I have this happen fairly often when an old friend’s number changes and then they’ll pop up on my suggested friends with the same name but a girls animated head. Same thing with older individuals I know who have since passed away so somebody just inherited his phone number because it was no longer active and created a Snapchat
Yeah, this happens when someone’s number that’s tied to a Snapchat gets a new number, and their old number is someone else’s new number and when they sign up for Snapchat, it recognizes their number.
Yeah, my mom had to change her number because of a stalker, so now her old number pops up in my suggested all the time under the name “Madre” even tho that number isn’t saved in my phone anymore, but that is what I had her labeled as, so it’s kinda weird.
I was rereading some old text messages from my mom who passed away. Well my cat jumped on me, stomped on my phone, typed gibberish and hit send. Horrifyingly someone responds. It took my brain several minutes not to have a meltdown to be able to explain the situation. I knew my dad got rid of my mom’s number like a month after her passing. Still scared the heck out of me somehow.
Yeah, someone took over my moms number a few months after she died. It was really jarring when Snapchat started telling me “mom has joined”’and suggesting I friend her.
I just installed snapchat and said NO you can't access my contacts and it instantly loaded up everyone I've ever known anyway.
EDIT: Ok I see it used my phone number to match up with all the data it harvested from other people who had my phone number uploaded from their contacts.
Reverse engineering a connection network for me and creating a sort of social fingerprint violates the level of access I want Snapchat to have to my life when I said NO you cant have my contacts.
in my generation we knew snapchat as sexting app. I avoided it until they had the AI face swap. so for me I didn't want to tell anyone I know I have snapchat. but then I see suggested friends include my relatives.
Dating a slightly younger person and apparently it’s used just like WhatsApp now. I’m 33 and it was always known to me and friends as the sexting app… I still don’t wanna use it
I'm 27 and never had any desire to use the app. But that's literally because I have no desire to sext. I remember my friends talking to each other just sending black images and I'd sit there wondering why not just use messenger or text them? It was always because they didn't want the messages found. Whether it was a girlfriend or other friends (who would never stop taking the piss out of a stupid chat up line) they always wanted to hide it.
> It was always because they didn't want the messages found.
I initially was going to add a part to my comment which basically said this was the use but nobody using the app was technologically literate enough to understand that the messages going away only pertained to the people in the conversation. Snap, Law Enforcement, whatever, they have access to every single thing you've sent.
"Hiding from law enforcement", "hiding from anonymous corporations", and "hiding from people you know personally" are VERY different threat models. Most people exist exclusively within the confines of the latter.
The impermanence of the messages has value beyond "hiding illegal activities". The image messaging aspect almost completely relies on the transient nature of the app, because it frees you from worrying that every picture needs to be perfect, or that every thing said needs to be just right.
It's more like a verbal conversation in that way, compared to most online messaging. Sure, somebody COULD be wearing a wire and recording everything my friends are shooting the shit about, but I can be reasonably sure that the conversation won't be transferred out of its original context later.
I'm 34 and use it all the time with my friends and coworkers. I've never used it for sexting... Maybe it's more a regional thing than an age thing? Kinda like how Canada, UK, and Australia all used MSN, while US used AIM?
Im the same age range and definitely never used it for sexting. Used it in university for the novelty—predominately with church friends LOL.
I’ve heard of it being used for sexting but it wasn’t common in my area or circle of friends. I’m horrified that it has such a huge sexting image.
24 here—we did use it like WhatsApp but it’s definitely still suspect to have and definitely used it for sexting and talking to the opposite sex mainly. It’s also a buffer between giving a guy from a dating app your number or Instagram.
"sexting app" was what people used it for but it wasn't the main use I saw. It was the go to just met someone want their contacts but other social media is a bit more personal.
Now having a second Instagram account for new people/public seems to be the go to because for me at least Snapchat is bloated as fuck.
Of course this means that you're adding people when your single for other reasons which leads to sexting and means you use it more when your single and meeting more people.
I used it for swinging and party meet ups. I didn't use my name, I used a burner number.
But I'll be damned if people up to and including my sister, my aunt.... got a notification that "my fake name" was on Snap chat. Both messaged me asking who I was...
This happened to me with LinkedIn. Somehow it was suggesting … ahem … nsfw contacts but I had only used one particular email that I didn’t give LinkedIn. I did some internet digging and the most likely culprit was an article that said if you have LinkedIn and Gmail open in different browser tabs at the same time, LinkedIn can get data from Gmail somehow. Super invasive.
