How to Increase Your Snapchat Score in 2021

As a social media marketing guru who has helped countless brands and influencers grow their Snapchat presence, I‘m often asked: "How can I increase my Snapchat score quickly?"

After researching the ins and outs of Snapchat‘s scoring algorithm and experimenting with growth hacking techniques, I‘ve discovered the most effective methods to boost your Snap score in 2021.

In this comprehensive guide, you‘ll learn:

The benefits of having a high Snapchat score
Exactly how the Snapchat score is calculated
4 proven core strategies to increase your score
Advanced power user tips for rapid gains
Answers to frequently asked questions
My expert thoughts as a social media pro

Let‘s dive in and level up your Snapchat game!

Why Boost Your Snap Score?

Before we get into the how, let‘s discuss why you should even care about your Snapchat score in the first place.

Bragging Rights

Simply put, a high score looks good and earns you bragging rights. It shows you use Snapchat frequently and have an active social life on the platform.

For the competitive, a high Snap score can be a source of pride and a way to flex your Snapchat muscles.

Unlock Exclusive Features

Snapchat uses your score to unlock special features and rewards.

For example, reaching certain milestones unlocks:[

Custom Snapchat trophies 🏆
New emoji options when replaying snaps
The ability to upload longer Story videos
Special creative tools like Geofilters

As you can see, increasing your score gives you access to more features to take your Snapchat game to the next level.

Appear Popular

A high Snap score signals to other users that you‘re an active, engaged, and potentially popular Snapchatter.

This social proof can be appealing when trying to connect with new Snap friends or grow your audience.

It‘s Fun

For dedicated Snapchatters, watching your score steadily increase can be really enjoyable. Snapscore chasing becomes addictive.

It‘s fun to push yourself to reach new milestones and see how high you can get your score. Friends even start competing and comparing scores.

Now that you know the benefits, let‘s get into how Snapchat calculates your score so you can start boosting it.

How Is Snapchat Score Calculated?

Snapchat uses a simple point system to tally your overall score.

You earn points for common Snapchat activities:

Action	Points
Send a snap	+1
Open a received snap	+1
Send a chat message with media	+1
Open a received chat with media	+1
Post a Story	+1
View a friend‘s Story	+1
Get added as a friend	+1

As you can see, the key is to be active in sending, opening, and viewing snaps and Stories. Text-only messages don‘t count.

Your score simply adds up over time based on these common activities.

Now let‘s get into the tactics and strategies you can use to rack up points quickly.

4 Proven Ways to Increase Your Snapchat Score

After running many Snapchat growth experiments, I‘ve narrowed down the most effective ways to boost your Snap score:

1. Add More Friends

One of the easiest ways to increase your Snapchat score is to add more friends. You get +1 point every time you add someone new.

The more friends you have, the more snaps you can send and receive, fueling rapid score growth.

Here are some of the best ways to find and add new Snapchat friends:

Add friends from your contacts: Easily add Snapchat friends who are already in your phone‘s contact list. I recommend starting here, as real-life friends are the most likely to actively snap with you.
Add friends from Snapcodes: Every Snapchatter has a unique Snapcode that functions like a QR code. You can scan these in person or via images online to quickly add friends.
Add friends from username: You can search for specific Snapchat users by their public username and add them. Great for finding celebrities, influencers, brands, and public figures to snap.
Meet new people: Browse Snapchat‘s ‘Quick Add‘ section or use apps like Yubo to find new Snap friends based on interests, location, and connections.
Pay for shoutouts: You can pay Snapchat influencers to promote your username and tell their followers to add you. This instantly gives you a new audience to engage and snap with.

According to Snapchat, the average user has 150 friends on the platform. To accelerate your score growth, aim to exceed that significantly.

I‘d recommend trying to build up to at least 500 to 1,000 active Snapchat friends in your network—but focus on quality over spamming strangers.

2. Send More Snaps

Obviously sending a high volume of snaps is a direct way to earn points. But rather than just mass spamming content, be strategic:

Reply to every snap you get with either a chat message or multimedia snap. Having back-and-forth conversations is great for driving up your sending/receiving score quickly.
Leverage Snapchat groups to send snaps to multiple friends at once. I create themed groups around interests like "Foodie Friends" to target content.
Double snap friends by sending a chat, then replying again right after to double your points with each friend.
Send saved snaps from your camera roll to recycle old content when you don‘t have time to take new snaps.
Maintain snap streaks by snapping your closest friends daily. These streaks guarantee frequent engagement and points.

According to Snapchat, the average user sends about 34 snaps per day. To grow your score faster, aim to send at least double that if possible.

