We will tell you how to clear recents on Snapchat easily. Want to keep your Snapchat account fresh and private by deleting Recents? Recent is a useful feature from Snapchat that lists the friends you contacted recently.
Your chats and snaps are deleted automatically by Snapchat, but the Recents list is kept. This is good enough for most. However, in some cases, you don’t want the Recents list to be visible because it can give away who you contacted recently.
To keep your Snapchat activity private, you would want to clear the Recents list. But here’s bad news: it’s not possible.
You can’t directly delete your Recents. However, you can clear your conversations and search history. So, even if someone sees your Recents, they can’t see the conversation or snaps you shared.
What Does Recents Mean on Snapchat?
Recent is the list of friends you chat or snap frequently with. Where is it located? When you start a new chat or try to send a snap, you see this list of Recents. With this list, you can send messages or snaps to people you commonly communicate with without searching their names on your friend list every time.
There is also another Recents list when you search for someone on Snapchat. It is the list of friends, publishers, snap stars, and lenses you recently added or subscribed to.
How To Clear Recents on Snapchat on Android and iPhone?
Now that you know Recents meaning, note that Snapchat doesn’t provide any option to delete the Recents list. However, with the below methods, you can secure yourself by deleting the things you can.
- Clear Recent Conversations on Snapchat/Recents List Deletion
- Clear Conversation for a Specific Friend Only on Snapchat
- Populate the Recents List
- Clear Search History on Snapchat
- Remove Old Chats from Your Snapchat Account
- Clear Old Snaps from Your Snapchat Profile
- Delete Scan History on Snapchat
1. Clear Recent Conversations on Snapchat/Recents List Deletion
There is no way to directly delete the Recents list. But if you clear all your Snapchat conversations, even though someone else would be able to see your Recents if they access your phone, they won’t be able to view your conversations and snaps. They would only see the snap names or display names on the Recents list.
- Open Snapchat and tap your Bitmoji/avatar at the top left corner.
- On your profile page, tap the settings icon at the top right.
- Swipe down to find the ‘Privacy’ section and select ‘Clear Conversation’.
- You’ll find a list of your friends you had conversations with. Tap the ‘x’ button next to each friend’s name to delete your conversation with them.
2. Clear Conversation for a Specific Friend Only on Snapchat
If you don’t want to delete all the conversations on Snapchat, you have the option to delete your conversation with only one friend or a few friends. Follow the instructions in the above section and only delete the conversation of a few people by tapping the ‘x’ button next to their names.
3. Populate the Recents List
We stated above that deleting the Recents list is not possible. We also showed the methods to clear your conversation.
But in case you’re worried that someone can ask questions if they see your Recents, you can populate the Recents list by sending messages and snaps to other friends as well.
With this, it would be hard for anyone seeing your Recents to guess who is the friend you don’t want them to see in Recents.
4. Clear Search History on Snapchat
Snapchat keeps your search history for friends, lenses, publishers, and snap stars you searched. It can be viewed by tapping the search button on Snapchat. You’ll see a Recents list with stuff you searched on Snapchat recently. To know how to delete Recents on Snapchat for search, you have to perform two small things:
Clear Search History
To know how to clear Snapchat history for search, find the steps below:
- To delete your search history on Snapchat, open the app, and tap your Bitmoji at the top left corner.
- Select the settings icon located at the top right corner of the screen.
- In the user settings, swipe down, find the section ‘Privacy’, and select ‘Clear Search History’.
- It’ll ask for confirmation. Tap ‘Okay’.
Clear the Recents List on Snapchat Search
To delete the Recents list that is shown on the search menu, follow these steps:
- Open Snapchat and tap the search icon (magnifier glass) at the top left corner next to your Bitmojo.
- Now, you’ll see the Recents list. On the right side above the Recents list is the option ‘Clear All’. Tap it and confirm the action to delete Recents.
5. Remove Old Chats from Your Snapchat Account
Your chats are deleted automatically within a set period.
For one-on-one chats with a friend, there are two options for automatic deletion of chats.
- After viewing
- After 24 hours of viewing
Delete Chats after Viewing
In case of deleting chats after viewing, whenever you and your friend leave the chat after viewing the messages, the chat is deleted right away. (Spy stuff, right?)
To select this option for your chat with a friend, follow these steps:
- Open Snapchat and tap ‘Chat’.
- Select your chat with the friend you want to delete after viewing.
- Tap the name of the friend inside the chat.
- Now, tap on the three dots at the top right corner.