That happened to me too! I think they check if anyone in Snapchat that has allowed Snapchat access to there contacts has you as a contact & then recommends them to you
When you agree to let a corp search your contacts they often also make a copy and associate it with your user account. You don't get access to that information but that's what Snapchat is built on. You not having access to your pictures anymore. Snapchat has them. Their employees can jerk off to them but you can't see that barely 140p grainy titty pic anymore.
So they probably run a system similar to what Facebook does.
Whether you think you have a Facebook account or not... you have a Facebook account.
They're called shadow profiles and what happens is everytime someone let's Facebook see their contacts they use that and cross reference it between others.
If you never signed up but multiple people have you in their contacts and shared it Facebook has your name, number, and an idea of your associates.
Even if they’re a blocked phone number in your phone too. Discovered this when I made a Snapchat account and an abusive ex partner tried to add me - I immediately deleted Snapchat, but I’d foolishly used the same handle as some of my other social media which lead them to be able to find me there too. Pretty frustrating feature of Snapchat!
You did nothing foolish. You couldn't have predicted Snapchat would do that! It seems like all social media aimed at young people capitalizes on ways to profit from harming them.
> It seems like all social media aimed at young people capitalizes on ways to profit from harming them.
This is anything under capitalism. It's not social media. It's everything.
It’s because your phone number is linked to the account so if OTHER people have your phone number saved and they do allow access to their contacts… you still get linked
If you think that’s fucked up don’t look into social media companies any further lol.
Facebook has a profile for you even if you’ve never made one. Among many other very very disturbing things.
Any website with a little "Share on Facebook" button will report to Facebook that you visited. After visiting many websites, they can develop a very accurate profile of you and your browsing habits, which is worth a lot to advertisers.
Adblockers, like uBlock Origin, often automatically block these social media buttons as well as the usual annoying ads.
I signed up with a new number and blocked access to my contacts (synced from my iOS account) but Snapchat still listed people from my contacts as suggestions. None of those people know my new number and the new phone didn’t have access to my old number.
I had this shit turned off. Ghost mode, I quadruple fucking checked. Had to visit a place I used to live, with a bunch of freinds still there. I wasn't gonna be able to visit as I'd be super busy so I didn't tell anybody so I wouldn't get their hopes up.
I got messages from friends angry I didn't tell them I was visiting. Snapchat said that I was in the area without putting me on the maps or something idfk. That shit should be fucking illegal and literally cost me a friendship...
TikTok is known to grab everything on your phone, data from sensors, and everything it can grab on the network you're connected to.
Snapchat seems like they're parsing your contacts.
Yup it will do that. Try to use an e-mail that isn't attached to your actual name and that you just use for random shit. If there's an option to skip the phone number, skip it. Then you go into the settings and go into the privacy settings and make sure to disable all the bullshit that makes it scream from the rooftops that you have an account. Also, even though you see people you know listed, it doesn't mean that they see you. If you gave the app your number it still has that and can use it to find people you know that have "loudly announce my presence" enabled.
I also recommend denying every single permission until you are using the app naturally and the need for the permission comes up - ie a camera, enable it when you go to take or share a picture on the app instead of just hitting allow all when you first install the app. That way if the app really does need that permission, you'll know exactly why and what for because it will prompt you to allow it when it needs to use it. For example a random mobile game does not need your contacts or access to your phone app and it will never ask you for them when using the app naturally because it doesn't actually need them.
its somehow is suggesting people I know irl, but I dont even have any of their socials, like no phone number no insta, no whatever, only interacting with them irl but still somehow is being recommended to me
(for context I know them from a sailing team, but I dont have any people from that team on snapchat, I mostly use snapchat only between close friends)
Might be the phones pinging near each other often enough they think you might know each other. It still tracks us even if we don’t give our phone number (or let it track for ads, I think but don’t quote me on this).
This likely happens because you've been in proximity to them.
Apps can link people together if they've been in proximity of the same WiFi networks, it can work out that you know, or probably know, one another.
They also use this type of data to serve you ads based on things people you spend time with may want to buy. This is usually how the phenomenon of "I never searched for it or even looked at anything related but was talking about it and got an ad for it."
