How-To

What Does Pending Mean on Snapchat?

By Adam Davidson

Published September 15, 2022

You send a message on Snapchat, and it doesn’t send, saying that it’s pending. What does pending mean on Snapchat? Learn more here.

Snapchat is a hugely popular social media app that allows you to send photos and text messages that automatically delete after a few seconds. The idea has a lot of appeal—you can send photos and messages without worrying about them hanging around on the internet for the rest of your life.

However, occasionally, a pending Snapchat message can appear, but what does this mean? We’ll explain some of the reasons why you might see this message below.

The Recipient is Not One of Your Friends

One of the most common reasons for seeing a pending message on Snapchat is that the person you’re trying to message is not one of your friends. Until they accept your friend request, the message you’re trying to send will stay as pending. Once they accept your friend request, the message will automatically send.

Unfortunately, there’s no way to see a list of your friend requests and their current statuses in the Snapchat app. If you’re unsure if you sent one, you could try sending a friend request again, although you should be aware that it’s possible that the intended recipient has removed you as a friend.

The Account Has Been Deleted

Social media can be a lot of fun, but with so many different apps and services out there, it can be easy to get overwhelmed by it all. Many people will decide that they’ve had enough of a social media app or account and decide to delete it—just ask Tom from Myspace!

If the person you’re trying to message has deleted their account, then Snapchat won’t be able to deliver it. It will show as pending and will remain that way until the unlikely case that the recipient decides to reinstate their account and add you as a friend.

The Recipient Has Blocked You

When we first get a new social media account, it can be very tempting to add everyone we know, especially when the app has access to your contact list and is telling you about all the other people you can connect with.

After a while, however, you may feel like you want to downsize your list of friends. This will be true for you, but also true for people that you have added as friends. It may be the case that the person you’re trying to message has done some pruning and decided to block your account.

If that’s the case, your message will stay as pending until they decide to unblock you again.

You or the Recipient Doesn’t Have a Network Connection

Snapchat requires a network connection in order to send and receive messages. If your message is pending, it may be that you’re not currently connected to the internet. It could also be the case that the person you’re messaging isn’t currently online, so Snapchat can’t send the message to their phone.

Your phone icons should tell you if you’re connected to Wi-Fi or a cellular network. If you’re still not sure, open a browser and do a search for any term you like. If the search results don’t load, your connection is the cause of the pending message in Snapchat.

Snapchat is Down

When you send a message in Snapchat, it gets sent to Snapchat’s servers, which then direct it to the person you’re sending it to. If Snapchat’s servers are down, your message won’t be able to get through, and you’ll see a pending notification.

If you think this may be the cause of your issue, you can visit a site like Downdetector. This site provides information on the current status of popular services and websites (including Snapchat).

To check if Snapchat is down using Downdetector:

1. Navigate to Downdetector’s Snapchat status page in a browser.
2. The message at the top will tell you if there are any problems reported currently.
   
3. You can also see more detailed information on outages in the chart further down the screen.
   

If the site states that Snapchat is currently down, you’ll need to wait for the service to come back online. When it does, your message should hopefully send automatically.

Learn More About Snapchat

What does pending mean on Snapchat? Hopefully, this article has given you a better understanding of the possible reasons for seeing this message.

There’s plenty more to learn about Snapchat. As a Snapchat user, learning how to create and use custom Snapchat filters can make your pics pop. If you’re a parent, you might want to learn why your kids are so obsessed with the Snapchat app.