How to Get Verified on Snapchat.

The short answer

To get verified on Snapchat, first work out which track you are on. A person, such as a creator or public figure, applies to become a Snap Star through Snap’s application form. A business with a Public Profile asks its Snapchat account team or Snapchat Support. Both end with a star, and Snap makes the decision in each case.

Two tracks, one star

It is easy to think of how to get verified on Snapchat as one process. It is two. Snap runs one route for people and a separate one for businesses, and its business page says plainly that the business route applies only to Public Profiles for Businesses, not to people seeking to become Snap Stars.

For anyone running Snapchat for a brand, that split is the first decision. Apply on the wrong track and you are asking the wrong team to judge you against the wrong criteria.

It is also an Operations question more than a content one. Somebody has to own the request, hold the paperwork and make sure the profile is ready before anyone asks Snap to look at it.

What the star actually is

On the creator side, Snap describes a Snap Star as a verified Snapchat creator recognised for high quality content, public presence or popularity. A Snap Star gets a star next to their name on their profile.

On the business side, Snap says verified Public Profiles for Businesses are marked by a yellow star next to their Display Name.

One practical difference for a brand: Snap says that for verified Public Profiles, usernames are hidden within search results and only the Display Name appears. That makes the Display Name the name people see in search, so settle it before you apply rather than after.

Which track is yours

The test is who the account represents.

• A real person, or a group of real people, building a public audience: the Snap Star track. This covers creators, public figures and talent.
• A registered business or entity: the business Public Profile track.
• A general interest account, such as a meme page or a topic page with no person behind it: Snap says general interest accounts are not eligible for Snap Star, so there is no star to chase on that side.

A brand whose founder posts under their own name may want both. That is two separate accounts and two separate requests, judged on different criteria.

How a business gets verified

Snap’s business page sets two criteria for a verified Public Profile:

1. Genuine: the profile must represent a real, registered business or entity.
2. Notable: the business or entity must be broadly known by the public.

To request verification, Snap tells businesses to connect with their assigned Snapchat account team or with Snapchat Support. Before requesting, it says to make sure the profile is complete, active and an accurate picture of the business.

If you do not have a Public Profile yet, that comes first. Our guide on how to make a Public Profile on Snapchat walks through setting one up.

How a creator becomes a Snap Star

For a creator or public figure, Snap’s support page says a Snap Star is the way to get the account verified. The application is a form linked from that support article.

Snap says it considers many factors. Beyond following its Terms of Service and Community Guidelines, it lists:

• Engagement: a large and engaged audience. Snap says it may also upgrade accounts that are well known outside Snapchat.
• Public stories: the account is mainly used to create and share stories with the general public, regularly.
• Credibility: the account represents a real person or people and is their unique presence.
• Notability: the account is highly searched for or culturally relevant.
• Content quality: original, safe, appropriate for all users and in line with the Community Guidelines.

What Snap does not promise

Snap is direct about this on the creator side: “No one is entitled to a Snap Star, regardless of the size of the account’s audience.”

It also says the designation does not change its Terms of Service or give the account holder any extra rights. A star is recognition, not a contract.

The business criteria carry a warning of their own. Snap says false or misleading information may lead to removal of verification or to the account being disabled. A request padded to look more notable than the business is risks more than a refusal.

What it costs

Neither of the Snap pages covering the two tracks mentions a fee, a price or a paid route to the star. The routes they describe are an application form for creators and a request to Snap’s own account team or Support for businesses.

So treat any third party offering to sell a Snapchat star with suspicion. Nothing on Snap’s own pages describes buying one, and a request that rests on false information can cost the account.

Getting a business profile ready

Snap’s own preparation advice is short: complete, active, accurate. In practice, for a brand team, that means checking a few things before anyone sends a request:

• The Display Name matches the name the public knows the business by, since that is what shows in search once verified.
• The profile details describe the registered business, not a campaign or a product line.
• The profile is posting regularly, so it reads as active when Snap looks.
• Someone can show the business is real and registered if asked.
• Notability is evidenced by things that already exist, not by claims written for the request.

If your brand is on Snapchat and the profile itself needs work before it is worth verifying, that is the kind of job our Snapchat for brands service is built around.

Getting a creator account ready

The Snap Star criteria reward behaviour over time, not a well written application. Read them as a checklist of habits:

• Post stories to the public regularly, since Snap looks for an account mainly used that way.
• Keep the content original and suitable for all users.
• Make sure the account is clearly one real person or group, not a general interest page.
• Build the audience on Snapchat, while knowing Snap says it may also upgrade accounts that are well known outside Snapchat.

A creator who meets all of that can still be turned down, because Snap says nobody is entitled to the star.

What a brand should decide before it starts

Three decisions save time later.

First, which track. A brand account and a founder’s personal account are different requests to different parts of Snap.

Second, who owns it. A request to the account team or Support needs one named person who holds the login, the business documents and the history of what was sent.

Third, whether the star matters for this account right now. Snap calls a verified badge highly recommended for businesses, and hidden usernames make the Display Name more prominent. But an incomplete or inactive profile is not ready, and Snap asks for complete and active first.

Next step

Verification is the last step on a profile that is already working, not the first. If you are a creator weighing the Snap Star route, our guide on how to become a Snap Star goes deeper on that track.

And if your team is posting on Snapchat regularly but still feels stuck, NBK can help find the constraint in the system.