Snapchat needs to fix its notifications epidemic

Snapchat notifications have become the modern equivalent of a noisy neighbor — constantly knocking on your door with things you didn’t ask for. “Remember this?” No, Snapchat. I don’t, and I don’t care.

The app seems to have turned into a full-time distraction machine, bombarding users with irrelevant notifications about flashbacks, story updates, and other stuff we never signed up for. What’s worse? Turning off these notifications doesn’t even seem to work for many people.

Take this post on Reddit, for example. A user complained about getting flooded with “Remember this?” notifications even after disabling memories notifications and turning off the flashback option buried in the app’s settings. They’re still getting four notifications a day for something they explicitly said, “No, thanks!” to.

I can totally relate to the OP and many others like them. Lately, I’ve been getting spammed with similar notifications at random times. I’m now even seeing notifications for Story uploads from people I never got notifications from ever before. Adding to the trouble is iOS’ terrible notification management.

Another user also reported getting story notifications despite never enabling them. Why? No one knows. Snapchat’s notification system appears to be on autopilot, ignoring whatever settings users choose.

And it’s not just Reddit. Even X is brimming with people venting about this nonsense. One user summed it up perfectly:

When I have notifications about when my friends post stories disabled, I DON’T NEED NOTIFICATIONS WHEN THEY POST STORIES!

Snapchat is also notorious for going overboard with how many notifications it sends. A few days ago, a frustrated user claimed to have had over 1000 [slight exaggeration, but you get the point] unread notifications in the app. Seriously, who is sorting through that?

It’s not just the number of notifications either. It’s the fact that they’re so irrelevant. Many users rely on Snapchat to stay in touch with friends, but when 90% of the notifications are useless junk, it’s easy to miss the important ones. As someone said:

9/10 notifications I get are for useless nonsense I don’t care about, which inevitably leads me to disabling notifications from the app. Then I miss when someone does message me.

I couldn’t agree more. It’s a vicious cycle. You mute notifications to avoid the spam, and then you end up missing actual messages from friends. This isn’t just frustrating — it’s making Snapchat less useful overall. I’ve been contemplating just muting Snapchat notifications in general only because of the uncalled-for spam. And it’s clear that I’m not alone. A quick search on X reveals that people are talking about the problem nearly every day.

And let’s talk about the memories notifications. Snapchat clearly thinks we’re all nostalgic 24/7, but not everything needs to be remembered. No one wants to relive every blurry photo or random picture of their ex from years ago. It’s exhausting, not endearing.

What Snapchat needs to do

Snapchat, listen up. Here’s what you need to fix:

1. Respect notification settings. If users turn off a specific type of notification, don’t send it. Simple.
2. Cut down on the spam. Do we need to be notified every time someone posts a story? No. Give us the option to customize which notifications we actually want to see.
3. Focus on what matters. Prioritize messages, Snaps, or important updates. No one cares about random reminders or ads masquerading as notifications.

Until Snapchat figures this out, many of us are either muting the app entirely or uninstalling it out of sheer frustration. It’s time for Snapchat to fix its notifications epidemic before users ditch the app altogether.

Snapchat, we’re begging you — stop knocking. We’re not answering.