Snapchat Planets
You tap a friend’s profile, a tiny solar system badge appears, and suddenly you’re staring at a string of planet icons with no explanation. Which one means you’re their best friend? Which one means you’ve barely made the list?
It’s not obvious — and Snapchat doesn’t exactly hand you a manual.
This guide breaks down every planet in the correct order, what each one actually means, and how the whole friend solar system works behind the scenes.
What Is the Snapchat Friend Solar System?
The Friend Solar System is a Snapchat+ feature that turns your eight closest friends into planets. You sit at the center as the Sun, and each friend orbits you based on how much you interact with them.
The closer a planet is to the Sun in real life, the higher that friend ranks. Mercury is your top choice because it is the nearest. Neptune is your eighth since it is the furthest.
Here’s the part that surprises most people: you can’t see your own planets from your profile. To find out where a specific friend sits in your solar system, you open their profile and tap the Best Friends badge. This is by design — it keeps things from getting weird or competitive.
Snapchat Planets in Order: #1 to #8
The order follows our actual solar system exactly — no shortcuts, no rearranging. Here’s what each planet looks like and what it tells you about that friendship.
Mercury — Your #1 Best Friend
The innermost planet, and the most coveted spot. Whoever sits here is the person you snap and chat with more than anyone else on the app — consistently, not just in one big burst.
Visual: Small, grey planet. Understated, no rings, no moons. If you do not know what to look for, it is easy to miss.
Venus — Your #2 Best Friend
Very close to Mercury in terms of interaction. The gap between your #1 and #2 is often surprisingly small — sometimes just a handful of snaps separating them.
Visual: Pale yellowish-beige planet with subtle surface detail. Warmer in tone than Mercury.
Earth — Your #3 Best Friend
A solid, reliable spot. Earth friends are people you don’t need to force conversation with — the snaps just flow naturally. This is also the first planet in the lineup to have a moon, which makes it easy to identify.
Visual: Blue and green with soft white clouds — exactly what you’d picture from space. Small moon nearby.
Mars — Your #4 Best Friend
Still very much in your inner circle, but the interaction volume drops slightly here. Mars friends are people you’re genuinely close to, just maybe spread across other platforms too.
Visual: Reddish-orange planet with a slightly textured surface. Two small moons orbit around it.
Jupiter — Your #5 Best Friend
Jupiter marks the shift from daily friends to more occasional ones. You’re still in each other’s top eight, which means something — but you’re not swapping snaps every morning.
Visual: Large orange-red planet with dark horizontal bands. Hard to miss because of its size.
Saturn — Your #6 Best Friend
You’d recognize Saturn anywhere, and the Snapchat version is just as distinctive. Friends at this level pop up in your feed regularly, even if it’s not a daily thing.
Visual: Yellowish planet with a bright, detailed ring system. One of the most visually striking icons in the lineup.
Uranus — Your #7 Best Friend
Getting to the outer edges now. A Uranus friend is someone you genuinely like and keep in contact with, but the communication is lighter and less frequent.
Visual: Greenish-blue ice giant with a ring that sits vertically — upright rather than flat like Saturn’s. That’s the key difference.
Neptune — Your #8 Best Friend
The final planet. Making someone’s top eight at all still means something — but Neptune friends are the ones most likely to shift off the list if real-life circumstances change your snapping habits.
Visual: Deep, dark blue planet with a thin, subtle ring. Simple and easy to miss if you’re scrolling fast.
How Snapchat Decides the Order
The algorithm isn’t just counting snaps. It looks at a combination of things:
- Frequency — how often you and a friend interact
- Recency — recent activity carries more weight than old history
- Mutuality — if you snap someone constantly but they rarely reply, they won’t rank high
- Variety — snaps and chat messages both count
The list updates regularly. A friend could move from Earth to Venus in a matter of days if you both start chatting more. Equally, someone who goes quiet for a week might drift from Venus toward Mars.
