It is possible to view someone’s Snapchat without adding them, provided their account is not set to private.
Of course, the easiest way to see anyone’s story is to add them but you can also search for their username and view their public stories on their profile without adding them, you can also use the Discover Page and Snap Map to check out the Snapchat accounts of people you haven’t added.

Is It Possible To View Someone’s Snapchat Profile Without Adding Them?
Yes!
You can view people’s Snapchat without adding them by searching for their username or by using the Discover page or the Snap Map to find their stories.
1. Viewing Someone’s Snapchat By Searching Their Username:
If someone’s Snapchat account is not set to private then you can view their profile and their public stories without adding them.
To search for the person’s profile follow these steps:
- Open Snapchat
First, tap on the Snapchat app icon as normal. Sign in, then go to the add friends page by pressing the icon in the top right of the screen.
- Tap “Add Friends”

Although you don’t actually want to add the person, this method is the quickest and easiest way to find someone’s account.
- Search for the username of the account you want to see.
You can type in the username of the person in the search bar. Their account should show up underneath the search.
At this point, you can add the user as a friend if you want to, or you can simply tap their profile picture to view their stories.
- Watch their public stories
If the user has any recent public stories they will have a purple circle around their Bitmoji image which you can now tap to view their public story.
You will also be able to send the account messages from here without adding them if you’d like.
As you are not friends, the other account will have the option of blocking you if you are sending a lot of messages or sending inappropriate messages to them.
2. Viewing Someone’s Snapchat Via The Snap Map:
- Open Snapchat.
Open the Snapchat app and sign in.
- Tap The Location Icon to Open Snap Map.

The location icon can be found at the bottom left-hand side of the screen. When you tap this it will bring up the Snap Map.
- Zoom In On Locations.

Use the map to zoom in on locations the person might be and tap the colored areas to watch the snaps in that area.

The colorful hotspots on the map show areas where people have added Snaps. You can look through these snaps.
If you have a specific person whose Snaps you want to view without adding them and you know roughly where they are located then navigate to that area on the map and check if there are any recent snaps in their area.
You can also view people’s snaps on the Snap Map without logging in so this can be a good way of viewing stories away from your own Snapchat account.
3. Viewing Someone’s Snapchat Via The Discover Page
Be aware, if you are looking to view the stories or snaps of a specific person you know then this method will not work, this will just allow you to see the stories of generic people you do not know who have posted public stories that have got a lot of attention.
- Open Snapchat.
Go to Snapchat and sign in if you’re not already signed in.
- Go to the Stories page.

Swipe left or press the icon at the bottom right corner of the screen to go to the stories page. Here you can see stories posted by your friends at the top of the page.
- View The Discover Stories.
Underneath the ‘Friends’ section, you will see the “Discover” section. This is where you can view the stories of people you are not friends with.

People’s stories will only appear here if they have a public profile and their stories are set to public too.
- Scroll through the stories.

You can scroll through the stories until you find the one you want to see. You can view the story and the person’s profile. You can also forward the story to friends.
Is It Possible To View Someone’s Private Stories Without Adding Them?
No, it is not possible to view private stories unless you are friends with the person on Snapchat.
With this in mind you could use one of the following two methods to view people’s private stories without being their friend:
- Watch from a friend’s phone/ account (basically, view from any account that is friends with the person whose story is private).
- Create a secondary Snapchat account that you can use to add them as a friend.
If someone’s profile is set to public you will be able to watch their stories by searching their username, by finding their content on the discover page, or by finding their posts on the Snap Map (if they have posted to it).
If their profile is set to private you will not be able to watch their stories without adding them as a friend first.
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