Snapchat introduced snapcodes as a quick way to add friends on Snapchat. It later expanded snapcodes to work for websites as well. Predictably, this particular feature has been copied by Facebook Messenger. Snapcodes are basically Snapchat branded QR codes that are easier to use than your username when it comes to adding you on Snapchat. Another quick way to add friends on Snapchat is the Quick Add method. Quick Add on Snapchat is like Facebook suggesting you should add your friends of friends. This means you appear as a suggested friend to other people. If you’d like to turn off quick add on Snapchat, and prevent other people from seeing you appear as a suggested friend, you can.
Quick Add On Snapchat
Open Snapchat and tap the image/thumbnail at the top left. It switches between your Bitmoji avatar, and the most recent photo you posted to your Snapchat story. On your profile screen, tap the cog wheel button at the top. This will take you to your settings.
On the Settings screen, scroll down to the Who Can section, and tap ‘See Me in Quick Add’. On the Quick Add screen, turn the Show me in ‘Quick Add option off’.
From this point forward, friends of your friends will not see your account appear as a suggested friend to add on Snapchat. This doesn’t mean that everything you post to Snapchat will be restricted to your friends. This setting will not change the visibility of anything else that you post on Snapchat.
Limitations
Even though you’ve turned off quick add on Snapchat for your account, you will still see suggestions under quick add when you search for new friends to add. This setting that you turned off controls your account’s visibility but it does not enable or disable the feature. Additionally, if you’ve shared your snapcode with someone, or they get a hold of it somehow, they will be able to add you on Snapchat by scanning the snapcode. There is no way to hide or disable add by snapcode. It’s something that is one of the more successful features of Snapchat and at the end of the day, the app is a social media app. It’s going to make it as easy as possible to add more friends.
If you want to prevent people from adding you via snapcode, you’re going to have to be vigilant about where you share it. For example, you need to make sure you don’t post screenshots of it anywhere, and that your friends who can see your snapcode aren’t likely to share it with anyone else.