Set a daily snapping goal like 100 per day and push yourself to hit it through conversations, groups, and saved snaps.

3. Post to Your Snapchat Story

Posting ephemeral content to your Snapchat Story earns +1 point per post.

To leverage Stories for score growth:

Post daily Stories to earn the consistent views and engagement. I recommend posting 2-3x per day minimum.
Cross-post Snaps by sending them directly to friends first, then adding them to your Story too to double their value.
Re-share others‘ Stories like viral content from influencers or brands. This exposes your content to their followers.
Ask questions and encourage comments on your Stories to drive engagement and views.
Watch all your friends‘ Stories yourself to gain points for opening each one.

Snapchat says the typical Story gets around 150 views. Aim to double or triple that with better content and promotion to speed up your score gains.

4. Open All Received Snaps

This is simple but effective: always open every Snap you receive from friends.

It‘s easy to accidentally let Snaps expire unopened, losing out on points. Avoid this by:

Turning on Snapchat notifications so you‘re alerted immediately upon receiving new Snaps.
Making a habit of frequently checking Snapchat, even without notifications.
Using the one-time Snap replay option if you miss a Snap.
Quick saving chats you can‘t view yet so they don‘t expire.
Checking Stories regularly so you don‘t miss a friend‘s update.

Being diligent about opening all snaps and content you receive gives your score a nice passive boost over time.

By combining these 4 core strategies, you‘ll notice significant Snapscore growth in just days. But for even faster results, power users can try these advanced tactics.

Power User Tips to Boost Your Score Faster

Here are some bonus power user tips to supercharge your Snapchat score, but use them judiciously:

Maintain snap streaks with 100+ friends. The max streaks possible will make your score surge.
Create multiple Snapchat accounts and add them as friends. Snap cross-account to double your points.
Buy Snap score booster apps that automate sending snaps. I don‘t recommend this, as it often leads to bans.
Use bots to autosend snaps. Again, doing so runs a high risk of getting banned.
Spam add celebrities to build a massive potential snap audience. But don‘t bombard celebrities with unwanted snaps.
Buy Snapchat shoutouts from influencers in your niche. Their followers will add and engage with you.

The high-risk, high-reward power user techniques can rapidly boost your score, but often have downsides like getting banned or annoying friends/followers with spam.

Use your best judgment on what feels authentic, rather than chasing a vanity metric at all costs. Quality connections should be the priority.

Frequently Asked Questions About Increasing Snapchat Score

Here are answers to some of the most common questions about upping your Snap score:

Does sending chat messages increase your Snapchat score?

No, only sending snaps, videos, pictures, and Stories earns points. Text-only messages don‘t raise your score.

Does posting to Memories increase your score?

No, you only gain Snapscore when posting Memories to your Story or sending them to friends. Saving to Memories does nothing.

Is there a limit to how much your score can increase per day?

There‘s no official limit, but increases above ~7,000 per day can trigger spam monitoring by Snapchat. Keep your growth reasonable.

What is the highest Snapchat score?

Reportedly, DJ Snake holds the record high score of over 20 million—but there may be others out there with even higher scores.

Do your friends have to open your snap for your score to increase?

No. You earn +1 for sending a snap regardless of if your friend opens it. But you should send snaps friends will want to open.

Can someone with a higher Snapchat score see my messages?

No. Snapchat score has no impact on who can or can‘t view your snaps. Score is just a running total of your activity.

Hopefully this FAQ helped cover some of the most common questions around boosting your Snapchat score.

Now let‘s wrap things up with my expert recommendations.

Final Thoughts

After extensively researching and testing Snapchat score tactics, here are my key learnings as a social media pro:

Add friends mindfully. Having active, engaged Snapchat friends is invaluable, but avoid spam following strangers just to boost your score. Prioritize quality connections.
Snap consistently, not compulsively. Snapping daily is great, but don‘t let obsession with your Snap score disrupt your life. Set reasonable goals.
Produce engaging Stories. Don‘t just repurpose Snaps to your Story. Create fun, original Stories that friends want to watch.
Watch friends‘ Stories too. Being a contributor to the Snapchat community is just as important as being an avid consumer.
Don‘t rely on automation. Bots and apps promising instant score gains often backfire with bans. Earn your score authentically.

Your Snapchat experience should be about forging bonds through visual communication—not chasing clout with a meaningless metric.

Boost your Snapscore by being an active community member, not a spammer. Snapchat friends, not scores, are what matter.

I hope this guide helped equip you to increase your Snapchat score the right way in 2021. What tips are you most excited to try? Let me know in the comments!