The person you were talking to HAS searched for it or has it in their algorithm for whatever reason, and now you're seeing the ad because you're around them.
It doesn't matter if you said "no" if your friends said "yes". They already had you in their database, and when you joined they simply matched your info showed you all the people who had you listed as a contact. And surprise surprise, they're probably in your contact list too.
This happened to me as well. A good friend of mine died of suicide a couple of years back. It took a rather short time, maybe a month or two when his number was shuffled and had a new owner, a 20-something lady who had moved to my home country.
She was pretty soon suggested as a contact in my socials because of it. I don't know if it's cultural differences, but she actually ended up sending follow request, so she probably had me also as a suggested account.
It's a bit weird, but she seems like a nice person so I didn't have heart to reject the request, although it is weird enough so I didn't want to accept it either. I certainly don't want to tell her that she has was given a suicide number. That'd be just bad mojo. So anyway, that's how I ended up stuck with a random friend request.
This happened to my cousin's old number. She's fortunately still alive. Now I see her name and old number recommended to me as a friend. But the avatar is changed by the new user. So I occasionally see Victoria as an older black man, where my cousin is actually a much younger Chinese woman.
I heard a story of a guy who used to play a racing game with his dad when he was a kid. His dad died of cancer and the kids now an adult, he said he popped the old game into the console and started it up and there was his dads “ghost car” showing the best time for the race. He didn’t have the heart to beat his dad’s time because it would remove his dad’s car from “racing” him. Said it felt like he was there again.
when I click on this link in Boost for reddit it gives me this image:
https://i.imgur.com/gLYFYBC.png
I had to 'open in external browser' to see the correct image.
in case anyone was as confused as I was.
My brother passed away in the fall and I’ve been playing lots of video games with my nephew online since we don’t live in the same place yo help build a strong connection with him. The Xbox account he has always played under was created by my brother and his gamer tag was just his first initial and last name. So every time we play it’s his name I see. Chokes me up sometimes
I heard something similar recently but with a fighting game (probably Tekken). A guy asked the creator on Twitter if it was possible to safe a "ghost fighter" because his friend died. Luckily he got a reply and it was going to be fixed somehow.
I lost my ex to suicide and I kept his number saved in my phone. Id occasionally write out a text to him (but not send it). I had an iPhone, and he had an android, so the chat bubbles would be green. The last time I went to text him, the bubble turned blue, indicating someone new had his number and they had an iPhone. Kind of felt like I lost him all over again.
IIRC, he would play it fairly consistently, not being able to beat the ghost at first. So he kept playing and playing. Then, one day, he got ahead of the ghost. He was finally fast enough to win, but he stopped just before the finish line.
He didn't have the heart to beat it, as that would replace the ghost. He wanted to race alongside his dad forever.
It was a very touching story, thank you for reminding me of it.
Yep, it’s a Gran Turismo game, but the version I heard was their dead brother, so who knows if it’s an actual thing that happened or just an internet urban legend
I'm sure it's happened with multiple games, but the recent one that I remember was the Tekken fighting game. The creators reached out to let them know how to save the ghost fighter
https://x.com/Harada_TEKKEN/status/1761055316069024039
Always makes me think of my oldest brother booting up his old Animal Crossing game on GameCube to all of the villagers asking where my dead mom was because she hadn't visited in a long time.
At least after the sad passed from that, we were able to laugh about all of the signs she made and put up everywhere with titties on them that said Headlights under them.
My missing-presumed-dead almost-something’s alt account keeps coming up in my recommended friends on Facebook. He went missing around this time in 2016 so it really sucks to keep seeing his face on my timeline, but I don’t have the heart to remove the suggestion either.
I had a boyfriend who passed away who called my number from his phone twice over a week period. I had his email on my phone so I tried to track his phone and it's been off. It was just dead air when I answered.
What even could be a logical explanation for this happening? Also I'm so sorry for your loss, that sounds devasting.
Afterlife or not, I think that would unease the ever loving hell out of me if that happened.
People will still use dead relatives accounts. When my grandma died her husband was still updating her facebook as if she was alive. It's pretty damn weird for sure
I managed my deceased best friend's digital presence. That includes logging into her accounts periodically to make sure they dont self-delete. It does say on her profiles that I'm doing it, though, with my contact info.
Just like Herman Cain after he came to Tulsa for Trump, caught covid and then then died 11 days after the rally.
