If you’ve noticed a gold badge with planets on your friend’s Snapchat profile and wondered what it means, you’re not alone. The Snapchat Planet Order, also known as the Friend Solar System, is one of the most exciting features available to Snapchat Plus subscribers. This comprehensive guide will walk you through everything you need to know about Snapchat planets, their meanings, and how they work.
Understanding Snapchat Planets: What Are They?
Snapchat Planets is a feature where you become the sun in your solar system, and your top eight closest friends are represented as planets revolving around you. This creative visualization helps you understand your friendship dynamics on the platform in an engaging and interactive way.
The concept mirrors our actual solar system. Just as Mercury is closest to the sun in real life, your closest friend on Snapchat is represented by Mercury in your Friend Solar System. The planetary order reflects how much you interact with each friend through snaps, chats, and streaks.
How Snapchat Planets Work
The Friend Solar System is exclusive to Snapchat Plus subscribers. When you see a gold ring around a Best Friends badge on someone’s profile, it means they’re among the eight friends you snap and chat with the most. By tapping and holding this badge, you can see which planet you are in their solar system.
This feature provides valuable insights into your social connections without making the information public to others. Only you can view your own planetary rankings, creating a private space where you can track your closest friendships.
Complete Snapchat Planet Order and Meanings
Understanding each planet’s position and what it represents is essential for making the most of this feature. Here’s the complete breakdown of all eight Snapchat planets:
1. Mercury: Your Number One Best Friend
Mercury is assigned to the friend you share the most snaps and chats with, meaning they’re your best friend on Snapchat. This person is someone you interact with daily, maintaining active streaks and constant communication.
The Mercury planet appears as a red sphere surrounded by five red hearts, symbolizing the strongest bond in your Snapchat universe. These are typically real-life best friends or romantic partners with whom you share countless moments throughout the day.
2. Venus: Your Second Closest Friend
Venus represents your second-best friend on Snapchat. This planet features a beige or cream-colored sphere decorated with pink, yellow, and blue hearts, indicating a warm and diverse interaction pattern.
Your Venus friend is someone you chat with multiple times per week, sharing regular snaps and maintaining consistent engagement. While not quite at Mercury level, this friendship remains strong and meaningful.
3. Earth: Your Third Best Friend
Earth corresponds to a user’s third-best friend and is represented by the same color as the real Earth with a moon, stars, and red hearts around it. This familiar blue-green planet with its natural satellite makes it easily recognizable.
Earth friends are reliable and consistent contacts. You can count on them to respond and connect regularly, making them an important part of your Snapchat social circle.
4. Mars: Your Fourth Closest Friend
Mars represents your fourth closest friend and is symbolized by a red planet with stars and purple and blue hearts around it. This vibrant representation reflects an active and energetic friendship.
Mars-level friends are people you share laughs and random snaps with frequently. The connection remains strong, though not quite frequent enough to crack your top three positions.
5. Jupiter: Your Fifth Best Friend
Jupiter corresponds to a user’s fifth closest friend and uses a reddish-orange planet with dark orange strips and stars revolving around it. As the largest planet in our solar system, Jupiter maintains its distinctive appearance in your Snapchat universe.
These friendships involve regular but less frequent interactions. You might engage with these friends several times a week through group stories, shared streaks, or occasional direct messages.
6. Saturn: Your Sixth Closest Friend
Saturn represents the user’s sixth closest friend and is denoted by an orange planet with a ring and stars. The iconic ring makes Saturn instantly recognizable among the Snapchat planets.
Saturn friends are people you engage with occasionally, perhaps participating in group chats or viewing each other’s stories regularly without constant one-on-one interaction.
7. Uranus: Your Seventh Closest Friend
Uranus corresponds to a user’s seventh closest friend and is represented by a green planet with no hearts. The absence of hearts indicates less frequent emotional exchanges compared to the inner planets.
These connections exist but remain relatively quiet. You maintain the friendship through occasional snaps or story interactions, keeping the relationship alive without intensive daily communication.
