Snapchat is a multimedia messaging app that allows users to share photos, short videos, text, and stories that typically disappear after being viewed. Launched in 2011, it quickly gained popularity among younger audiences for its focus on ephemeral content and casual communication. Today, Snapchat is used worldwide not just for chatting with friends, but also for discovering news, following influencers, engaging with brands, and exploring location-based features like Snap Map. With almost a billion monthly active users globally, it has become both a social hub and a rich source of digital footprints that can be leveraged in OSINT investigations.
Snapchat for Web
Snapchat for Web extends the platform's functionality to desktop users, allowing them to send and receive messages, view stories, and engage with content from their computers. This shift not only enhances user accessibility but also opens new avenues for OSINT investigations.
Usernames
Every Snapchat account is tied to a unique username. By using it, one can access the user's public profile, which may include their display name, Bitmoji avatar, and any public stories they have shared. And the best part is this does not need a login. This information can be crucial for OSINT investigators looking to gather data on individuals or entities.
The Snapchat public profile URL can be constructed by appending @username to https://www.snapchat.com/
Let's look at an example: For the username john, the public profile URL would be https://www.snapchat.com/@john
Upon visiting the URL, you would see the user's public profile, including their display name, profile picture, Bitmoji, and any public stories they have shared. You can also notice there are other details such as their location, other social media profiles and certain timestamps. Of course, all these details depend on the user's privacy settings.
Metadata Extraction
We have seen the details that are visible on the public page. Our team had researched a bit more into it and noticed that the Snapchat web app is built using the Next.js framework. By inspecting the source code of the page, we found that the profile data is embedded in a JavaScript object within the HTML. This object contains various metadata fields that can be extracted for OSINT purposes. Here's how you can try it yourself:
Open the public profile URL in your web browser. Open it's page source. Now search for __NEXT_DATA__ in the page's source. There will be a script tag with type "application/json" that contains a JSON object. Copy the entire JSON object and use a JSON parser to format it for easier reading. In the parsed JSON, navigate to the props.pageProps.userProfile.publicProfileInfo object. This object includes various metadata fields such display name, Bitmoji details, and more.
You can see that we were able to also extract the creation time of the profile which was not visible in the public profile page. Not all profiles include all these details. The availability of metadata depends on the user's privacy settings and what they have chosen to share publicly.
We've released a free tool for extracting Snapchat metadata. You can find it on our Github here: SnapPeek
There's a URL for the profile picture too in the JSON. By default it is a smaller thumbnail of the full picture. There is a way to get the larger image. It is left as an exercise for the reader to find it. PRs are always welcome.
Always remember to use OSINT responsibly and stay within the boundaries of local laws and regulations
Snapchat Metadata from an Email Address or a Phone number
Extracting Snapchat details from an email address or phone number is not as straightforward as using a username. You can use SpotThem OSINT's reverse email and phone lookup service to extract Snapchat details (and a lot more too!) using just an email address or a phone number.
SpotThem OSINT extracts realtime data from numerous sources to provide comprehensive profiles, including social media accounts like Snapchat. This can be particularly useful for investigators looking to connect the dots between different pieces of information.
You may register at SpotThem for faster and accurate OSINT investigations.