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What Happens If You Delete Your Public Profile on Snapchat?

Deleting your Public Profile on Snapchat effectively dismantles your public-facing presence on the platform. This means your public Story and Spotlight submissions vanish from the public eye, and you sever any link you may have built with the wider Snapchat community beyond your immediate friends. You essentially revert to a standard Snapchat account focused solely on private interactions.

Disappearing Act: The Immediate Aftermath

Once you hit that delete button, the changes are swift and significant:

Public Content Vanishes: Your public Story and any Spotlight submissions disappear from public view. They will no longer be searchable or discoverable by other users.
Public Subscriber Loss: Anyone who subscribed to your public profile will no longer be considered a subscriber. Your subscriber count resets to zero.
No More Public Features: You lose access to features exclusively tied to the public profile, such as the ability to have a public username different from your display name, or appearing in public search results.
Impact on Snap Map Presence: While your Bitmoji will still appear on the Snap Map for your friends if you have location sharing enabled, it won’t be visible to the general public. You lose the opportunity to build any public presence on the map.
Impact on Discover: Your profile and content will no longer be displayed within the Discover section of Snapchat, which is a significant loss for potential visibility.
No Change to Friend List: Deleting your Public Profile does not affect your existing friends list. You can still communicate privately with them as usual.
Private Story Unaffected: Your private Stories, shared only with selected friends, remain untouched and continue to function as before.

Rebuilding Your Public Presence (If You Choose To)

The good news is, deleting your public profile isn’t a one-way ticket to anonymity. You can recreate it later if you desire. However, understand this is not an undo button. Recreating it essentially starts you from scratch. You’ll have to:

Rebuild Your Subscriber Base: You’ll need to attract new subscribers, as your previous subscriber count is permanently gone.
Resubmit Content: You’ll need to start creating and submitting new content to Spotlight and your public Story to regain visibility.
Reconfigure Public Settings: You may need to reconfigure settings related to your public profile, such as your public username (if you had a different one) and location sharing preferences.

Deleting vs. Deactivating Your Account: A Critical Distinction

It’s crucial to distinguish between deleting your Public Profile and deleting or deactivating your entire Snapchat account. Deleting your public profile only removes your public presence within the app, while deactivating your account completely shuts down your Snapchat existence. Account deletion results in the permanent removal of your account, associated data (friends list, Snaps, chats, etc.), after a 30-day deactivation period. Deleting a public profile is reversible, rebuilding a completely deleted account is not.

Why Delete Your Public Profile? Common Motivations

Several reasons might prompt a user to delete their public profile:

Privacy Concerns: Feeling uncomfortable with the level of public exposure.
Content Pivot: Wanting to change the type of content shared and needing a fresh start.
Reduced Engagement: Finding that the public profile isn’t generating the desired level of engagement.
Time Commitment: Realizing that maintaining a public profile is too time-consuming.
Changing Goals: Simply no longer needing or wanting a public presence on the platform.
Reputation Management: Removing potentially embarrassing or outdated public content.

The Lasting Impact on Your Snapchat Footprint

While deleting your public profile removes your immediate public presence, traces of your past activity may linger, although indirectly:

Third-Party Mentions: If other users mentioned your public username in their public Snaps or Spotlight submissions, those mentions might still exist, even though your profile is no longer accessible through those links.
Screenshots and Recordings: Content you previously shared publicly could have been captured by other users through screenshots or screen recordings. You have no control over this once the content has been publicly available.

FAQs: Diving Deeper into Snapchat Public Profiles

What Happens to My Snap Score When I Delete My Public Profile?

Your Snap Score remains unaffected when you delete your public profile. Your Snap Score reflects your overall activity on Snapchat, including sending and receiving Snaps, posting Stories, and other interactions. Deleting your public profile only affects your public-facing features and doesn’t impact your private communication.

Can I Get My Old Public Profile Back After Deleting It?

No, you cannot directly restore a deleted public profile with all its previous subscribers and content. Deleting a public profile is a permanent action. You can create a new public profile, but you’ll be starting from scratch, needing to rebuild your subscriber base and resubmit content.

Will My Friends Know If I Delete My Public Profile?

Your close friends likely won’t receive a notification directly informing them that you’ve deleted your public profile. However, they may notice that your public content is no longer visible, or that your public subscriber count has disappeared. Whether they realize you’ve taken down the entire profile depends on their awareness of your activities.

Does Deleting My Public Profile Delete My Snapchat Account?

No, deleting your public profile does not delete your Snapchat account. It only removes your public-facing features and content. Your private account, friend list, Snaps, and chats remain intact. To delete your entire Snapchat account, you must follow a separate account deletion process within the app.

How Do I Delete My Public Profile on Snapchat?

The exact steps may vary slightly depending on app updates, but generally, you can delete your Public Profile by going to Settings within the Snapchat app, navigating to “Public Profile Settings,” and then selecting “Delete Public Profile.” You may be prompted to confirm your decision. Always refer to the official Snapchat support documentation for the most up-to-date instructions.

Can I Change My Public Username After Deleting My Public Profile?

Yes, after deleting your public profile, you should be able to change your public username if you had set a different one. Go to your profile settings and edit the username field.

Will Deleting My Public Profile Stop People from Finding Me on Snapchat?

Deleting your public profile will significantly reduce your discoverability on Snapchat. You will no longer appear in public search results, and your public content will be removed. However, people can still find you if they know your private username and search for you directly.

What Happens to My Spotlight Submissions After Deleting My Public Profile?

All your Spotlight submissions are removed from public view when you delete your public profile. They will no longer be displayed in the Spotlight feed or accessible to other users.

Can I Still Create a New Public Profile After Deleting One?

Yes, you can create a new public profile after deleting your previous one. The option to create a public profile will still be available in your Snapchat settings. Be aware that as mentioned above you will start over from zero.

What is the Difference Between a Public Profile and a Regular Snapchat Account?

A regular Snapchat account is primarily for private communication with friends, while a public profile allows you to share content with a wider audience, build a subscriber base, and potentially gain visibility on the platform. Public profiles offer features like public Stories and Spotlight submissions, which are not available on regular accounts.

How Long Does It Take for My Public Content to Disappear After Deleting My Public Profile?

The removal of your public content is usually relatively quick, often happening within a few minutes to a few hours. However, it might take slightly longer for all traces of your public profile to be completely removed from Snapchat’s systems.

Does Deleting My Public Profile Affect My Memories?

No, deleting your public profile does not affect your Memories. Your Memories, which are Snaps and Stories you’ve saved within Snapchat, remain stored and accessible only to you (unless you’ve chosen to share them with specific friends). They are not linked to your public profile.