8. Neptune: Your Eighth Best Friend
Neptune represents your eighth and final position in the Friend Solar System. This calm, deep blue planet often appears with minimal decorations, reflecting the most distant connection among your top friends.
This friend is part of your Snapchat top eight, but interactions are rare, reflecting low engagement while the connection still exists. You might snap each other occasionally or maintain a streak without much active conversation.
How to Access Snapchat Planets
To use the Snapchat Planet Order feature, you need to meet specific requirements and follow simple steps:
Requirements for Viewing Planets
The feature only works with Snapchat Plus, which is a paid subscription. Both you and your friend need Snapchat Plus subscriptions with the Friend Solar System feature enabled for mutual visibility.
Solar System is off by default for first-time subscribers and must be toggled on through the Snapchat Plus feature management page. This optional setting allows users to control whether they want to participate in the planetary ranking system.
Step-by-Step Guide to Check Your Planet Position
- Open Snapchat and navigate to a friend’s profile
- Look for the gold “Best Friends” badge with a gold ring
- Press and hold the badge to reveal your planet
- View which planet you are in their solar system
- Repeat with other friends to see your complete ranking
Your planet position can change over time as your interaction patterns shift. Regular checking helps you track how your friendships evolve on the platform.
What is Snapchat Plus and Why It Matters
Understanding Snapchat Plus is crucial for accessing the Planet Order feature and other premium benefits.
Snapchat Plus Overview
Snapchat Plus costs three dollars and ninety-nine cents per month and provides exclusive features like the ability to pin a friend as a BFF, exclusive badges, story rewatch counts, and more. The subscription has grown significantly, reaching over 14 million subscribers as of 2025.
Key Features of Snapchat Plus
Beyond the Friend Solar System, Snapchat Plus offers numerous exclusive features:
Customization Options:
- Custom app icons from an extensive library
- Personalized chat wallpapers and themes
- Exclusive Bitmoji backgrounds and styles
- Custom notification sounds for different contacts
Social Insights:
- See who rewatched your stories
- Story rewatch indicators with precise counts
- Track story view timestamps
- Priority story replies to Snap Stars
Enhanced Control:
- Pin your best friend at the top of your chat list
- Story timer settings from one hour to one week
- Restore lost Snapstreaks
- Edit messages within five minutes of sending
Exclusive Badge: A star badge appears on your profile, letting others know you’re a premium subscriber. This badge is optional and can be toggled on or off according to your preference.
Snapchat Plus Pricing Options
The standard pricing in the United States is three dollars and ninety-nine cents monthly, with an annual option at twenty-nine dollars and ninety-nine cents per year. Pricing varies by region, with countries like India offering significantly lower rates at forty-nine rupees per month.
Most regions offer a seven-day free trial, allowing new users to test the features before committing to a paid subscription. This trial period is perfect for exploring the Friend Solar System and other premium features.
How Snapchat Calculates Planet Order
Understanding the algorithm behind Snapchat planets helps you maintain or improve your position in friends’ solar systems.
Factors That Determine Your Planet Position
Snapchat uses an algorithm that tracks engagement including snaps sent, chats, story replies, streak lengths, and interactions over time shape planet rankings dynamically. The system considers multiple engagement metrics to determine your position.
Primary Ranking Factors:
- Snap Frequency: The number of snaps you exchange with each friend
- Chat Activity: How often you message back and forth
- Streak Maintenance: Length and consistency of your Snapstreaks
- Story Engagement: Viewing and replying to each other’s stories
- Overall Time: Total time spent interacting on the platform
Dynamic Planet Movement
Your planet position isn’t static. Higher engagement equals a closer planet to the sun, and that means your planet position can shift daily. If you suddenly message someone more or less often, their planet might move accordingly.
This dynamic nature keeps the feature fresh and encourages consistent engagement with your closest friends. A friend who was Neptune yesterday could become Venus today if you dramatically increase your interaction level.
Tips to Improve Your Snapchat Planet Ranking
Want to become someone’s Mercury or move up in their solar system? Here are proven strategies:
Maintain Strong Snapstreaks
Keeping incredibly long Snapstreaks of 100 plus days with your absolute best friends essentially guarantees Mercury or Venus status. Consistent daily snaps demonstrate commitment and keep you at the forefront of their Snapchat activity.