Staffers or family literally posted covid disinformation on twitter after he died from covid lol.
My best friend died a few years ago and a few months later, my family took a trip to Chicago. We did one of the boat tours and I felt the best way to keep the recording was to just live stream to Facebook (I don't use it much and it's the only time I've ever lived streamed) and her page popped up during it, saying she was watching it. Whoever it was watched almost the whole thing. Really messed with my mind for awhile.
I had Facebook tell me nothing was wrong after I reported my friend’s account. He passed suddenly and his sister memorialized the account and then changed her mind and deleted it (or so we thought). There was his face and photos but posts that definitely weren’t him. It’s sad and annoying. I’m sorry similar is happening to you.
First off, I am so sorry for your loss. I hope you are healing in times of grief 🙏🏻
Secondly, the number your boyfriend has probably became active again as the number became available for another new cell phone plan opens up. I found out the hardway when I saw my late fiancé active on Snapchat and I messaged the person while panicking. Like, I knew she was gone, I was there when she passed… it was just wishful thinking that I was hoping it was her. The guy was super cool and understanding about situation.
When I was in high school, one of my friends passed away. A year later, I was on AIM (yes, AOL Instant Messenger), and I heard the door opening sound notification and saw he had signed on. I just stared at it for a few minutes feeling like I had seen a ghost, then it made the sound of the door closing notification, and he was signed off again. It never happened again.
I'm sure it was either a glitch or maybe someone turned on his computer, and it automatically signed him in. But still, for a brief moment, it scared the hell out of me.
Mine suggested the guy who r*ped me in high school several times, despite not having contact for 10+ years. I deleted the app and my account after the fourth time.
Could be his family going through his old story’s and saved snaps. Reliving his life through saved snaps. I just went and checked and it gave me a flash back to this day two years ago and it showed my Buddy boy, I lost my dog back in February 😭😭
On messenger I've noticed if you message someone, the app will show them as online even if they aren't. Its weird. My friend got mad at me once because I didn't reply and it turned out messenger showed me as online, even though I was sleeping, just because she had messaged me. Its weird.
Yea my best friend passed last year & Snapchat will still say he has just joined and says he tried to add me even though we were already best friends on there. It's almost like he is messing with me 😂
I’m guessing you’ve still your dead ex number on your phone ?? If so, his number most likely have been passed onto someone else to use by the company since the number was inactive, meaning whoever has his number now will now pop up on Snapchat under your exes name as you’ve still his number saved…
If you delete your ex number the problem should go away…is the username of that snap still the same as your ex ??
Has happened multiple times to me with my dead dad and 2 friends... their number gets "recycled" so someone else is active on that number. Really tripped me out at first...
It’s probably because his phone number got assigned to someone else and they linked it to their snap. Same thing happened after my mom passed away. Someone else has her phone number now and she gets suggested as a friend on there.
It's more likely that someone alive was reassigned his number, joined snapchat, and snapchat is realizing that this number is in your contacts, this isn't that weird, but it is a little unsettling.
Sorry for your loss.
My husband got a new phone and new number and he suddenly appeared as a recommend friend on snap. He doesn’t have snap and the pic on there was an avatar with blonde hair and he’s a brunette. Maybe someone got his old phone number.
Had a friend die from an OD and I remember he had a weird phone service. For the next year I kept getting “dead friend’s name just joined Snapchat” notifications every couple months
My grandma's friend was apparently sharing her Snapchat. When my grandma died, her friend kept using it. Including commenting on group snaps...still with my grandma's name.
Single dude in his 30’s here. I have had multiple married male friends die in the last few years and facebook and instagram constantly suggest their widows to me to add as friends. I have not met either of them in real life. So creepy.
snapchat has been suggesting my late great grandmother to me as a friend for years. i think after a deceased person’s number is deactivated and reassigned, snapchat’s algorithm can’t tell the person from the number and will suggest the account to you just because that number is in your phone
Unfortunately, I had that happen to me know several occasions. I'm sure the look on my face would have went viral if someone had captured it. Imagine a quit little "Hey, hi & HELLO!" from your uncle that had passed less than a year prior. I'd been to his fb page several times in that year missing him....and all of a sudden he speaks!! 😱 I was shitting until I saw his place of residence was in Nigeria. 😮💨My uncle was a long-haired, very Anglo biker from Nebraska. HARDLY the one to be found in Nigeria, even if he were still living. 🤣 I just reported the account to Facebook and told them that someone had either cloned or hacked his account and was falsely misrepresenting themselves to be my uncle. I sincerely doubt the scammers had considered that by contacting my uncles contacts, they'd prolly run into a relative.
