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What does ‘Pending’ mean on Snapchat?

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  • 5 min read

When you send a snap or a message on Snapchat, it generally shows either ‘sent’ or ‘delivered’ under the recipient’s name. However, as many you must’ve noticed, sometimes you might even get a ‘pending’ prompt. 

Simply put, you get a pending prompt when the recipient either hasn’t added you as a friend on Snapchat or have blocked you. However, there are a few other reasons why you might face this issue. 

Also read: How to fix the ‘Snapchat Stuck on Sending’ error?


Why you might be seeing the pending prompt on Snapchat?

Here are a few reasons why you might be seeing the pending prompt when sending someone a snap.

The recipient hasn’t added you as a friend

This is one of the most popular reasons people see a pending prompt when they send a snap. Users can set their profiles to be private, which means to send snaps to each other, you both must add each other as friends on Snapchat.

If you’ve recently added someone, chances are you might see the pending prompt when you send them a snap because they might’ve not added you back.

You’ve been blocked by the recipient

Another rather popular reason. If someone has blocked you on Snapchat, you won’t be able to send them any snaps or messages at all. All your snaps will show the pending prompt until the person unblocks you and adds you as a friend again. 

Snapchat gets 2 new features: Friendship Profiles, Bitmoji Stories

To check if a person has blocked you, try searching for them in your friend’s list. If they don’t show up, chances are you’re blocked. 

The recipient has deleted their Snapchat account

Another possible reason for the pending prompt to show up is that your friend might have deleted their account. In such cases, the friend’s name won’t disappear from your friend’s list, but any snaps you send them will show ‘pending’ unless they restore their account.

Bad internet connection

A bad internet connection can also hamper your Snapchat connectivity. If you’ve been snapping someone and the pending prompt appears out of nowhere, your internet connection might be to blame.

Try restarting your phone, turning the Wi-Fi on and off and relaunch the app. 

A glitch on Snapchat’s end

Although quite rare, if you’re sure you aren’t getting the pending prompt for one of the aforementioned reasons, Snapchat itself might be down. 

Try restarting the app and checking for updates, if any. If there’s a system outage, you’re just going to have to wait until Snapchat can figure it out. 

Also read: How to fix ‘Snapchat black loading screen stuck on tap to load’ issue?


How long do snaps stay pending?

A snap that shows pending will stay that way unless the conditions stopping it are resolved. For example, if you’re sending a snap to someone who hasn’t added you as a friend, your snap will be pending until they accept your friend request. 

Snapchat stuggles as the number of active users dwindle

Snapchat automatically deletes unopened snaps 30 days after they’re sent. However, whether or not this rule applies to pending snaps is unclear. 

How to fix pending on Snapchat?

Here are three things you can do to stop seeing pending on Snapchat.

Remove the friend

One way to get rid of a pending snap is to remove the friend from your friend’s list. This will clear out the chat, and the pending prompt will be gone. Note that you both will have to add each other again if you’re looking to snap each other.

Clear the chat

If you don’t want to remove the friend from your list, you can also try clearing the chat. This has known to resolve issues with pending snaps and can get rid of the annoying pending prompt.

Block the recipient 

Although this is an extreme measure, if you’re really looking to get rid of that pending prompt, the best and the most effective way of doing so is to block the person you snapped. 

This will clear out the chat and remove the person from your friend’s list, also removing the pending prompt in the meantime. 


How to know your snap was delivered?

Snapchat automatically updates the status of a snap as sent or delivered as soon as you snap any of your friends. 

If your snaps have been stuck in the pending zone, the sure-shot way of knowing they’ve been delivered is to check the snap’s status itself. If it says sent or delivered, you can rest easy that your snap has reached its destination. 

Also read: How to fix Nintendo Switch error code 2137 8056?

Yadullah Abidi

Yadullah Abidi

Yadullah is a Computer Science graduate who writes/edits/shoots/codes all things cybersecurity, gaming, and tech hardware. When he's not, he streams himself racing virtual cars. He's been writing and reporting on tech and cybersecurity with websites like Candid.Technology and MakeUseOf since 2018. You can contact him here: yadullahabidi@pm.me.

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