Snapchat Hacked: Getting Your Account Back, Then Keeping It

First, confirm it is a hack and not a glitch

Snapchat’s help centre lists the signs of a compromised account. They include a login alert or code you didn’t ask for, a device you don’t recognise in Session Management, and an email address, phone number or display name changed without you. Two-factor turned on by someone else, spam sent to your friends, and Stories or Spotlight posts you didn’t make are also on the list.

Being logged out once is not proof. Snapchat logs people out after app updates, and repeated failed attempts can trigger a temporary block. An “Attempted Log In” email means Snapchat stopped a suspicious attempt, so your account is probably still yours. Change the password anyway, because the attacker may know the old one. Once something has changed without you, treat it as a takeover and go through the steps below.

Before you touch Snapchat: check your email

Most Snapchat takeovers get the account first. Some get the inbox first. If the attacker controls the email address on your Snapchat, they can request a reset whenever you change the password. You then end up in a loop of resetting and losing the account again.

Log in to your email and change its password. Turn on the email provider’s own two-factor, and look for forwarding rules or filters you didn’t create. Attackers add these to copy or hide Snapchat’s security messages. If you can’t get into your email at all, fix that first.

If you can still open Snapchat on any device

Attackers often change the password without ending your session, especially on a phone you rarely use. If Snapchat is still open anywhere, whether on an old phone, a tablet or a browser, you can close the attacker out from there.

1. Open Session Management. Profile › ⚙️ Settings › My Account › Session Management. Tap the ✕ next to every device or browser you don’t recognise, and confirm.
2. Change the password to one you have never used before, from Settings or at accounts.snapchat.com.
3. Check Mobile Number and Email under My Account. Put your own back and verify them.
4. Open Two-Factor Authentication. If there is a method you didn’t add, remove it and set up your own.

Snapchat’s help centre notes that Session Management only shows active sessions. Login details saved on a device are not listed, which is one more reason to change the password once the sessions are gone.

If you are logged out but your email or number still works

On the login screen, tap Forgot your password? and choose to reset it by phone or by email. Snapchat shows a masked version of each contact, such as “j••••@outlook.com”. Look at it carefully before tapping.

If the masked details are yours, follow the link or code and set a new password. Then complete the steps in the previous section: remove sessions, check contact details, fix two-factor. If they are not yours, stop requesting codes. The attacker receives every one, and repeated requests can get the account temporarily blocked. Go to Snapchat Support instead. The same reset also works in a browser at accounts.snapchat.com, which helps if the app keeps crashing or you have lost the phone.

Snapchat’s help pages add one condition: a password reset works only if you know the email address or phone number on the account. If you have forgotten which ones you used, check old inboxes for past Snapchat emails before contacting Support.

If the attacker switched on two-factor authentication

This is the hardest version of a Snapchat hack. With two-factor on, even the right password leads to a code prompt, and the codes go to the attacker’s phone or authenticator app. Snapchat’s help centre is clear that the way past it is a Recovery Code, and that the code “needs to have been created in advance”.

If you generated one before the attack, enter it when asked for the two-factor code. Snapchat logs you in and switches two-factor off. Set it up again straight away with your own method, then generate a new code. If you have no code but a device is still signed in, use that device to remove the attacker’s method. If you have neither, Snapchat says it does not offer support for lost Recovery Codes, so the remaining route is the Support request below. Give as much detail as you can.

If everything was changed: contacting Snapchat Support

When the password, email and phone number all belong to the attacker, there is nothing left to reset. Snapchat has to decide whether you are the owner. Requests go through Snapchat’s help site, at help.snapchat.com, where the Contact Us form and the Support Bot both handle compromised accounts. The exact wording of the menu options changes. Look for the one about being hacked or unable to log in.

Use an email address you can read now, not the one on the hacked account. Give the exact username and the email and number you originally used. Say when you lost access and what changed, if you know. Details only the owner would know help, such as roughly when you created the account and the phone you normally use. Submit once, then check that inbox and its spam folder. Snapchat does not publish a response time, and sending the same request again does not move it up a queue.

Locked, deactivated or deleted by the attacker

Attackers who use your account for spam often get it locked, which means you face a hack and a lock. A temporary lock can usually be lifted by removing any unofficial apps or tweaks, logging in at accounts.snapchat.com and choosing Unlock. If that fails, wait 48 hours. A permanent lock means Snapchat decided the account broke its rules. You can appeal, and it helps to say clearly that the activity came from an attacker and when you lost control.

Some attackers request deletion. Snapchat deactivates the account first and deletes it permanently after 30 days. Logging in during that window restores it, but you can’t change the password while it is deactivated. Our guide to reactivating a deleted Snapchat account explains the timing. Once an account is permanently deleted, nobody can restore it, including Snapchat.

Your friends are the next target

A stolen Snapchat account is valuable because your friends trust it. Expect the attacker to message them. They may say a code was “sent to their number by mistake”, advertise cheap phones or investments, or send links to fake login pages. Anyone who forwards the code loses their own account the same way.

Warn people through another channel, such as a text, another app or a group chat, that messages from you were not yours. If anyone threatens to share private photos or Memories, don’t pay or negotiate. Report the account in Snapchat, keep screenshots, and consider reporting it to the police. Payment rarely stops the threats.

Back in: close every door the attacker opened

Getting the password back is only half the job. Before you treat the account as yours again, go through each item: sessions, contact details, two-factor, the Recovery Code, anything posted in your name, your friends list, and connected apps. Generate a new Recovery Code even if you had one, because the attacker may have made their own. Then store it somewhere other than your phone.

Snapchat also now supports passkeys, which it describes as stored on your device and not accessible to anyone else. Our guide to securing a Snapchat account covers passkeys, two-factor, Recovery Codes and the privacy settings that limit who can contact you.

Finally, think about how it happened: a password used somewhere else, a link sent by a “friend”, a code you were talked into sharing, or an unofficial Snapchat app. Fix that cause, or it can happen again.

How this page was put together

This guide was checked in September 2026 against Snapchat Support articles on compromised accounts, account access problems, Recovery Codes, Session Management and sign-in alerts. The screens shown are illustrative mockups, not screenshots. Snapchat adjusts its wording and menus often, so match on meaning rather than exact labels.

Snapchat doesn’t publish how long Support takes or how it weighs the evidence you send, so we haven’t guessed at either. We don’t link to or recommend any paid recovery service. There is more on how our guides are researched and corrected.