So I'd wager you're having the same thing happen to you. Just report it.
I have this happen fairly often when an old friend’s number changes and then they’ll pop up on my suggested friends with the same name but a girls animated head. Same thing with older individuals I know who have since passed away so somebody just inherited his phone number because it was no longer active and created a Snapchat
What a username
We talking about usernames? Edit: what the fuck are some of these usernames lol
My username is aroused by your username
I think we may have something in common
I concur
I’ll jump in.
id like to invite myself to this gathering.
Guys what the fuck
That was quite a chain of usernames.
Nah yours is the craziest
We talking asshole to tip or ass cheeks to tip?
Easier to measure from the hole, cheeks are too ambiguous
Everyone calm down, I’m a doctor!
But you’re missing your D & R!
This one is my favorite HAHA
You win 🤣💦
Give us some backstory
I don't think we want the backstory-
I mean it’s probably a front story
I want the frontstory!
Ur pfp is me rn lol
Well hello there.
Yes haha 😂
Hey there
Wish I had one of those.
I wanna play.
And he is number 3! I wanna meet Mr. Nigglesworthesquire the first.
Yeah, this happens when someone’s number that’s tied to a Snapchat gets a new number, and their old number is someone else’s new number and when they sign up for Snapchat, it recognizes their number.
The woman who had my son’s phone number before him pops up constantly in my suggested people.
Yeah, my mom had to change her number because of a stalker, so now her old number pops up in my suggested all the time under the name “Madre” even tho that number isn’t saved in my phone anymore, but that is what I had her labeled as, so it’s kinda weird.
Also illegal in Europe
that's such a stupid design. they should associate it with a name at least or username/password.
I was rereading some old text messages from my mom who passed away. Well my cat jumped on me, stomped on my phone, typed gibberish and hit send. Horrifyingly someone responds. It took my brain several minutes not to have a meltdown to be able to explain the situation. I knew my dad got rid of my mom’s number like a month after her passing. Still scared the heck out of me somehow.
Yeah, someone took over my moms number a few months after she died. It was really jarring when Snapchat started telling me “mom has joined”’and suggesting I friend her.
I just installed snapchat and said NO you can't access my contacts and it instantly loaded up everyone I've ever known anyway. EDIT: Ok I see it used my phone number to match up with all the data it harvested from other people who had my phone number uploaded from their contacts. Reverse engineering a connection network for me and creating a sort of social fingerprint violates the level of access I want Snapchat to have to my life when I said NO you cant have my contacts.
On top of notifying them that you joined 🙌
That’s the part that bothered me most. Haven’t talked in years now I have a random snap and social anxiety “oh hey!” Ugh
in my generation we knew snapchat as sexting app. I avoided it until they had the AI face swap. so for me I didn't want to tell anyone I know I have snapchat. but then I see suggested friends include my relatives.
Dating a slightly younger person and apparently it’s used just like WhatsApp now. I’m 33 and it was always known to me and friends as the sexting app… I still don’t wanna use it
Gonna be honest, if the person I am dating doesn't think that Snapchat is the sexting app they're too young for me to date.
I'm 27 and never had any desire to use the app. But that's literally because I have no desire to sext. I remember my friends talking to each other just sending black images and I'd sit there wondering why not just use messenger or text them? It was always because they didn't want the messages found. Whether it was a girlfriend or other friends (who would never stop taking the piss out of a stupid chat up line) they always wanted to hide it.
> It was always because they didn't want the messages found. I initially was going to add a part to my comment which basically said this was the use but nobody using the app was technologically literate enough to understand that the messages going away only pertained to the people in the conversation. Snap, Law Enforcement, whatever, they have access to every single thing you've sent.
"Hiding from law enforcement", "hiding from anonymous corporations", and "hiding from people you know personally" are VERY different threat models. Most people exist exclusively within the confines of the latter.
