Snap Map Location: Disappearing if Phone Dies or Inactive?

Here’s everything about your Bitmoji disappearing from Snapchat’s Snap Map if your phone dies or you are inactive on Snapchat:

If your battery dies your Bitmoji won’t disappear from the Snap Map.

However, if you are offline for a long time, your Bitmoji will disappear.

After about seven hours, Snapchat assumes you don’t want to broadcast your location publicly, and your Bitmoji will disappear.

So if you want to learn all about your Bitmoji disappearing on Snapchat’s Snap Map, then you’re in the right place.

Let’s jump right in!

Snap Map Location: Disappearing if Phone Dies or Inactive?

How Does the Snap Map Work?

Happy woman using mobile phone while hiking in nature.

The Snap Map works by looking at all your contacts that are near your location and displaying them as Bitmojis on a map.

You can also check out your contact’s snaps as well as their stories directly from the map.

It’s a great way to see what your contacts are up to.

It’s also a great way to let your contacts know where you are and what your availability is.

There are a few privacy settings that you can set to make sure you are comfortable with the information being displayed:

Only Me/Ghost Mode: Your location isn’t visible to anyone else on the Snap Map. But you, on the other hand, can see other people.
My Friends: Your location is just visible to your friends on the Snap Map.
Select Friend: You can select particular people that will be shown your location.

A lot of people think that you need to be constantly online to remain on the snap Map.

Fortunately, that isn’t true.

You can be offline and still show up on the Snap Map for a while.

Obviously, when you are not connected to the internet, your location won’t be updated in real-time.

This means that your location on the Snap Map will be the last known location that was pinged to Snapchat.

Will Your Bitmoji Disappear From the Snap Map Immediately When Your Is Inactive?

Woman checking her phone with serious face.

No, your Bitmoji does not disappear immediately from the Snap Map.

It stays at your last known location.

So, your friends will still know where you are, at least your general location.

But it doesn’t last long.

After about 7 hours of inactivity, the Bitmoji will disappear from the Snap Map.

So, make sure that you have some activity every 7 hours.

This way, your Bitmoji will remain online on the Snap Map, letting your friends know your current status.

How Do Snapchat’s Friend Suggestions Work?

Happy tourists checking their phone and map.

On another note, Snapchat has just offered you yet another contact to add.

Here’s how Snapchat comes up with those suggestions.

Snapchat suggests friends based on the information you provide to the app.

This includes your contacts, existing friends, and user data that is generated every time you interact with the app.

All of this data is run through sophisticated software, and the result is a list of suggested friends.

Learn all about how Snapchat’s friend suggestions work here.

What Happens to Your Snap Map When Your Phone Is Turned Off?

If your phone’s battery is drained or you have powered it off yourself, you won’t disappear from the Snap Map.

In fact, it will take about 7 hours of inactivity before Snapchat decides to remove your Bitmoji from the Snap Map.

So as long as you are connected to the internet and open Snapchat every 7-ish hours, you should be good.

And your Bitmoji will show on the Snap Map to all your friends.

During this time, Snapchat has recorded your last known location.

So, if someone were to look at the Snap Map after, let us say 5 hours you were last online, they would see your location that Snapchat recorded 5 hours ago.

But after 7 to 8 hours, even that location is removed from the Snap Map.

What Happens to Your Snap Map When You Are Sleeping?

Sleeping woman with mobile phone on her desk.

Another great feature with Snap Maps is that Snapchat knows when it’s nighttime at your current location.

So, if you are offline for a few hours at night, the Snap Map will conclude that you are sleeping.

And your Bitmoji will change to make it look as if you are sleeping.

This feature again doesn’t need your phone to be online.

Snapchat will just assume that you are sleeping in it is nighttime, and your phone is offline.

It is important to note that if you don’t come online after an extended period of inactivity, then your Bitmoji will go offline.

So, for a temporary time period, the Snap Map will show you are sleeping.

Being offline for a few days definitely means that you are inactive and don’t want to be shown on the Snap Map.

The good news is that to stay active on the Snap Map, you just have to connect to the internet after 7 or so hours.

And with our lives so dependent on using the internet, I can imagine that it isn’t hard for someone that has a phone and uses Snapchat.

How Accurate Is the Location on the Snap Map?

Serious young woman checking cell phone outdoors.

As with any other social media application that uses location services, the location reported by your phone is very accurate most of the time.

But that doesn’t mean that it is accurate 100 percent of the time.

Location services on a cell phone use multiple services to triangulate your location.

They use things like location ping by your cellular network provider, inertial indicators like your compass data, and even what Wi-Fi you’re connected to.

Then all of this data is consolidated to track your location.

Most of the time, this location will be the point on, but it can’t always be relied on.

Things like bad signal strength, interference, and a compass that isn’t calibrated can throw off your current location by miles.

So don’t take the Snap Map locations as 100% and assume they can’t be wrong.

It’s usually correct, but not always.

So, if your significant other says that their Snap Map location is wrong, they may be telling the truth.

Location services can get funky sometimes.

This isn’t just true for Snap Map and Snapchat.

Basically, any application that uses location services can be wrong, occasionally.

Am I Notified if Someone Checks My Location on the Snap Map?

Young woman lying on the sofa using smartphone with surprised look

No, Snapchat doesn’t notify you if someone saw your location on Snap Map.

Snapchat users are not notified if someone has looked at their location unless they have created a Snap Map “status.”

Basically, if the Snap Map shows a Bitmoji doing something like drinking or playing a sport, then the user has set a status.

This status will only last as long as the person is in the location.

The status will automatically disappear once the person leaves that location.

By clicking their Bitmoji at that time, the user can see you’ve looked at it.

Likewise, if you see a Bitmoji that is normal, it means they don’t have a Snap Map status, and won’t be notified if you click on their Bitmoji.

How Much Data Does Snapchat Use?

Young brunette woman using phone on sofa with serious look.

Okay. This is how Snapchat suggests friends.

All is well and good.

How much data does Snapchat use, though?

Is it possible that Snapchat is causing your high cell data usage?

You will consume about 160 MB if you send snaps continuously for an hour.

Each snap takes up about 1 MB of traffic.

Comparatively, sending a text message takes about 20 KB (1 MB is 1000 KB), but sending about 10 stories takes about 20-25 MB.

Learn all about Snapchat’s data usage here.

Author

Theresa McDonough

Tech entrepreneur and founder of Tech Medic, who has become a prominent advocate for the Right to Repair movement. She has testified before the US Federal Trade Commission and been featured on CBS Sunday Morning, helping influence change within the tech industry.

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