For today’s teenagers, Snapchat is an everyday tool to connect with their friends and share their experiences with the community. Moreover, it helps them saving the memories from their school and college years in a convenient form. So, once discovering your account got a permanent ban may seem like a disaster.
In today’s reading, let’s discuss what is Snapchat when it comes to special features, why the social network bans user accounts, and how is it possible to unban a terminated account.
Short answer: if your Snapchat says “permanently locked,” you have one official appeal and a limited window to use it. If the appeal fails, the account is gone — but your phone number, contacts, and streaks don’t have to be. Below is exactly what to try, in the right order, and what to do when a Snapchat ban really is final.
What is Snapchat? Briefly on the App
The platform seems to be the number-one social media for the young generation of all over the world, mostly Americans. The fact that it is mostly liked by younger users has an explanation. And this is that the app’s main format is a clear hit to teenagers’ short attention spans. Like on other social networks, in the newsfeed, users publish pictures and short videos from their everyday life. But what is different is that they vanish right after a user viewed them. These are so-called ‘Snaps’. This quickly disappearing feature brings dynamic vibe to the entire app.
But what is Snapchat in terms of other features? In addition, on Snapchat, users can also:
- Send messages to each other, sharing text, photos, and even short videos in direct chats. Earlier, it also vanished after a user viewed it. But more recently, the app let users to remove time constraints and save favorite memos in ‘Memories’.
- Utilize hilarious face filters (e.g. dog ears) that once served as a calling card of the app as well as add captions on pictures.
- Publish Instagram-like Stories that disappear in 24 hours and more.
Moreover, except direct chats, people who make Snapchat account also get access to the ‘Discover section’, where users can find content from all other content creators and brands, including the promoted one.
With the Snap Map feature, users can share their location with friends as well as discovering public content from the rest of the world. To avoid any form of cyberbullying, stalking or harassment, you can always turn on the ‘Ghost mode’ in the settings (similar to the ‘Incognito mode’ on Chrome).
Why My Snapchat Locked in the First Place
Snapchat locks accounts in two flavors: temporary (24 hours to a few days) and permanent. The reason is almost always one of these:
- Using third-party apps or mods (Snapchat++, Phantom, SCOthman) — instant flag.
- Sending spam, mass-adding strangers, or too many friend requests too fast.
- Reports for harassment, nudity, hate speech, or underage use.
- Suspicious logins from new countries or too many devices.
- Buying, selling, or trading accounts.
If you saw “Your account has been locked” once and it came back after 24 hours — that was a soft lock. If the app now says the decision is final, that’s the Snapchat ban this guide is about.
What is Snapchat’s Protection Lock?
The social network can suspend your account as a protective measure as well. For example, if it detects any suspicious activity from your account that causes it to suspend that hackers have got unauthorized access to it. This will also lead to the account lockage to keep away the community from any potential damage.
Another thing that one needs to remember is that, like other social networks, Snapchat bans accounts based on an IP address and the device fingerprint. It means that if your account was once permanently locked, registering another account on the same device will not help. The social network will also lock it immediately.
Now, well how to unban a permanently locked Snapchat account? Let’s find out.
How to Unlock a Permanently Locked Snapchat Account
Snapchat gives you exactly one appeal. Don’t waste it on a rushed message.
- Open https://help.snapchat.com/hc/en-us/requests/new.
- Choose “My account is locked” → “I need help with a locked account”.
- Fill in the username, email, and phone number tied to the account. Use the originals, not new ones.
- In the message box, be short and specific. No walls of text, no threats, no legal jargon.
A message that actually works looks like this:
Hi team, my account @username was permanently locked on [date]. I didn’t use any third-party apps or violate the guidelines. I only use the official iOS app on my personal iPhone. Could you please review the decision? Thank you.
Then wait 2–5 business days. Do not submit five appeals in a row — duplicates get auto-closed and can burn your one shot.
What to Do When the Snapchat Ban Is Really Final
Sometimes the appeal comes back with “the decision is final.” At that point, replying again does nothing. Your options:
- Save what you can. Request your data at accounts.snapchat.com → My Data. Sometimes this still works for a short window even after a lock.
- Warn your streak partners on another platform so they know why you disappeared.
- Accept that the username, Snapscore, and Memories are gone. Snapchat does not restore them, ever.
Then move on to the next step: making a new account cleanly, so you don’t get flagged again in 48 hours.
How to Create a New Snapchat Account without a Phone Number?
SMStoProxy platform is a great tool for those who don’t want to leverage a private phone number for registration and verification procedures on different services and apps. The service lets you purchase a virtual phone number for OTP codes for one-time usage or for a longer rental period of up to 3 months.
Unlike traditional numbers that receive SMS messages on the device with the installed SIM card, a temporary virtual number links to special online software, and the platform sends the code directly to your personal account.
The advantage is that not only does it require a SIM card for this, but you also remain as anonymous as possible, because purchasing such a service does not require submitting any documents such as national ID or driver license. In addition, such a phone number has no connection with the device. This helps to bypass the digital fingerprint of the device — and has no links to a specific geolocation.
SMStoProxy offers 190+ country codes to choose from for registration and walking around verification in 4000+ services. What is more, the starting price is from $0.16 per SMS.
So, how you can obtain a disposable phone number from SMStoProxy to make a new Snapchat account:
- Visit the official website smstoproxy.com to complete the registration procedure for free access to all functionality.
- In the website menu, find “Top Up” to deposit the necessary amount to your account for the online purchase of virtual numbers.
- Select the country for your future virtual number. To select numbers from restricted regions and use them in the future, simply activate a VPN.
- Select the service for which you plan to use the number – Snapchat. After that, click “Buy SMS” next to this service.
- Now, you can find your phone number in the ‘History’ section, at the bottom of the page.
- Copy the number to paste it into the specified field when registering on Snapchat.
- Click “Continue” – this sends a request for a verification code from Snapchat.
- Go to your profile on the SMStoProxy service and click “Get SMS.” All verification codes will be saved in the “Messages” section.
- Enter the received code and complete the registration process on Snapchat
Leverage the revealed code to restore your existing account or create new Snapchat account.