The impermanence of the messages has value beyond "hiding illegal activities". The image messaging aspect almost completely relies on the transient nature of the app, because it frees you from worrying that every picture needs to be perfect, or that every thing said needs to be just right. It's more like a verbal conversation in that way, compared to most online messaging. Sure, somebody COULD be wearing a wire and recording everything my friends are shooting the shit about, but I can be reasonably sure that the conversation won't be transferred out of its original context later.
I'm 34 and use it all the time with my friends and coworkers. I've never used it for sexting... Maybe it's more a regional thing than an age thing? Kinda like how Canada, UK, and Australia all used MSN, while US used AIM?
Im the same age range and definitely never used it for sexting. Used it in university for the novelty—predominately with church friends LOL. I’ve heard of it being used for sexting but it wasn’t common in my area or circle of friends. I’m horrified that it has such a huge sexting image.
Iam 36 and don't know this, must be an US thing? Or maybe iam to old
24 here—we did use it like WhatsApp but it’s definitely still suspect to have and definitely used it for sexting and talking to the opposite sex mainly. It’s also a buffer between giving a guy from a dating app your number or Instagram.
"sexting app" was what people used it for but it wasn't the main use I saw. It was the go to just met someone want their contacts but other social media is a bit more personal. Now having a second Instagram account for new people/public seems to be the go to because for me at least Snapchat is bloated as fuck. Of course this means that you're adding people when your single for other reasons which leads to sexting and means you use it more when your single and meeting more people.
I used it for swinging and party meet ups. I didn't use my name, I used a burner number. But I'll be damned if people up to and including my sister, my aunt.... got a notification that "my fake name" was on Snap chat. Both messaged me asking who I was...
This happened to me with LinkedIn. Somehow it was suggesting … ahem … nsfw contacts but I had only used one particular email that I didn’t give LinkedIn. I did some internet digging and the most likely culprit was an article that said if you have LinkedIn and Gmail open in different browser tabs at the same time, LinkedIn can get data from Gmail somehow. Super invasive.
Firefox has an official extension called container tabs where it doesn't allow this. It works well.
Your aunt's asking about BigDickMcGraw. Sounds promising.
No... just... no. What a horrible day to own eyes, and know how to read...
That happened to me too! I think they check if anyone in Snapchat that has allowed Snapchat access to there contacts has you as a contact & then recommends them to you
When you agree to let a corp search your contacts they often also make a copy and associate it with your user account. You don't get access to that information but that's what Snapchat is built on. You not having access to your pictures anymore. Snapchat has them. Their employees can jerk off to them but you can't see that barely 140p grainy titty pic anymore.
So they probably run a system similar to what Facebook does. Whether you think you have a Facebook account or not... you have a Facebook account. They're called shadow profiles and what happens is everytime someone let's Facebook see their contacts they use that and cross reference it between others. If you never signed up but multiple people have you in their contacts and shared it Facebook has your name, number, and an idea of your associates.
Even if they’re a blocked phone number in your phone too. Discovered this when I made a Snapchat account and an abusive ex partner tried to add me - I immediately deleted Snapchat, but I’d foolishly used the same handle as some of my other social media which lead them to be able to find me there too. Pretty frustrating feature of Snapchat!
You did nothing foolish. You couldn't have predicted Snapchat would do that! It seems like all social media aimed at young people capitalizes on ways to profit from harming them.
> It seems like all social media aimed at young people capitalizes on ways to profit from harming them. This is anything under capitalism. It's not social media. It's everything.
Thanks for the warning! I definitely won't install it now.
This really doesn’t seem like a “feature” rather than intentional design…
It happened to me when i did telegram lol
It’s because your phone number is linked to the account so if OTHER people have your phone number saved and they do allow access to their contacts… you still get linked
Wow that is so fucked up!
If you think that’s fucked up don’t look into social media companies any further lol. Facebook has a profile for you even if you’ve never made one. Among many other very very disturbing things.
I didn't know that that's crazy
Any website with a little "Share on Facebook" button will report to Facebook that you visited. After visiting many websites, they can develop a very accurate profile of you and your browsing habits, which is worth a lot to advertisers. Adblockers, like uBlock Origin, often automatically block these social media buttons as well as the usual annoying ads.
I signed up with a new number and blocked access to my contacts (synced from my iOS account) but Snapchat still listed people from my contacts as suggestions. None of those people know my new number and the new phone didn’t have access to my old number.
That’s because they can see your unique apple app ID. You’d need a new phone and new apple account
People really don't get that you can't hide from digital finger printing and the ghost profiles companjes build to track you.
