Quick Bio
| Detail | Info |
| Feature name | Snapchat Planets / Friend Solar System |
| Platform | Snapchat |
| Available on | Snapchat+ (paid subscription) |
| Snapchat+ price | Approximately $3.99/month |
| Snapchat+ subscribers (2025) | 9 million paid subscribers |
| What it shows | Your top 8 closest friends ranked as planets |
| You are | Your own solar system’s center is the Sun. |
| Closest friend | Mercury (nearest to the Sun) |
| 8th closest friend | Neptune (furthest from the Sun) |
| What determines ranking | Frequency of snaps, chats, and story interactions |
| Available in | 25+ countries including US, UK, Canada, France, India |
| Launched | 2022 as part of Snapchat+ rollout |
Introduction: The Feature That Made Everyone Ask “Why Am I Jupiter?”
You’re scrolling through Snapchat and you notice something on a friend’s profile. A badge showing a planet. Saturn, maybe. Or Mercury. And you find yourself wondering — what does that mean? Am I their best friend or their sixth best friend?
Welcome to one of Snapchat’s most talked-about and most misunderstood features. Snapchat Planets — officially called the Friend Solar System — is a visual representation of where you stand in someone’s friendship rankings. It’s clever, it’s a little addictive, and once you understand it, you’ll never look at a planetary badge the same way again.
This guide covers everything. What the feature is, how it works, what each planet means, how Snapchat decides your ranking, who can see it, and what you can actually do with that information.
What Is the Snapchat Friend Solar System?
The Friend Solar System is a feature exclusive to Snapchat+ — Snapchat’s paid subscription tier. It visualises your friendships as a solar system, where you are the Sun at the centre and your eight closest friends orbit around you as planets.
The logic is borrowed directly from astronomy. The planet in our solar system that is nearest to the Sun is Mercury. On Snapchat, Mercury represents your number one best friend — the person you interact with the most. Neptune, furthest from the Sun, represents your eighth closest friend.
The ranking is dynamic. It changes as your interaction patterns change. The person who was your Mercury last month might be your Mars this month if you’ve been chatting with someone else more frequently.
To see the feature in action, you open a Snapchat+ user’s friendship profile and look for a badge that shows you which planet you are in their solar system. If you see a Mercury badge, you’re their number one. If you see a Neptune badge, you’re their eighth closest friend. You can only see your position in their solar system — not the full ranking of all eight friends.
What Each Planet Means
Each of the eight planets represents a specific friendship rank. Snapchat used real planet names in real solar system order, which makes the ranking system intuitive once you know what you’re looking at.
Mercury — Your #1 Best Friend
Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun, and on Snapchat it means you’re at the very top of someone’s friendship list. You interact with them more than anyone else — more snaps, more chats, more story reactions. If someone is your Mercury, you’re likely in daily communication. If you’re someone’s Mercury, you’re their closest Snapchat connection.
Mercury on Snapchat is typically shown as a red planet with red hearts surrounding it.
Venus — Your #2 Best Friend
Second place. Still very close — Venus represents someone you interact with very frequently, just slightly less often than your Mercury. This is usually a close friend, a partner, or a family member you’re in regular contact with. Venus appears as a light beige or cream-coloured planet with yellow and pink hearts.
Earth — Your #3 Best Friend
Third place. Earth is depicted in blue and green, just like our actual planet, with moon symbols alongside red hearts. Being someone’s Earth means you’re solidly in their top three — a meaningful position in someone’s social universe.
Mars — Your #4 Best Friend
Mars is shown as a red-orange planet with purple and blue hearts. Fourth place is still well within someone’s inner circle. Most people communicate regularly but not quite as intensely with their Mars friend compared to the top three.
Jupiter — Your #5 Best Friend
Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system, represents fifth place in Snapchat’s ranking. It appears as an orange-brown planet with pink and blue hearts. Being someone’s Jupiter means you’re in their top five but interaction is less frequent than with their top four.
Saturn — Your #6 Best Friend
Saturn is immediately recognisable by its rings, and Snapchat uses that visual — an orange-yellow planet with a ring system and pink and yellow hearts. Sixth place means you’re still in someone’s best friend list, but you may want to snap more frequently if you want to move up.
Uranus — Your #7 Best Friend
Uranus appears as a green planet without the heart symbols that lower planets have. Seventh place. You’re in the friend list but at the outer edge of the inner circle.
