What Do the Different Planets Mean on Snapchat?
You tap on a friend’s profile and there it is, a small gold badge with a tiny planet sitting inside it. You have no idea what it means, so curiosity gets the better of you and you press it. Suddenly there is a little animation, your Bitmoji standing on a planet that is definitely not the sun, and a name underneath it you were not expecting. Mercury. Venus. Earth. Neptune. Your first thought is simple: what does any of this actually say about our friendship? This is your first real introduction to Snapchat Planets, and it rarely makes sense the first time you see it.
This guide breaks down exactly what the different planets mean on Snapchat, why you land on the one you do, and how the whole system quietly tracks something you probably never thought Snapchat was paying attention to.
What Is the Snapchat Planets Feature?
Before getting into what the different planets mean on Snapchat individually, it helps to understand the feature as a whole. Officially, Snapchat calls this the Friend Solar System, and it is one of the more creative perks bundled into a Snapchat Plus subscription. The idea borrows directly from our actual solar system. You are the sun at the center, and your eight closest friends orbit around you as planets, positioned based on how closely you actually interact rather than how close you say you are.
The planet nearest to the sun represents your strongest connection. The one sitting furthest out still counts as a close friend, just the one you interact with the least out of that top eight. It is a simple concept wrapped in a genuinely fun visual, and it turns something that used to be an invisible ranking system into something you can actually see and tap on.
How Snapchat Decides Who Gets Which Planet
Snapchat does not let you choose anyone’s position manually. The entire system runs on your real activity, tracking how often you send direct snaps back and forth, how frequently you chat, how consistent your streaks are, and how often you reply to each other’s stories. The friend you snap and chat with the most naturally lands closest to the sun, while someone you talk to occasionally drifts further out toward the edge of your personal solar system.
This ranking is not fixed either. It shifts constantly based on your recent behavior. Go quiet with someone for a couple of weeks while getting closer to someone else, and you will likely see their planets swap places the next time you check.
The Snapchat Planets in Order, Explained One by One
Here is exactly what the different planets mean on Snapchat, broken down one at a time from closest to farthest.
Mercury: Your #1 Best Friend
Mercury sits closest to the sun in real life, and on Snapchat it holds the exact same position, reserved for the one person you interact with more than anyone else. If you see yourself or a friend on Mercury, that is the clearest signal Snapchat gives that this is currently your top connection on the app.
Venus: Your #2 Best Friend
Venus takes the second spot, just one step behind Mercury. This is usually someone you talk to almost as often as your number one, close enough that the gap between them can shift with just a few days of extra snapping.
Earth: Your #3 Best Friend
Earth lands in the middle of the pack, at position three. It is a strong, steady friendship rather than your most intense one, the kind of connection that stays consistent without necessarily being the most active conversation in your inbox.
Mars: Your #4 Best Friend
Mars marks the halfway point of your top eight. Someone here is still very much a close friend, just with a bit more distance between your usual interactions compared to the top three.
Jupiter: Your #5 Best Friend
Jupiter is the largest planet in our actual solar system, but on Snapchat it simply marks the fifth position. This tends to be a friend you check in with regularly, even if the conversation is not a daily habit.
Saturn: Your #6 Best Friend
Saturn holds the sixth spot, representing a connection that is still active and recognized, just noticeably less frequent than the friendships closer to the center.
Uranus: Your #7 Best Friend
Uranus sits near the outer edge, and a friend here usually means occasional interaction rather than a constant back and forth. The relationship is real and still counts among your top eight, it just leans more casual or a little inconsistent.
Neptune: Your #8 Best Friend
Neptune is the farthest planet from the sun, both in real astronomy and inside Snapchat’s system. Landing here means you still made someone’s top eight, but out of that group, this is the friendship with the least frequent activity right now. It is still a real connection, just the quietest one currently on your radar.
Why This System Actually Matters
On the surface, this looks like a fun little visual gimmick, and honestly, it partly is. But underneath the space theme, what the different planets mean on Snapchat is really just an invisible friendship ranking turned into something visible and interactive. Before this feature existed, your closeness with someone was buried in emojis and streak counts that most people barely paid attention to. Now it is an actual animation you can tap into and see.