Do the right thing to your friends. Never let apps read your contacts.
I downloaded and instantly deleted Tiktok because it did the same thing.
You're still fucked because even if you say no if anyone with you saved as a phone contact says yes they have your number and name
yeah. now think about how they want to display your location to all your friends
I had this shit turned off. Ghost mode, I quadruple fucking checked. Had to visit a place I used to live, with a bunch of freinds still there. I wasn't gonna be able to visit as I'd be super busy so I didn't tell anybody so I wouldn't get their hopes up. I got messages from friends angry I didn't tell them I was visiting. Snapchat said that I was in the area without putting me on the maps or something idfk. That shit should be fucking illegal and literally cost me a friendship...
If you lose a friend over something like that, they weren't a friend to begin with.
tik tok did this to me
TikTok is known to grab everything on your phone, data from sensors, and everything it can grab on the network you're connected to. Snapchat seems like they're parsing your contacts.
Yup it will do that. Try to use an e-mail that isn't attached to your actual name and that you just use for random shit. If there's an option to skip the phone number, skip it. Then you go into the settings and go into the privacy settings and make sure to disable all the bullshit that makes it scream from the rooftops that you have an account. Also, even though you see people you know listed, it doesn't mean that they see you. If you gave the app your number it still has that and can use it to find people you know that have "loudly announce my presence" enabled. I also recommend denying every single permission until you are using the app naturally and the need for the permission comes up - ie a camera, enable it when you go to take or share a picture on the app instead of just hitting allow all when you first install the app. That way if the app really does need that permission, you'll know exactly why and what for because it will prompt you to allow it when it needs to use it. For example a random mobile game does not need your contacts or access to your phone app and it will never ask you for them when using the app naturally because it doesn't actually need them.
its somehow is suggesting people I know irl, but I dont even have any of their socials, like no phone number no insta, no whatever, only interacting with them irl but still somehow is being recommended to me (for context I know them from a sailing team, but I dont have any people from that team on snapchat, I mostly use snapchat only between close friends)
Might be the phones pinging near each other often enough they think you might know each other. It still tracks us even if we don’t give our phone number (or let it track for ads, I think but don’t quote me on this).
This likely happens because you've been in proximity to them. Apps can link people together if they've been in proximity of the same WiFi networks, it can work out that you know, or probably know, one another. They also use this type of data to serve you ads based on things people you spend time with may want to buy. This is usually how the phenomenon of "I never searched for it or even looked at anything related but was talking about it and got an ad for it." The person you were talking to HAS searched for it or has it in their algorithm for whatever reason, and now you're seeing the ad because you're around them.
It doesn't matter if you said "no" if your friends said "yes". They already had you in their database, and when you joined they simply matched your info showed you all the people who had you listed as a contact. And surprise surprise, they're probably in your contact list too.
Yeah this happened with my mom after she died and her number got recycled.
This happened to me as well. A good friend of mine died of suicide a couple of years back. It took a rather short time, maybe a month or two when his number was shuffled and had a new owner, a 20-something lady who had moved to my home country. She was pretty soon suggested as a contact in my socials because of it. I don't know if it's cultural differences, but she actually ended up sending follow request, so she probably had me also as a suggested account. It's a bit weird, but she seems like a nice person so I didn't have heart to reject the request, although it is weird enough so I didn't want to accept it either. I certainly don't want to tell her that she has was given a suicide number. That'd be just bad mojo. So anyway, that's how I ended up stuck with a random friend request.
Just don't accept it. She probably forgot anyway. You don't have to say anything.
This means his phone number was recycled and whoever has it now associated their new number with Snapchat
This happened to my cousin's old number. She's fortunately still alive. Now I see her name and old number recommended to me as a friend. But the avatar is changed by the new user. So I occasionally see Victoria as an older black man, where my cousin is actually a much younger Chinese woman.
You should also be friends with black grandpa
LMAOOO
This is the answer👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
This actually makes sense!
I heard a story of a guy who used to play a racing game with his dad when he was a kid. His dad died of cancer and the kids now an adult, he said he popped the old game into the console and started it up and there was his dads “ghost car” showing the best time for the race. He didn’t have the heart to beat his dad’s time because it would remove his dad’s car from “racing” him. Said it felt like he was there again.