Increase Daily Interactions
Send more snaps throughout the day rather than just maintaining streaks. Share interesting moments, funny observations, or quick check-ins. Quality interactions combined with frequency create the strongest bonds.
Engage with Stories Regularly
View and reply to your friend’s stories consistently. Story engagement shows active interest in their life and contributes to your overall interaction score.
Initiate Conversations
Don’t wait for others to message first. Start conversations, share memes, or ask questions. Being proactive in communication significantly boosts your planet ranking.
Use Snapchat Features Together
Participate in shared experiences like Snap Maps, Bitmoji interactions, and collaborative stories. These activities enhance your connection beyond simple message exchanges.
Privacy and Emotional Impact of Snapchat Planets
The Friend Solar System feature has sparked important conversations about social media and mental health.
Privacy Features
Only you can see the Snapchat planets order, and your friends don’t know what planet they are in your system. This privacy-first approach prevents awkward situations and protects user feelings.
Your friend can’t see their position in your solar system unless they also have Snapchat Plus and check it from their end. This mutual requirement maintains balance and prevents one-sided transparency.
Why Snapchat Made It Optional
Teen users reported feeling ranked and insecure, especially when they saw their own planet was at the bottom, prompting Snapchat to make the feature opt-in only. This change protects users from involuntary social comparison and potential anxiety.
Parents, lawmakers, and mental health experts raised concerns about ranking friendships. In response, Snapchat prioritized user wellbeing by making the solar system feature completely optional and off by default.
Managing Your Expectations
Remember that Snapchat planets reflect app usage, not real-life friendship quality. Someone might be your Neptune on Snapchat while being your closest friend in person because they simply use the app less frequently.
Frequently Asked Questions About Snapchat Planets
Can Free Users See Snapchat Planets?
No, the Friend Solar System is exclusively available to Snapchat Plus subscribers. Free users cannot access this feature or see their planetary rankings in anyone’s solar system.
Do Both People Need Snapchat Plus?
Both you and your friend must have Snapchat Plus and enable the Friend Solar System feature to both see and interact with each other’s planets. If only one person has the subscription, they can see where they rank in their friend’s system, but not vice versa.
How Often Do Planet Positions Change?
Planet positions update dynamically based on your interactions. Significant changes in communication patterns can shift your position within days, while gradual changes might take weeks to reflect in the planetary order.
Can I Hide My Planet Ranking?
Yes, you can turn off the Friend Solar System feature entirely in your Snapchat Plus settings. This prevents anyone from seeing where they rank in your solar system.
What If I Don’t See the Gold Badge?
If you don’t see a gold badge on a friend’s profile, it means either they don’t have Snapchat Plus, they’ve disabled the Friend Solar System feature, or you’re not in their top eight friends.
Does Viewing Stories Affect Planet Order?
Yes, story views contribute to overall engagement metrics. Regularly viewing and interacting with someone’s stories helps maintain or improve your position in their solar system.
Conclusion: Making the Most of Snapchat Planets
The Snapchat Planet Order feature transforms how we visualize and understand our digital friendships. By representing your top eight friends as planets orbiting around you, Snapchat creates an engaging and intuitive way to track your closest connections.
Whether you’re a Mercury maintaining daily streaks or a Neptune keeping casual contact, every planet position has its place in your social universe. The feature encourages meaningful interactions while respecting privacy and mental health concerns through its optional, user-controlled design.
For Snapchat Plus subscribers, the Friend Solar System offers valuable insights into friendship dynamics, motivation to maintain connections, and a fun way to gamify social interactions. As you explore your planetary rankings, remember that genuine friendships extend far beyond app metrics and digital representations.
Ready to explore your Snapchat universe? Subscribe to Snapchat Plus, enable the Friend Solar System, and discover where your friends orbit in your personal galaxy.
Also Read: How to Live a Tech Minimalist Lifestyle
