When it comes to certain types of content, it’s not about what you are posting as much as who is seeing what you are posting. After all, not everything is meant to be put on display for the rest of the world to see. There are parts of your life and what you do that are meant only for a select few friends and family. Incredibly private parts.

Fortunately, social media platforms like Snapchat accommodate this need for their userbase by providing appropriate features. Now it’s only a matter of knowing how to use such features. In this article, we will navigate the ins and outs of how to make a Private Story on Snapchat.  

Related: Can You Have Two Snapchat Accounts?

What is a Private Story on Snapchat?

In a nutshell, a Private Story is basically a story that can only be viewed by a single person or select few friends that you must decide. These snaps will become available in a separate section from the Our Stories section.

Private Stories appear with a small padlock which is an indicator of their nature. So it will remain secure and private, away from the public snaps submitted by users across the world. 

What is the difference between Private Stories and Custom Stories? 

Both Private Stories and Custom Stories come across as performing the same function, however, there are subtle differences that you must know. Private Stories are an entirely different feature introduced by Snapchat. These stories are separate from your My Stories section which is meant for the general/custom audience on Snapchat.

Consider the idea of separating your social groups in terms of content that you want the whole world to know and content that is for specific people only; Private Stories provides a separate place for content that is meant for said specific people. 

Custom Stories is a feature that has been introduced as part of My Stories. While the premise of privacy remains, the demarcation of content that Private Stories offers is removed entirely.

The content you share will always but only be available to a specific set of people, not everyone, not even your friends, just a specific set of people you’ve picked.

Everything that you post on My Stories will always go to the set of people you’ve allocated as part of the custom group. This effectively means that your content will not reach a greater audience or receive traction from Snapchat’s algorithm. 

Related: How To Change Snapchat Location

How to make a Private Story on Snapchat

The Privacy offered by Snapchat extends beyond the Private Story feature. These tutorials also focus on how to take advantage of the Custom feature. You can check out all these tutorials depending on what you need. 

How to add users to a Private Story 

From Profile

To make a private story, you need to follow these steps. 

Open the Snapchat app and go to your Profile page. Tap the + Private Story in from the Stories section.

Now select the friends that you want to share the private story with. 

Tap on Create Story after selecting your friends. 

You will now be prompted to name the story. Type the name in the text box and then tap on Save.

Your Private Story will now appear as a separate tab in the Stories section.

Tap on your private story to add content to it.  

From Story

Launch the Snapchat camera, click a picture and then tap the Send To button on the bottom right.  

In the next window, you will see your current existing Private Group. Tap on it and the Story will be uploaded. 

You can also make a new Private Story. Tap on the +Private Story button on the top right part of the screen. 

Select the friends that you want in the group. 

Name the Story by typing in the text box. 

The group will now appear in your Send To list. Simply select it and your Story will be added to the group.  

Related: How To Play Bitmoji Paint on Snapchat

How to let anyone join your Private Story on Snapchat

While no one can join your private story of their own accord, you can tweak your Private Story list to allow them into the group if they request you to allow them in. Here’s how: 

Tap the three-dot menu icon next to the Private Story tab that you want to edit from Stories.

Select the See viewers option from the menu. 

Now select the users who want to join your Private Story.

Finally, click on Save.

How to customize My Story on Snapchat

Unlike the Private Story feature, My Story allows you to customize your audience base to include only yourself. Basically, Snapchat introduced Custom stories as a feature of My Story, so you can add either just yourself or a select set of users. This audience will be the only one that gets to see what you upload on My Stories and no one else. 

How to customize My Story so only you can view it 

Tap the three-dot menu icon next to My Story. 

Now select Story Settings.

Tap on the Custom option. 

Now scroll the list of friends till you find your own username, then tap on it. Keep in mind that typing it in the search bar will not show your username. 

Once you’ve done this, anything you post on My Stories will be shared only with yourself, inadvertently making it a private story. 

How to customize to let anyone join My Story

Follow the same steps from the section above and instead of selecting your username, simply select the friends that you want to add. When you do this, any story you share on My Stories will only be available to these friends. 

How to delete a Private Story

Go to Stories from your Profile. Now tap the three-dot menu icon next to the name of Private Story you want to delete. 

Tap the Delete Story option.

Once again select Delete to confirm and the story will be removed. 

Related: How To Change Snapchat To Dark Mode

Why won’t Snapchat let me make a story Private? 

This issue is most likely being caused because you don’t have the latest updated version of the app. Make sure that you’ve updated the app and you will be able to see the Private Story option. If the problem persists, then uninstall the app and download it again.  

How to find out if someone removed you from their private story on Snapchat? 

Short of confronting the user, there are no true means to know when someone removes you from their private story. The subtle indicators are when you stop seeing the tiny padlock on the user’s stories and chances are that the frequency, as well as nature of their stories, will change. 

We hope this article clarified the confusing aspects of Private Story. In case you still have any doubts, do reach out to us in the comments. Take care and stay safe. 

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