One thing worth knowing: Snapchat+ gives you the option to pin someone as your #1 Best Friend, which locks them as Mercury regardless of what the algorithm calculates. Useful if you want a specific person to always hold that spot.
How to Actually Find Your Planets
You need an active Snapchat+ subscription. Without it, the badge won’t appear at all. Once you’re subscribed:
- Open Snapchat and go to your Chats
- Tap on a friend’s profile picture or Bitmoji
- Look for the gold “Best Friends” badge — it has a small planet-like icon
- Tap it, and you’ll see which planet that person is in your solar system
- The label will show their planet and what position they hold
You see one friend at a time, not all eight at once. To check another friend’s position, you go to their profile separately.
Why Don’t Your Planets Show Up Sometimes?
A few common reasons this happens:
- No Snapchat+ subscription — the feature is completely locked without it
- That friend isn’t in your top eight — not everyone gets a planet
- One-sided snapping — you message them, they don’t really reply; the algorithm needs mutuality
- Outdated app — an older version of Snapchat can glitch and hide the badge
- Fresh login or cleared cache — sometimes it takes up to 24 hours to repopulate after account changes
Planets vs. Friend Emojis — What’s the Difference?
Snapchat also uses heart emojis and other symbols to indicate friendship status. These are separate from the planets and measure different things.
- A yellow heart means you’re each other’s #1 best friend (mutual top spot)
- A red heart means you’ve held that mutual #1 status for two weeks straight
- Planet icons measure your top eight friends ranked by interaction volume — not just who holds the mutual #1
You can have a yellow heart with someone who isn’t your Mercury, for example, if the streak timing and mutual rankings line up differently. The planets give you a fuller picture of where everyone stands, not just your single closest connection.
What a Friend’s Planet Actually Tells You
The ranking reflects your Snapchat activity, not the depth of a friendship in real life.
Some of the closest real-world friendships sit at Neptune on Snapchat simply because those people talk more on iMessage, WhatsApp, or just in person. The planet only measures what happens inside the app.
That said, it can be a useful mirror. If someone you think you’re close to is sitting at Saturn or beyond, it might just mean you’ve drifted to other platforms — or it might be worth reaching back out.
Tips to Move Someone Closer
If you want to bring a specific friend’s planet closer to the Sun, the recipe is straightforward:
- Reply faster — consistent, quick responses signal an active connection
- Keep your streak going — daily streaks feed into the interaction count
- Mix snaps and messages — text chats count alongside photo snaps
- Actually engage — send things worth responding to; one-sided conversations don’t rank well
- Use the pin feature — Snapchat+ subscribers can pin one friend as Mercury permanently
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the Snapchat planets in order?
Mercury (#1), Venus (#2), Earth (#3), Mars (#4), Jupiter (#5), Saturn (#6), Uranus (#7), Neptune (#8). The order follows our real solar system.
Do I need Snapchat+ to see the planets?
Yes. The Friend Solar System is exclusive to Snapchat+ subscribers and won’t appear without an active subscription.
Can my friends see which planet they are on my list?
No. Your solar system is private. Friends can only see their own solar system, not yours.
What does it mean if a friend is my Mercury?
They’re your #1 best friend on Snapchat — the person you interact with most right now.
Why did my planets suddenly change?
The list updates based on recent activity. If you or a friend snapped less over the past few days, positions can shift. It’s designed to reflect your current habits, not historical ones.
Can I manually set who my planets are?
Not fully. The algorithm assigns positions automatically. The one exception is the Snapchat+ pin feature, which lets you lock one person as your #1 Best Friend (Mercury).
What if I don’t have eight best friends on Snapchat?
The feature only assigns planets to active connections. If you have fewer than eight people you regularly interact with, not all eight slots will be filled.
One Final Thing
The solar system is a fun feature, but it’s worth remembering it only shows a slice of a friendship — the Snapchat slice. Don’t read too much into someone being Neptune versus Earth. What actually matters is the conversation, not the planet emoji next to it.
That said, go check your solar system. You might be surprised who’s holding down Mercury.
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