What is Snapchat Premium? Guide to features, costs, and benefits

As a parent, you may wish to see what apps the kids are using now. Snapchat, for example, is popular among teenagers and young adults. In 2022, Snapchat rolled out a paid service called Snapchat Premium. If you are concerned about what this service is then you need to understand the differences between having a Snapchat free account as opposed to paying to be a Snapchat premium member.

In this guide, we’ll teach you everything you need to know about being a Snapchat Premium. This includes the pros to the cons, and how to monitor your child’s Snapchat usage.

What is Snapchat Premium?

The service is called Snapchat Premium, or Snapchat + officially and it offers a ton of cool features. Launched in June 2022, this service offers users additional sophisticated tools. These include private badges and greater options that give the users a more custom and unique Experience on Snapchat.

The important thing to note is though, that Snapchat Premium doesn’t alter Snapchat’s core operation. There’s nothing new behind its privacy or security curtain. Moreover, it doesn’t grant subscribers viewing access to material that’s otherwise barred. It’s about all the ways we can give users to add and customize their interactions and social experiences.

Purpose of Snapchat Premium

Why did Snapchat introduce such a service? The primary reason is to provide more customization for those using dedicated preferences so they can stand apart from their friends. Premium users can get exclusive badges and custom icons to show people that they’re Premiums. Similarly, other features like Ghost Trails let you see what your friends are up to. Most of these added features in these games are just about fun and engagement for most of the users.

How much does Snapchat Premium cost?

Also important: Parents thinking whether their kid may be tempted by Snapchat Premium will want to know how much it costs. While Snapchat Premium is fairly inexpensive compared to other subscription services, the prices will still start to accumulate.

Here’s a breakdown of the subscription costs:

• Monthly subscription: $3.99 per month
• Six-month subscription: about $3.67 per month or $21.99 every six months
• Yearly subscription: about $3.33 per month, priced at $39.99 per year

The yearly plan is the cheapest available but some might choose to take it out monthly first. There are no contracts involved here — you can cancel Snapchat Premium any time you want. Teenagers who don’t mind being locked into a long-term subscription will find this flexibility appealing.

Is Snapchat Premium worth it?

The value of Snapchat Premium is on how much your child or teen uses Snapchat. You should also consider what they would get out of the other features offered. For some people, maybe the cost of $3.99 per month would be worth it for things like priority story replies or seeing ghost trails on Snap Map. The free version of Snapchat might suffice for others, who don’t need or can’t afford the expense.
As a parent, I urge you to consider for yourself how much value these add-on features add to your child. Similarly, also ponder whether the monthly fee is worth it given your child’s usage habits.

Benefits: What does Snapchat Premium offer?

Now that we know about the Snapchi Premium costs, let’s look at what is available with Snapchat Premium. Learn what these features are, and you will be able to decide if your kid needs them or if they’re just nice to have because other kids have them.

Exclusive Snapchat+ emblem (white star)

The Snapchat+ Badge (appearing next to the user’s name) is one of the most visible features of Snapchat Premium. It’s a badge that tells other people the user is subscribed to Snapchat Premium. It’s a little bit of a status symbol in that it shows you’re a part of an exclusive group of users.

Personalized home screen icon for Snapchat

All Snapchat Premium users can change the app’s icon on their phone screen to any of the fun and unique designs. Even though this is just a cosmetic feature that most teens would find cool to show who they are, many use it as a way to make their phones look more personal.

Unique viewed-snaps emojis

As a Snapchat Premium feature, users can select an emoji to appear after someone views your Snap. It’s a small gesture, but an exclusive feature for something people may not always get if they don’t have Premium.

Friendship orbit feature with a personalized Solar System

Friends Solar System is a cool way to see who your closest friends are based on how often you’re interacting with them. You can do all that without ever leaving Snapchat. This feature amounts to a planetary system deployed as a system of friendships, closer friends orbiting closer to the sun represented by planets.

This feature is a good one for kids and teens but also may lead to a competitive attitude toward friendships. There will be some pressure on some users to chat more frequently with some friends to seem “more close” in their social solar system.

Location history from friends (24 hours)

Ghost Trails, which lets you see where your friends have been on the Snap Map in the last 24 hours. This is true as long as they have location sharing turned on. While this can be a nice feature, it’s also something to think about regarding privacy. It may not be something you may want to share from a whereabouts perspective.

Top spot in story replies from your premium account

If you frequently communicate with verified accounts or influencers on Snapchat, the Priority Story Replies allows your replies to be first. It’s appealing to teenagers as they want to interact with their favorite celebrities or content creators on the app.

Longer story duration (up to 7 days)

When you’re using Snapchat Premium, one of the features that’s one of the more practical items is the fact that you can extend the life of a Snap Story beyond the usual 24-hour window that you would have otherwise. For those who choose to have their Stories live through the use of Premium, they can have their content out for up to seven days, allowing them to share further with friends.

Exclusive themes and wallpapers for convos

If you are a premium user, you can have exclusive wallpapers and backgrounds to customize your chats. This is just adding a bit of a nice bit to conversations and users be able to tell you from chats with different friends.

