How to Recover a Snapchat Account

Start here: on the login screen tap Forgot your password? and reset by email or phone. That covers most lockouts. If someone else has taken the account, skip to the hacked-account section — it is a different process and speed matters there.

Reset by email

1. Open Snapchat and tap Forgot your password? on the login screen.
2. Choose Email.
3. Enter the address on the account. Snapchat sends a reset link.
4. Open the link and set a new password.

The link expires, so use it promptly. If it has already expired, request a new one rather than reusing the old message.

Reset by phone

1. Tap Forgot your password?, then choose Phone.
2. Enter the number on the account and choose to receive a code by SMS.
3. Enter the code, then set a new password.

This only works if the number was verified on the account. An unverified number will not receive anything.

If you have forgotten the username too

Snapchat can send it to you: on the login screen use the option to recover your username, and supply the email address on the account. It emails the username, which you then use with the password reset.

If the email address is also gone, you are relying on the support route below.

If the account was hacked

Act quickly, because an attacker’s first move is usually to change the email and phone number, which closes the self-service routes.

1. Try the password reset immediately. If the contact details have not been changed yet, this ends it.
2. Check your email for a change notification. Snapchat emails you when the address or number on an account changes. That message is the most valuable thing you have — keep it, and follow its instructions to reverse the change.
3. Use the support form for compromised accounts at help.snapchat.com, under the hacked-account topic. You will be asked to prove ownership, so have ready: the username, the original email and phone, roughly when you created the account, and the device you normally use.
4. Warn your friends. Compromised accounts are used to send scam links to the friend list, and those links are trusted because they come from you.

Once recovered, change the password, turn on two-step verification, and check Settings → My Account → Account Actions for anything unfamiliar.

Locked or temporarily disabled

A lock is different from a lost password. Snapchat locks accounts automatically when it detects third-party apps, unusual login patterns, or activity that looks automated.

• Temporary locks usually clear on their own within 24 hours. Log in once, follow the unlock prompt, and then wait rather than repeatedly retrying — repeated attempts extend it.
• Uninstall any third-party Snapchat app first. Unofficial clients and “enhancement” apps are the single most common cause of locks, and the account will lock again immediately if one is still installed.
• Permanent locks require an appeal through the support site.

Deleted accounts

A deleted Snapchat account is deactivated for 30 days before it is erased. Within that window, simply logging in with the username and password restores it. After it, the account and its data are gone and cannot be recovered — the username may not even be reusable.

When nothing works

The support form is the last route, and how you fill it in decides the outcome. Submit from the device and network you normally used, give the exact username, and list every email address and phone number ever attached. Approximate account-creation dates help. Vague submissions get generic replies.

What will not help: anyone advertising Snapchat account recovery for a fee. There is no private channel into Snapchat support, and these are advance-fee scams that frequently target people in exactly this situation.

Preventing the next one

• Turn on two-step verification in Settings, using an authenticator app.
• Verify both an email address and a phone number, and keep them current.
• Save the recovery code somewhere offline.
• Use a unique password stored in a password manager.
• Remove third-party Snapchat apps — they are both a lock risk and a common credential leak.

FAQs

Can I recover my snaps and memories?

Memories return with the account. Snaps and chats are deleted by design after viewing and are not recoverable.

How long does support take?

Typically a few days, longer for compromised accounts requiring manual review.

Can I recover an account with no email or phone?

Only through support, and it is difficult. This is the case the recovery code exists for.

Does my streak survive?

If the account is recovered quickly, often yes. Snapchat will sometimes restore a streak lost to a lockout if you ask through support soon afterwards.