- Choose ‘Delete Chats’.
- Select ‘After Viewing’.
Delete after 24 Hours of Viewing
With this option, your chat is deleted after 24 hours of viewing. This is a safer option because we sometimes need conversations for reference so keeping the conversation saved for 24 hours serves that purpose.
And then it’s deleted after 24 hours of viewing so your privacy remains intact. Here’s how to turn on the 24 hours after viewing option on Snapchat:
- Open Snapchat and tap your Bitmoji.
- Swipe down and select ‘My Friends’.
- Choose the friend for whom you want to set the conversation to delete after 24 hours.
- At the top of the screen, tap the name or Bitmoji of your friend.
- Now, select the three dots located at the top right corner.
- Select ‘Delete Chats’.
- Choose ’24 Hours after Viewing’.
Take note that Snapchat removes any unopened message after 30 days.
Delete Saved Chats
A chat is saved if you tap and hold a message. When saved, the chat appears in gray background. If you change your mind and want to delete it, tap and hold the chat and select ‘Unsave in Chat’.
6. Clear Old Snaps from Your Snapchat Profile
Your snaps are deleted when the receivers view them. If you send a snap in a one-on-one chat and the receiver doesn’t view it, it will be deleted in 30 days.
However, if your snap is unopened in a group chat, the Snaps history rule is that it will be deleted in 24 hours.
7. Delete Scan History on Snapchat
With the Scan feature on Snapchat, you can point your camera to anything and tap the yellow button to find information about it.
As everything on Snapchat is kept private, you would want to delete your scan history frequently as well. The process of deleting your scan history is as follows:
- Open Snapchat and tap your avatar.
- Select the settings icon at the top right corner of the screen.
- Swipe down to find the section ‘Account Actions’ and tap ‘Clear Scan History’ under it.
- It will open a popup to confirm your action. Tap ‘Clear’.
- After this, tap ‘Clear Voice Scan History’ to delete your voice scan history as well.
How Long Does Snapchat Keep Your Chat History?
You can set the time of deletion for your chat history to be either deleted after viewing when the chat box is left or after 24 hours of viewing.
In case, your friend doesn’t read the chat and it remains unopened, Snapchat deletes it after 30 days.
How To Delete Recents and Other Activity on Snapchat Using Your Computer?
Snapchat only supports Android and iOS so you can’t use it on your Windows, Mac, or Linux computer. However, if you can get your hands on an Android emulator, you can install it on your computer and then use Snapchat inside the Android emulator.
This option is useful if your smartphone is lost or stolen and you don’t want anyone to find your Snapchat history. You can log in on Snapchat with this process and then clear your recent activity on Snapchat.
Use these methods to find an Android emulator and delete your Snapchat history:
- Get an Android Emulator for Your Computer
- Clear Your Snapchat Conversation, Search History, and Scan History
- Delete the Recents list in Snapchat Search
1. Get an Android Emulator for Your Computer
There are plenty of Android emulators available. To get one:
- Open your web browser and search ‘Free Android emulator for Windows‘ if your operating system is Windows. For Mac, type macOS instead of Windows.
- Find the list of emulators and get anyone you like.
- After installation, open it.
- Open Google Play Store on it and log in or sign up.
- After logging in, search ‘Snapchat’ and install it.
- Open Snapchat and log in.
2. Clear Your Snapchat Conversation, Search History, and Scan History
The Snapchat Recents list that you see when you send snaps or messages can’t be deleted. You can secure your account by deleting your conversations, search history, and scan history. See the below steps:
- Open Snapchat on your Android emulator.
- Tap your avatar.
- Select the settings icon at the top right.
- On user settings, swipe down to find the ‘Privacy Section’.
- Tap ‘Clear Conversation’ and delete all the conversations.
- Then, tap ‘Clear Search History’ and confirm to delete search history.
- After this, swipe down the user settings list and find the ‘Account Actions’ section.
- Tap ‘Clear Scan History’ and confirm to delete your camera scan history.
- Moreover, tap ‘Clear Voice Scan History’ and confirm as well if you used voice for Scan search.
3. Delete the Recents list in Snapchat Search
The Recents list of friends can’t be deleted but the Recents list you see in the search is easy to delete.
- Open Snapchat and tap the search icon at the top left.
- Tap ‘Clear All’ above the Recents list.
Conclusion
Although clearing the Recents list is not possible on Snapchat, you can delete your conversations, search history, and other details to keep your Snapchat account secure.
