How does the Snap Score system actually work on Snapchat?

Hey, I used to obsess over my Snap Score back in high school, so I spent way too much time testing this. The basics are: your score increases when you send snaps and when you receive snaps. Opening them doesn’t add anything, and chats (text messages) don’t count either. Posting to your story also bumps your score, but usually less than sending a snap directly to friends. If you send one snap to ten friends at once, you only get credit once for sending—not ten. What makes it tricky is Snapchat adds little “bonus points” sometimes when you come back after being inactive. That’s why your score might suddenly jump by more than expected. So, the formula isn’t fully transparent, but the pattern is consistent: send and receive snaps, occasionally post stories, and watch it climb. Don’t stress about chats—they’re not part of it.

Think of Snap Score as a “participation counter.” Every snap sent or received counts as one point. Stories add points too, though not always consistently. If you’re inactive for a while, your next activity often gives a noticeable boost—that’s the “mystery jumps” people see. Chats, typing, or viewing snaps don’t add anything. It’s Snapchat’s way of rewarding engagement without revealing the full formula. They’ve never released an official breakdown, which is why people argue about the small details.

I tested this with a friend: we sent 20 snaps back and forth, and our scores went up by exactly 20 each. Posting to stories gave smaller increases. But chatting didn’t move the score at all. So yeah, it’s all about snaps, not texts.

Your Snap Score grows when you send/receive snaps and sometimes from story posts. Chats, opening snaps, and streak emojis don’t influence it. Random jumps usually mean Snapchat updated the tally behind the scenes—it’s not broken, just recalculated.