Neptune — Your #8 Best Friend
Neptune, the furthest planet from the Sun, represents eighth place — the last position in someone’s Friend Solar System. It appears as a blue planet. Being someone’s Neptune means you’re in their top eight but at the very bottom of it.
How Snapchat Decides Your Planet Ranking
The algorithm behind the Friend Solar System tracks your interaction frequency with each friend. Several types of activity factor into where you appear in someone’s solar system.
Snaps sent and received are the primary driver. Snapchat was built around photo and video messages, and sending and receiving snaps with a specific person remains the most heavily weighted factor in the ranking.
Chats and messages also count. Text conversations within Snapchat’s messaging feature contribute to your ranking, though they may be weighted slightly less than snaps depending on how Snapchat’s algorithm is currently calibrated.
Story interactions play a role too. Reacting to someone’s story or viewing it repeatedly may signal a closer relationship, though this is harder to verify since Snapchat doesn’t publicly document its exact algorithm.
Consistency matters more than volume. The algorithm rewards regular, sustained interaction rather than a sudden burst of messages after a period of silence. Someone you snap every day consistently will likely outrank someone you sent fifty messages to in one week and then nothing for a month.
The ranking updates regularly as interaction patterns change. Check your planet position for the same friend over time and you may notice movement — this reflects changes in how frequently you’re both engaging on the platform.
Who Can See Snapchat Planets?
This is where many users get confused, so it’s worth being precise.
You need Snapchat+ to see the Friend Solar System at all. If you don’t have the paid subscription, you won’t see planet badges on anyone’s profile.
Both parties don’t need Snapchat+ for the feature to partially work. If you have Snapchat+, you can see which planet you are in a friend’s solar system even if they don’t have Snapchat+ themselves. However, they won’t be able to see which planet they are in your solar system unless they also subscribe.
You can see your position in someone else’s solar system but not the full list of all eight of their best friends. The badge tells you where you rank — it doesn’t name the other people orbiting that person.
Friends can see their badge position in your solar system by opening your friendship profile if they have Snapchat+. This creates an interesting dynamic — knowing you’re someone’s Mercury or Neptune without necessarily knowing who the other seven planets are.
Why This Feature Matters to Users
The Friend Solar System might seem like a simple gamification feature, but it touches something genuinely significant about how young people think about their social relationships.
It makes friendship rankings visible. Most social media platforms avoid making friendship hierarchies explicit. Snapchat’s planet system does the opposite — it literally numbers your relationships. For some users, this is validating. For others, it’s a source of anxiety or social comparison.
It creates a new social dynamic. Users who know about the feature start paying attention to where they appear in friends’ solar systems. Some deliberately snap more to move up someone’s ranking. Some check whether their ranking has changed after a period of distance.
It’s become a conversation starter. The question “what planet am I in your solar system?” has become a real thing people ask each other, particularly among younger users. It’s a way of asking “how close do you think we are?” with the app’s algorithm as the objective answer.
It’s tied to Snapchat’s broader engagement strategy. The Friend Solar System encourages more frequent snapping and chatting because users understand that interaction frequency determines their ranking. This is good for Snapchat’s engagement metrics and keeps users returning to the app more often.
Common Questions and Misconceptions
Several persistent misunderstandings circulate about how the feature actually works.
“Being Neptune means someone doesn’t care about you.” Not necessarily true. Being in someone’s top eight at all means you’re among their most frequent Snapchat contacts. The eighth position in a Friend Solar System still represents a meaningful connection — most people have far more than eight friends on Snapchat, and being in the top eight is a positive signal.
“You can hack your way to Mercury.” Some third-party sites and apps claim to offer ways to artificially boost your ranking in someone’s solar system. These claims are generally not credible, may violate Snapchat’s terms of service, and could put your account at risk. The only reliable way to move up someone’s solar system is to interact with them more genuinely and consistently.
“The ranking is permanent.” The solar system updates regularly. Your position can change significantly over days or weeks as interaction patterns shift. A Mercury this month might be a Jupiter next month if you’ve been busy and haven’t been snapping as much.
“Both people need Snapchat+ to see the feature.” As noted earlier, only the person viewing needs a subscription. You can see your position in anyone’s solar system if you have Snapchat+, regardless of whether they’ve subscribed.
How to See Your Snapchat Planets
If you have a Snapchat+ subscription, viewing your planet position for a friend is straightforward.
Open the Snapchat app and go to a friend’s profile by tapping their name in your contacts or chat list. On their friendship profile page, look for the Best Friends or Friends badge — it should display a planet emoji or planet symbol. Tap on that badge to see a more detailed view showing which planet you are in their solar system, along with a brief description of what your position means.
