How to half swipe on Snapchat to read chats discreetly

Although Snapchat has outdone every other social media platform when it comes to user privacy, it does let you peek into chats without the sender knowing. With a half swipe or partial swipe, you can preview messages discreetly without showing the sender any read or open status.

Keep reading to learn what half swipe is on Snapchat and how you can use it to peek into chats.

What is Half Swipe on Snapchat?

Half Swipe is an enabled gesture on Snapchat that allows you to preview chats sent to you without marking them as “read”. When performed correctly, the sender won’t see the “opened” tag and thus won’t know whether or not you have previewed the message. This gives you complete freedom of choice regarding whether or not you want to reply to the message right away, as Snapchat won’t notify the sender that you have made a half swipe on their chat.

How to use the Half Swipe feature in the Snapchat app on iPhone

Before learning this neat tick, you must keep a few things in mind while performing it. A single tap or incomplete half-swipe gesture will open the chat and inform the sender instead.

With that said and done, here’s how you can half-swipe on Snapchat:

1. Open the Snapchat app and swipe right on the default Camera tab to access the Chats tab.
2. Here, locate the chat you want to half-swipe on.
3. Next, place your finger on the sender’s Bitmoji and slide it left immediately without letting go.
4. When making the right swipe, you will see messages slowly being revealed in the chats.
5. Once you are done reading the messages, swipe left to close the preview window without releasing your finger.
6. Once the preview window is closed, release your finger.

If all goes well, you’ll still see the “New Chat” status on the conversation. If not, you might have made these common mistakes:

• Swiping too far: Instead of performing a partial swipe, you accidentally fully swiped into the chat, triggering the “Opened” status.
• Letting go mid-swipe: You released your finger in the middle, leading to the incomplete half-swipe gesture, further opening the conversation completely.

How to know when someone half swipe your chat on Snapchat

Although there is no official way for regular Snapchat users to know that you made a half swipe on the chat, Snapchat Plus Snapchat’s premium tier has a feature named Peek a Peek, which, when enabled, shows a 👀 (two eyes) emoji beside the chat in the Chats tab when someone half swipes.

So don’t be surprised when someone catches and confronts you when you half-swipe on their chat because they might have Snapchat Plus.

However, if you don’t wish to spend your hard-earned money on Snapchat Plus but still want to know when someone half-swipes your chat, there are a few subtle cues you can watch out for:

• Active status: If the recipient has been active on Snapchat for a long period and has yet to read your message, there is a good chance that they have already half-swiped on it.
• Message stuck on “Delivered” tag: If the recipient discusses the message you sent on Snapchat in real life, but the status remains stuck on “Delivered,” they might have used the half-swipe trick.
• Frequent online activity: If someone is actively sending snaps and interacting in group chats on Snapchat but your chat remains unopened, they might have half-swiped it multiple times.

Sherlock mode on…

The Half Swipe on Snapchat is by far the most useful and neat Snapchat trick for managing your chats without needing to mute or block other users. You can just peek into their chats and decide whether it’s worth replying to.

Did you find this guide helpful, or do you have any other Snapchat concerns you want us to answer? Please comment below.

Also read:

• Best Snapchat filters and lenses
• How to know if someone has blocked you on Snapchat
• How to restore your Snapstreak fast