifications enabled, they'll only see the incoming call if they're using Snapchat at the time.
- If you get a "Busy 😫" message, the recipient cannot answer a call now. You can check if a friend is online using the map.
4
Wait for the other person to pick up. The recipient will have the option to either just listen or join the conversation completely. If they choose to listen, they'll be able to hear you, but you won't be able to hear them.
- If you're receiving a call, you can tap "Listen" to just listen to their audio, "Join" to make it a two-way conversation, or "Ignore" to ignore the call.
When you hold the phone away from your face, Snapchat will automatically switch to speaker phone. Bring it up to your face to return to regular call mode.
The other person will have the option to watch or join completely.
This doesn't actually cut the connection. You'll still be able to hear the other person until they hang up or you exit the chat. Exiting the chat will happen if you switch to any other screen in Snapchat or a different app.
If the other person isn't available, or you want to send an audio note, you can leave a brief audio message in the chat by pressing and holding the Phone button. After recording the note, it will be sent to the chat conversation, and the other person can listen when they open the chat.

Method 2

Method 2 of 2:

Making a Video Call

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1
Open Snapchat to the Chats screen. To do so, tap the speech bubble icon at the bottom of the screen.
- If you haven't done so already, go ahead and go ahead and sign up for a Snapchat account.
- Video calls are not available in all areas.
2
Open a chat with the person you want to call. You can do so by tapping the person you want to chat with on the Chats menu or tapping the blue pen-and-paper icon in the lower-right corner and then tapping the person's name.
- If the person you want to call is not a Snapchat friend, you will need to find out their username and add them as a friend.
3
Tap the Video icon to place a video call. If you haven't done this before, you'll be warned that video calls will use mobile data if you aren't connected to a wireless network. The other person will be notified that you're calling them for a video chat.
- If they have notifications for Snapchat enabled, they'll be notified no matter what they're doing on their phone. If they don't have notifications enabled, they'll only see the call if they're currently using Snapchat.
- If you get a "Busy 😫" message, the recipient cannot answer a call now. You can check if a friend is online using the map.
4
Wait for the other person to pick up. The recipient will be able to either watch your video or join the conversation and share video as well.
- If you're receiving a video call, tap Watch to see the other person but not show yourself, Join to join the call and send video back, or Ignore to send a "Busy" message.
You can switch between your front and rear cameras anytime during the chat. Tap your video to make it full-screen, then tap the camera switch button in the upper-right corner.
This will let you use other phone features without hanging up on your friend. Tap it again to resume full screen.
This will not actually end the connection. You'll still be able to see and hear the other person until either they hang up or you close the chat. You can close the chat by switching to another Snapchat screen, switching apps, or closing Snapchat.
You'll see a small circle appear while you hold the button. You can record a message up to ten seconds long, and it will play when they open the conversation next. You can cancel the recording by dragging your finger to the "X" button.^{[1]
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Community Q&A

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Question

How do I see who has viewed my snaps?

Sanjana Tahar

Community Answer

Click on your snap on your story and then slide up and it will show you who viewed your snaps.

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Question

What does the blue phone with an 'X' beside it mean?

Community Answer

It indicates a missed voice call from that contact. You can ring them back by opening the chat screen and pressing the gray phone icon.

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How do I answer a call?

Community Answer

Open the chat when they call you and press the Call button to answer. (The Call button is next to the camera button, which is in the middle.)

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