How-To

How to Make a Private Story on Snapchat

By Ben Stockton

Published October 9, 2022

A private Snapchat story is a great way to share your experiences with a smaller selection of your Snapchat friends. This guide explains how to make one.

Snapchat is an interesting social media concept. Unlike Instagram, where your images and videos are available permanently, Snapchat is designed to be disposable.

Whether it’s the images you send or the videos you record for your stories, they each have a limited time span on Snapchat unless you decide to keep them. This is a good approach, but if you want to take things further, you could make your Snapchat stories private.

This allows you to limit who can see your content. You don’t need to worry about prying eyes figuring out what you’re doing or where you’re going. If you want to know how to make a private story on Snapchat, follow the steps below.

How to Post a Private Story on Snapchat

It goes without saying but, if you want to post a private story on Snapchat, you’ll need the Spotify app installed. You can use Spotify on an Android or iPhone. You can use Snapchat on an iPad, but the experience is mostly designed for the smaller iPhone screen.

To post a private story on Snapchat:

1. Open the Snapchat app on your Android, iPhone, or iPad.
2. Tap your profile icon in the top-left corner of the capture screen.
   
3. To create a new Snapchat story, tap the New Story button (next to My Stories).
   
4. In the Pick Your Story Type pop-up, select the New Private Story option.
   
5. Choose who you want to share your private story with in the New Private Story menu.
6. Tap Create Story at the bottom.
   
7. Rename your story in the Rename Story pop-up box, if prompted.
8. Next, tap the Add to Private Story option under My Stories.
   
9. Record your story as normal and make any changes to it, as desired.
10. To add the video to your story, press the Send button.
    

At this point, your story will become visible to the friends you selected. You can add, edit, or delete the story using the steps below.

Changing or Deleting a Private Story on Snapchat

Once you’ve created a new private Snapchat story, you can make changes to it. For instance, you can add or remove users who can view the story, rename the story, save the story as a video, or delete it entirely.

To change or delete a private story on Snapchat:

1. Open the Snapchat app on your mobile device.
2. Tap the profile icon in the top-right on the capture screen.
   
3. Under My Stories, tap the three-dot icon next to your private story.
4. To rename the story, tap Rename Story and make your changes.
5. To delete the story, tap Delete Story and confirm your choice (if prompted).
   

If you delete your story, you won’t be able to retrieve it. You’ll need to repeat the steps above to create it and share it with the correct people.

Using Snapchat With Friends or Family

Using the steps above, you can quickly create a private story on Snapchat. Only those you choose to see the story will get to see it, making it a more private alternative to a public story.

Alternatively, you could go completely the other way and make a public Snapchat profile. This will allow you to share your content with the widest possible audience—perfect for creatives or local businesses.

Having trouble getting to grips with the Snapchat lingo? If you’re new to Snapchat, you should learn more about pending messages on Snapchat next.