How to make a Snapchat screenshot that looks real

What you need

A photo for the snap, the names of the people involved and a short script. Fakeconvo's Snapchat generator draws both a story snap and a chat in the Snapchat style, is free, needs no account and puts no watermark on the PNG. Your photos and text stay in your browser.

Four steps to a realistic snap

The generator opens on "Snapchat story". The first message is the snap itself.

1. Choose who posted it. Under People, type the friend's name, like "Maya", and add a profile photo with the round button if you want one. Their name and photo sit at the top left, next to the progress bar; with "Show timestamps" on, the first message's "Time" (for example "12m") appears under the name.
2. Add the photo. Click "Photo" on the first message. It is cropped to a 9:16 phone screen; without a photo the snap gets a sunset gradient.
3. Write the captions. Every message becomes its own caption bar across the snap, stacked in order, just like Snapchat's text bars. Keep each one short. A "+ Date / notice" line turns into a sticker-style label.
4. Your story or a friend's? For a friend's snap the bottom shows the camera and the "Send a Chat" bar. Post the first message "+ From me" and fill in "Views" to show your own story with the eye icon and a view count instead. Then download the PNG at 2x or 3x. Stories are always dark, so "Dark mode" doesn't change them.

Five steps to a realistic Snapchat chat

1. Switch to "Snapchat chat" above the editor. The header shows the friend's name and photo (or their initial on a coloured circle) with the call and video icons. For a group, switch on "Group chat", type the "Group name" and use "+ Add person".
2. Write the messages with "+ From …" and "+ From me". Snapchat has no bubbles: each run of messages from one person gets their name in capitals above it and a coloured bar on the left. Yours are red and labelled "ME", a friend's are blue, and every group member gets a colour of their own.
3. Add photos, replies and reactions. Use "+ Photo" for a picture with an optional "Caption". Pick a message in "Reply to" for a quote in the original sender's colour, and use "Reactions" to add an emoji.
4. Get the receipt right. Only your newest message shows one: "Sent", "Delivered" with a filled red arrow, or, when its "Status" is "Read" and "Read receipts" is on in Settings, "Opened" with an outlined arrow. With "Show timestamps" on, the time follows the receipt and a "Today" header with the first message's time sits above the chat.
5. Export. Choose "Dark mode" if you want the black look, set the "Status bar time" and battery, and download the PNG at 2x or 3x, as the phone screen or the whole chat.

Details that make a Snapchat screenshot look staged

Snap captions are one short line each, often just a few words and an emoji. Three bars of full sentences read like a script, and a long paragraph in a single bar never looks like Snapchat.

In a chat, the receipt gives a lot away: "Opened" on a message the other person has clearly not answered tells a story, so make sure it is the one you want. Real Snapchat chats are quick and casual, with several short lines in a row and the odd photo; give a fast back-and-forth times a minute or two apart, and use "+ Date / notice" for a line like "Yesterday" when a day passes.

Use it the right way

Snapchat screenshots are for videos, sketches, stories, social media posts, app designs and lessons, such as teaching teenagers what a scam message from a stranger looks like. Do not put words in the mouths of real people, do not make a snap or chat that looks like proof of something that never happened, and do not use one to scam, bully or embarrass anyone. Our acceptable use page has the details.