What Does the Red Heart Mean on Snapchat? 

If you see a red heart ❤️ next to a friend’s name on Snapchat, it means your friendship has reached an important milestone. You and that person have been each other’s #1 Best Friend for two weeks in a row.

Snapchat uses Friend Emojis to show different levels of interaction between friends. These emojis are based on how you use Snapchat with other people and can change over time.

Here’s everything you need to know about the red heart, including what it means, how you get it, how long it lasts, and how it compares with other Snapchat heart emojis.

What Does the Red Heart Mean on Snapchat?

The red heart ❤️ means you and another person have been each other’s #1 Best Friend for two consecutive weeks.

In simple terms, you have been sending each other more Snaps than either of you sends to anyone else for two weeks.

Snapchat officially calls the red heart BFF. It is the second major heart stage in Snapchat’s Friend Emoji system.

The red heart does not automatically mean you are dating or romantically interested in each other. It represents your Snapchat activity and friendship ranking, not the nature of your relationship.

How Do You Get the Red Heart on Snapchat?

Getting the red heart requires consistent interaction.

First, you and the other person need to become each other’s #1 Best Friend. This is represented by the yellow heart 💛.

If you remain each other’s #1 Best Friend for two weeks in a row, the yellow heart changes to a red heart ❤️.

The basic progression looks like this:

Yellow Heart 💛 → Red Heart ❤️ → Pink Hearts 💕

Each stage requires continued interaction over a longer period.

It is not enough to simply send a lot of Snaps one day. Your Snapchat activity with that person needs to remain stronger than your interactions with other friends.

What Does the Red Heart Say About Your Friendship?

The red heart shows that you and your friend have maintained a strong level of Snapchat interaction.

It means you are currently each other’s top Snapchat friend based on the activity Snapchat uses for its Best Friends system.

However, it does not necessarily mean you are someone’s best friend outside Snapchat.

For example, you might have a close friend in real life but rarely Snap them. Another person could have the red heart because you communicate with them much more frequently on Snapchat. If you’re also trying to understand other Snapchat indicators, What Does the Green Dot Mean on Snapchat? can help explain what Snapchat’s activity indicator means.

So, the red heart is best understood as a Snapchat friendship status, rather than a measurement of your entire relationship.

Red Heart ❤️ vs. Yellow Heart 💛

The yellow heart is the stage that comes before the red heart.

Yellow Heart 💛

The yellow heart means you and another person are each other’s #1 Best Friend. You send the most Snaps to them, and they send the most Snaps to you.

Red Heart ❤️

The red heart means you have maintained that #1 Best Friend position for two weeks in a row.

So the difference is mainly the amount of time you have remained each other’s top friend.

💛 = #1 Best Friends

❤️ = #1 Best Friends for two weeks

Red Heart ❤️ vs. Pink Hearts 💕

The pink hearts are the next level after the red heart.

Snapchat says the pink hearts 💕 mean you have been each other’s #1 Best Friend for two consecutive months.

That means the progression is:

Friend Emoji	Meaning
💛 Yellow Heart	You are each other’s #1 Best Friend
❤️ Red Heart	You have been #1 Best Friends for 2 weeks
💕 Pink Hearts	You have been #1 Best Friends for 2 months

This is why some Snapchat users pay attention to maintaining their red heart. Losing the status means your Snapchat activity with that person has changed.

Can the Red Heart Disappear?

Yes. The red heart can disappear if you and your friend are no longer each other’s #1 Best Friends.

Snapchat says Friend Emojis are based on how you and your friends use the platform and can change regularly.

For example, if you start sending significantly more Snaps to another person, your Best Friends ranking can change.

Your friend could also become more active with someone else. If either person’s #1 Best Friend changes, the red heart may disappear.

This can happen even if you are still friends on Snapchat.

Can You Get the Red Heart Back?

You can potentially get the red heart again by rebuilding the same pattern of interaction.

If you and the same person become each other’s #1 Best Friend again and maintain that position for two consecutive weeks, Snapchat can assign the red heart again.

However, Snapchat Support says it cannot manually add, restore, or replace recently changed Friend Emojis, including the BFF ❤️ and Super BFF 💕 emojis.

So there is no official button that lets you simply restore a lost red heart.

Does the Red Heart Mean They Like You?

Not necessarily.

This is one of the biggest misunderstandings about the red heart.

The ❤️ emoji does not confirm romantic feelings. Snapchat assigns it according to friendship and communication patterns on the platform.

If someone has a red heart next to your name, it means you both have been each other’s top Snapchat friend for two weeks.

What it means emotionally is up to the people involved.

Does Snapchat+ Change the Red Heart?

Snapchat+ includes additional friendship features, but the basic meaning of the red heart remains the same.

For example, Snapchat+ subscribers can privately pin one person as their #1 Best Friend using the Best Friends Forever feature. Snapchat says this pin is private, meaning only the subscriber can see who they selected.

This is different from the regular red heart system.

The red heart is based on the friendship status Snapchat assigns from your activity, while Snapchat+ provides additional ways to manage or view certain friendship features.

Can You Customize the Red Heart Emoji?

Snapchat also allows users to customize some Friend Emojis.

According to Snapchat Support, you can go to Profile → Settings → My App → Customize Emojis. The available options can vary depending on your device, and not every emoji is available in every situation.

So if your Friend Emoji looks different from someone else’s, customization may be one reason.

What Are Snapchat Best Friends?

Snapchat Best Friends are people you Snap and Chat with the most. Snapchat says you can have up to eight Best Friends, and the list is updated regularly.

The red heart is connected to this system.

In other words, Snapchat looks at your interaction patterns rather than simply checking whether someone is on your Friends list.

That is why adding someone as a friend does not automatically give you a heart emoji.

Latest Snapchat Update: What You Should Know

As of 2026, Snapchat’s official support information continues to define the red heart as the BFF status earned after being each other’s #1 Best Friend for two consecutive weeks. Snapchat also continues to explain that Friend Emojis can change according to how you and your friends use the app.

The important point is that the red heart is still an activity-based Friend Emoji. It is not a permanent badge and does not guarantee that you will keep the status forever.

Final Thoughts

So, what does the red heart mean on Snapchat?

The answer is simple: ❤️ means you and another person have been each other’s #1 Best Friend for two weeks in a row.

It comes after the yellow heart 💛 and before the pink hearts 💕. If you want to keep it, you need to continue interacting with that person more than you interact with other Snapchat friends.

And remember, the red heart represents your Snapchat activity, not necessarily romantic feelings or your closest friendship in real life.