Snapchat is removing best friends in favor of emojis

Why have something straightforward and simple when you can just create something needlessly complex using a series of emojis? That’s the mentality that Snapchat must have had with its most recent update where it removed the long-held “Best Friends” feature and replaced it with a bunch of emojis that indicate what your relationship with the sender is. 

Snapchat used to feature a “best friends” list that showed both you and the world the people you regularly shared the most photos and videos with. The app canned this feature in a recent update, but it’s now replaced it with another way to indicate your closest friends — emoji. Snapchat now uses a series of hearts, flames, and tiny yellow faces to show when you get a message from your best friend, your best friend’s best friend, and others. In a bid to explain the new and somewhat complex system, Snapchat sensibly illustrates it using pictures of Beyoncé. Receive a snap from the person you message the most, and if they are also your best friend, you’ll see a heart. If your friend sends you the highest percentage of their snaps, but you have another best friend, you’ll see a side-eyed smirk. If you get a snap from a person who has your best friend as their best friend too, you’ll see a grimace. Other emoji are detailed inside the app itself, the only place the silent update was officially announced.