Snapchat Planets Order (Solar System) explained

The Friends Solar System or more simply the Snapchat Planets Order is one of the most intriguing features of Snapchat Premium. With this feature, friendships are made into a solar system so that every friend is considered a planet. For example, on Snapchat, the closer your friend is to the ‘sun’ (an indication of the user), the closer the planet is in terms of the number of interactions with that friend.

Here’s how it works:

• Sun: The user.
• Mercury: It is based on the frequency of your interaction.
• Venus, Earth, Mars, and so on: They also represent progressively less frequent interaction.

The more frequented a user is with a friend’s planet, the closer it is to the sun. It’s a great feature to have on Snapchat, which adds a bit of fun and creativity, but obviously, it can also pit younger users against one another when they compare their solar systems.

Snapchat Premium vs. Snapchat free

You need to know how Snapchat Premium differs from the free version. So most of Snapchat’s core functionality is the same for all users, paying or not. However, some big differences could impact whether a person wants to subscribe.

Let’s break it down:

Free Snapchat

• Cost: Free to use.
• Core features: Stories, messaging, filters, Snap Map, and basic customization options.
• Ads: The app will show ads.
• Privacy settings: Standard privacy controls.

Snapchat Premium

• Cost: Less than $3.99 per month (or less with long subscriptions).
• Additional features: Things are Snapchat+ Badge, Friends Solar System, Ghost Trails, Priority Story Replies, extended story expiration, and the ability to add custom app icons.
• Half swipe alerts: With a Snapchat+ Premium account, you’ll now see when a friend half swipes into chat. You’ll immediately get a notification from Snapchat when someone is trying to be sneaky and taking a peek at your conversation.
• Customization: More options for personalization, then — even chat wallpapers and post-view emojis.
• No ads removal: Even though Premium users won’t see ads in the app, they’re still there on the Explorer page.

How to know if someone has Snapchat Premium?

If you want to know if someone is on Snapchat Premium, there are a couple of ways to tell. While these indicators aren’t always foolproof, they can give you a good idea:

1. Check for the exclusive Snapchat+ Emblem (white star): The most obvious sign is the badge that appears next to the user’s name. That person is most likely subscribed to Snapchat Premium if you see this.
2. See if their snap stories last for more than 24 hours: That means if you see a Story for a user that is still up more than 24 hours, that user is probably using Premium. Because of this, Stories can stay up to 7 days.
3. Check for unique cars or pet objects on the shared Snap Map: A fun, but distinctive, feature for Premium users. Through it, users can add pets or vehicles to their Snap Map location.
4. Inspect the emoji that appears after you watch their Snaps: If you view someone’s Snap, and you see blue dots next to their name and it’s followed by a custom emoji, then it’s a tell that they have Premium.
5. Be on the lookout for people who replay your snaps multiple times: Premium users can replay a Snap more than once.
6. Check for quirky or unique chat wallpapers: Another indicator that someone’s using Snapchat Premium is custom chat backgrounds.
7. Inspect their profile for custom wallpapers (not available in your free app): But for those who subscribed as a premium user, you’ll see unusual profile backgrounds. And it’ll be exclusive just for them.

How to monitor your kid’s Snapchat activity?

If you’re worried about your child’s use of Snapchat, check out some ways you can monitor and keep your child safe online. Snapchat’s disappearing messages and stories can make it harder to track what’s happening on the app, but these tips can help you stay informed:

Use Snapchat’s Family Center

Enter Family Center, the basic parental control feature introduced recently by Snapchat. This allows you to monitor with who your child is interacting. This feature lets you know who they talk to regularly, without invading their privacy.

Review privacy settings

So make sure that the child’s privacy settings are as tight as possible. Some things might be set, like who can see and send them Snaps. Similarly, their stories on Snap Map, or who can even see them? Have your child only connect with people they know.

Check their friends’ list

The easiest way to make sure your child is safe is by periodically checking their friends list with them. They must bear in mind who they are connected to and whether or not they add strangers or highly risky contacts to their list.

Talk about online safety

Open communication is a good way to keep the child safe. Have these conversations with your child regularly about online safety, about how sometimes you give up too much when you share too much on the app, as well as what to do if they run across something that makes them feel uncomfortable or inappropriate on the app.

Use monitoring app

There are several apps out there, like FlashGet Kids, that extend monitoring features to inform you if there’s anything worrisome or concerning in a chat. Since Snapchat’s messages disappear, you need something robust like FlashGet Kids to keep your child safe. So, rely on its screen mirroring and keyword tracking features to ensure your child doesn’t get targeted by a predator.

Bottom line

Features available in Snapchat Premium make Snapchat more suitable, engaging, and customizable. The service offers fun ways for users to engage with the app including badges, ghost trails, and friend solar systems.

But as a parent, it’s still something you have to think about: Does your child need these features? The paid version adds features, but the free version of Snapchat is still good enough.

It’s extremely important to monitor your child’s Snapchat activity. The best you can do for them is to stay updated on exactly what Snapchat Premium offers. Similarly, learn new ways on how to keep your child’s account safe.

Frequently asked questions