If you don’t see a planet badge, either they don’t have Snapchat+ enabled or the friendship hasn’t developed enough interaction history for the feature to display.
The feature is updated regularly, so checking back periodically will show you whether your ranking has changed.
Is Snapchat+ Worth It for This Feature?
The Friend Solar System is one of several features included in Snapchat’s paid subscription. Whether the subscription is worth it depends on how much you use Snapchat and how much the exclusive features matter to you.
At roughly $3.99 per month, Snapchat+ is one of the more affordable social media subscriptions available. Alongside the Friend Solar System, subscribers get access to features including a special subscriber badge next to their name, the ability to pin a friend as their number one best friend regardless of interaction frequency, story replay features, and various customisation options.
For heavy Snapchat users — particularly younger users who use it as their primary social communication platform — the subscription offers meaningful additional engagement. For casual users who check the app occasionally, the features may not justify the monthly cost.
Final Words
The Snapchat Friend Solar System is a genuinely creative way of visualising something that’s always been true about social media but rarely made explicit: not all friendships are equal, and platforms are able to determine your level of intimacy with each individual based on your interactions with them.
Whether you find it fun or slightly unsettling probably depends on your relationship with social metrics. For users who love it, it’s a playful way to understand their social landscape and a reason to stay more engaged with their closest connections. For others, knowing they’re someone’s Neptune when they thought they were closer can be a moment of unexpected social clarity.
What’s clear is that Snapchat has built something people care about. The fact that “what planet am I in your solar system?” has become a real question people ask each other says everything about how effectively the feature taps into something genuine about friendship, closeness, and the human need to know where we stand with the people we care about.
FAQs
1. What are Snapchat Planets?
Snapchat Planets is a visual depiction of your eight closest Snapchat friends, shown as planets circling the Sun in a Friend Solar System. A friend’s ranking in your interactions increases with the planet’s proximity to the Sun. The feature is exclusive to Snapchat+ subscribers.
2. What does each planet mean in Snapchat’s Friend Solar System?
Mercury is your #1 best friend, Venus is #2, Earth is #3, Mars is #4, Jupiter is #5, Saturn is #6, Uranus is #7, and Neptune is #8. The ranking is based on the actual solar system, starting from the planet that is nearest to the Sun.
3. Can you view the planets without Snapchat+?
Indeed. The Friend Solar System feature is only visible to Snapchat+ subscribers. If you have Snapchat+, you can see your position in any friend’s solar system, even if they don’t have the subscription themselves.
4. How does Snapchat decide which planet you are?
Snapchat’s algorithm tracks interaction frequency — how often you send and receive snaps, exchange messages, and engage with each other’s stories. Your ranking in someone’s solar system increases with the frequency of your interactions with them.
5. Can you change your planet ranking?
Not directly, but your ranking changes naturally as interaction patterns change. The only way to move up in someone’s solar system is to interact with them more frequently and consistently over time.
6. Is it possible for someone to identify the planet they are on in your solar system?
Yes, if they have Snapchat+. They can view their planet badge, which indicates where they are in your solar system, by opening your friendship profile.
7. Is being Neptune bad?
Not necessarily. Neptune means you’re the eighth closest friend — still within someone’s top eight out of all their Snapchat connections. For people with large contact lists, making the top eight is a positive signal about the relationship.
8. Why is Snapchat Planets only available on Snapchat+?
The Friend Solar System is one of Snapchat+’s exclusive features, designed to incentivise subscription. It’s part of a broader package of premium features that Snapchat offers to paying subscribers.
9. What is the number of planets in the Snapchat Friend Solar System?
Eight — Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. This matches the eight recognised planets in our actual solar system (Pluto was reclassified as a dwarf planet).
10. How often does the Friend Solar System update?
Snapchat updates the ranking regularly based on ongoing interaction data. Your position can change over days or weeks as your communication patterns with different friends shift.
11. Can you see who all eight of someone’s best friends are?
No. Only your position within their solar system is visible to you. Instead of displaying the complete list of all eight pals in chronological order, the function indicates which planet you are on.
12. Is snapchatplanetsorders.com an official Snapchat website?
No. The official Snapchat website is snapchat.com. Any third-party site using Snapchat’s name in its domain is not affiliated with Snapchat Inc. Always access Snapchat features through the official app or snapchat.com. Be cautious of third-party sites that claim to offer Snapchat-related services, particularly any that ask for your login credentials.
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