How to change your Snapchat location on iPhone
Snap Map shows your Bitmoji wherever Snapchat thinks you are. Whether you want to keep your real spot to yourself, plan a surprise, or just see how Snap Map feels from another city, here is how it works and what your options are.
How Snapchat finds your location
Snapchat asks your iPhone for your location, the same way Apple Maps does. If you've allowed it, the app updates your spot on Snap Map when you open it, and your friends can see it unless you've hidden it. So the quickest way to change what Snapchat shows is to change what your iPhone reports.
The built-in option: Ghost Mode
Snapchat has its own privacy switch. Open Snap Map, tap the settings gear and turn on Ghost Mode, and your friends can no longer see your location. You can also change who sees you, or choose specific friends. Snapchat's settings are the right first stop if you just want to disappear from the map.
Ghost Mode hides you completely. It doesn't show you somewhere else, which is what some people want, for example to look like they're at home while out, or to keep a friend group's map consistent.
Showing a different place with BlurMap
BlurMap sets the location your iPhone reports. You search a place or tap the map, tap Teleport here, and apps that ask the iPhone, Snapchat included, get that location. It doesn't jailbreak your iPhone or modify iOS, and BlurMap runs on your iPhone after a one-time setup on a Mac or Windows PC.
Steps
- Pick a plan in the pricing section. Every plan starts with a 2-day free trial.
- Follow the setup guide: install BlurMap Setup on a Mac or Windows PC, plug in your iPhone with its cable, and turn on Developer Mode. Setup installs BlurMap for you.
- On your iPhone, install LocalDevVPN from the App Store and turn it on.
- Open BlurMap, search the place you want and tap Teleport here.
- Open Snapchat, then open Snap Map. Your Bitmoji should appear at the new spot after Snapchat refreshes.
- To go back, tap reset in BlurMap or restart your iPhone.
Tips for a believable Snap Map
- Move like a person. Instead of teleporting across the world in one tap, use a route. BlurMap travels along real roads at walking, biking or driving speed and pauses at stops.
- Keep it consistent. Every app that asks your iPhone sees the same place, so Snapchat, Find My and Instagram agree with each other.
- Mind the details. Snapchat may use other signals as well, such as your Wi-Fi network or what time it is where you say you are, so a changed location won't always be believed.
- Prefer a computer? The Web App, included with the Monthly and Yearly plans, lets you control your iPhone from a browser.
Good to know
BlurMap isn't available in the App Store, because Apple doesn't allow location apps like it, so it's installed with your own Apple ID (a free one works). Apps installed this way need renewing every 7 days, which takes a single tap in BlurMap. If you're on cellular data with no Wi-Fi, turn on Airplane Mode, open BlurMap, and turn it off again once it connects.
Snapchat is a service with its own rules, and it may act on accounts that it thinks are misusing location features. Our Terms ask you not to use BlurMap to harass or deceive someone to hurt them, or to break the rules of a service you've agreed to. Use it for privacy and fun, not to fool people into trouble.
More reading: pause or change your location on Find My and Life360, or how it works without jailbreaking.