That visibility cuts both ways. It can be genuinely fun to check where you land with a close friend and see it confirmed. It can also sting a little if you expected to be someone’s Mercury and found yourself on Saturn instead. Either way, the system reflects real behavior, not feelings, which is worth remembering before reading too much into a single planet.
How to See Your Planet in a Friend’s Solar System
You will need an active Snapchat Plus subscription to see this at all, on either side of the friendship. Open your friend’s profile and look for a small gold badge near the top. If it says Best Friends, you are somewhere in their top eight, and tapping that badge triggers the animation showing exactly which planet you landed on. If the badge instead just says Friends, you are part of their wider circle, but not currently ranked inside their top eight.
How to Turn On the Friend Solar System
This feature is switched off by default, even for people who already pay for Snapchat Plus. To turn it on, open your profile, tap the Snapchat Plus card, and look for the Solar System toggle inside your feature settings, then switch it on. Once enabled, both you and your friends will be able to see planet placements wherever the Best Friends badge shows up.
I turned this on myself out of pure curiosity a while back, fully expecting my closest friend to land on Mercury without question. She actually showed up on Earth instead, and checking my own activity afterward made it obvious why. A different friend I talk to constantly about smaller, day-to-day stuff had quietly taken the top spot. It was a small, oddly honest reality check about who I actually talk to most, versus who I assumed I talked to most.
Can Your Planet Position Change?
Yes, constantly. Nothing about this ranking is locked in place, which is really the whole point of what the different planets mean on Snapchat in the first place, a live reflection of your habits rather than a fixed label. If you start snapping someone new far more often, or if a conversation with your usual Mercury slows down, positions shift accordingly the next time the system updates. A friend sitting on Venus today could easily slide out toward Neptune next month if your day-to-day habits change, and someone previously further out could just as easily move closer if your interactions pick up.
Frequently Asked Questions
What do the different planets mean on Snapchat? Each planet represents a ranked position among your top eight closest friends, based on how often you snap, chat, and interact. Understanding what the different planets mean on Snapchat comes down to this simple idea: Mercury is your closest connection, and Neptune is the eighth and final spot in that group.
Do I need Snapchat Plus to see planets? Yes. Both you and the friend whose solar system you are viewing need an active Snapchat Plus subscription for planet badges to appear at all.
Why is my best friend not on Mercury? Mercury reflects actual interaction frequency, not how close the friendship feels emotionally. If another friend snaps and chats with you more often right now, they will hold that top spot instead.
Can planet positions change over time? Yes. The ranking updates based on your recent activity, so positions can shift as your snapping and chatting habits change from week to week.
Is the Friend Solar System available to everyone? No. It is exclusive to Snapchat Plus subscribers, and it is turned off by default even after subscribing, so it needs to be manually enabled in your settings.
Does a low planet ranking mean the friendship is not real? No. Everyone shown in your solar system is already part of your top eight closest friends. Even Neptune represents a genuine, recognized friendship, just the one with slightly less frequent activity compared to the others in that group.
Final Thoughts
The different planets on Snapchat are really just a creative, visual way of showing something the app was already quietly tracking behind the scenes, how often you actually talk to the people you consider close. Understanding what the different planets mean on Snapchat, from Mercury all the way to Neptune, turns a confusing badge into a genuinely fun snapshot of your closest connections. Mercury marks your most active connection, and each planet after it, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and finally Neptune, represents a slightly wider gap in daily interaction, without ever suggesting the friendship itself is any less real. Once you understand the logic behind it, checking your own solar system stops feeling like a mystery and starts feeling like a genuinely fun little snapshot of your closest connections on the app.
If you enjoyed learning how Snapchat quietly tracks friendship behind the scenes, Snapchat Planets covers plenty more of these small features in detail, and our breakdown of Snapchat emojis meanings pairs well with this guide, since both systems are built on the exact same underlying idea of turning your real activity into something visible.
