Snapchat
Snapchat's design is intentionally ephemeral — messages disappear by default, which makes evidence harder to preserve and makes it the platform of choice for predators trying to leave no record.
Two specific concerns: location sharing through Snap Map, and Quick Add, the feature that suggests your child to strangers based on overlapping contacts.
The settings that matter
Doing four of these is meaningfully better than reading twenty things and doing none.
Turn on Ghost Mode for Snap Map.
Open Snap Map (pinch in on the camera screen) → settings gear → Ghost Mode → On. Without this, your child's live location is visible to friends — and Snap Map's friend-of-friend dynamics mean it can leak further than your kid intends. This is the single most important Snapchat setting.
Restrict who can contact your child.
Settings → Who Can Contact Me → “My Friends” only. By default, strangers can sometimes initiate contact based on shared connections; this closes that.
Turn off Quick Add.
Settings → See Me in Quick Add → Off. Quick Add suggests your child's account to strangers based on contacts and overlap. Turning it off does not break anything important and removes a major recruitment surface.
Restrict who can view My Story.
Settings → View My Story → “Friends” or a custom list. Strangers viewing stories is how a lot of social-engineering DMs start.
Set up Family Center.
Settings → Family Center. Snapchat's parental-pairing tool. Lets you see who your child is messaging without reading the messages, and gives you a way to report concerning accounts. Worth turning on for any kid under 16.
Worth knowing about Snapchat
- Snaps look like they disappear, but the other person can screenshot them or take a photo of the screen with another phone. “Disappearing” is not “deleted.” Have this conversation explicitly.
- Snapchat saves “Memories” by default — Snaps your child has chosen to save end up in cloud storage tied to the account. Worth explaining if they don't already know.
- Snap Streaks (the daily-snap counter) drive a lot of teen anxiety. That is a conversation, not a setting.
- Snapchat is the most common destination when a predator on another platform says “let's move to Snap.” Knowing how to use it is partly so you can recognize that handoff.
For your kid
Print the kid-friendly version
The Stay Safe Online booklet covers Snapchat (and the rest) in language written for a teen to read. Free, printable, no email required.