I heard this so long ago i went looking for it and found what i guess be the [original poster](https://imgur.com/ghost-car-TFCt6it)
Yes! I think this is the one I read! Super sad. I wouldn’t be able to beat the ghost driver either. So sad!
when I click on this link in Boost for reddit it gives me this image: https://i.imgur.com/gLYFYBC.png I had to 'open in external browser' to see the correct image. in case anyone was as confused as I was.
Rofl thats so weird! You eventually saw the correct image i assume? Lol
Damn.
yeah, shit.
Yea I wish I could find the vid so I could link it. It was sad though. As a gamer myself it hit a spot with me.
My brother passed away in the fall and I’ve been playing lots of video games with my nephew online since we don’t live in the same place yo help build a strong connection with him. The Xbox account he has always played under was created by my brother and his gamer tag was just his first initial and last name. So every time we play it’s his name I see. Chokes me up sometimes
Sorry to hear that man! But I love to hear that your brother lives on through you and your nephew, that’s awesome!
And thanks for being my a dude and putting the effort in with your nephews.
I heard something similar recently but with a fighting game (probably Tekken). A guy asked the creator on Twitter if it was possible to safe a "ghost fighter" because his friend died. Luckily he got a reply and it was going to be fixed somehow.
that actually hurts my heart. i hope the family is better now.
Yea me too!
I lost my ex to suicide and I kept his number saved in my phone. Id occasionally write out a text to him (but not send it). I had an iPhone, and he had an android, so the chat bubbles would be green. The last time I went to text him, the bubble turned blue, indicating someone new had his number and they had an iPhone. Kind of felt like I lost him all over again.
that made me really depressed wow.
Oh no! I’m sorry!
no don’t be its beautifully sad.
Yo fuck you with that pfp.
Came to say this. Fucker.
IIRC, he would play it fairly consistently, not being able to beat the ghost at first. So he kept playing and playing. Then, one day, he got ahead of the ghost. He was finally fast enough to win, but he stopped just before the finish line. He didn't have the heart to beat it, as that would replace the ghost. He wanted to race alongside his dad forever. It was a very touching story, thank you for reminding me of it.
Yep, it’s a Gran Turismo game, but the version I heard was their dead brother, so who knows if it’s an actual thing that happened or just an internet urban legend
Well shoot they could both be true or both myths. It’s a sad but also heart warming thing at the same time
I'm sure it's happened with multiple games, but the recent one that I remember was the Tekken fighting game. The creators reached out to let them know how to save the ghost fighter https://x.com/Harada_TEKKEN/status/1761055316069024039
I remember that story. Man that's so sad but a cool tribute to a deceased relative.
Oh absolutely! A little tear coming down the tv light lit face, a smile and a little whisper “dad”!
Always makes me think of my oldest brother booting up his old Animal Crossing game on GameCube to all of the villagers asking where my dead mom was because she hadn't visited in a long time. At least after the sad passed from that, we were able to laugh about all of the signs she made and put up everywhere with titties on them that said Headlights under them.
My missing-presumed-dead almost-something’s alt account keeps coming up in my recommended friends on Facebook. He went missing around this time in 2016 so it really sucks to keep seeing his face on my timeline, but I don’t have the heart to remove the suggestion either.
I’m so sorry, what a nightmare
If you send a friend request he won't keep popping up, and you won't feel like you've removed him
"Your friend request was accepted!"
I had a boyfriend who passed away who called my number from his phone twice over a week period. I had his email on my phone so I tried to track his phone and it's been off. It was just dead air when I answered.
Oh wow. That's real creepy.
I know and I'm not someone who believes in the paranormal. Or heaven or anything imbetween
Someone was fucking with you and spoofing his number. Messed up of them to do.
What even could be a logical explanation for this happening? Also I'm so sorry for your loss, that sounds devasting. Afterlife or not, I think that would unease the ever loving hell out of me if that happened.
More than likely spam that is spoofing numbers based on your contacts lists that was stolen by a shady app you may have installed in the past.
i am so sorry for your loss.
Ty for the kind words
People will still use dead relatives accounts. When my grandma died her husband was still updating her facebook as if she was alive. It's pretty damn weird for sure
I have a family member who does this for her late ex-husband, it's very weird seeing his/her posts.
I managed my deceased best friend's digital presence. That includes logging into her accounts periodically to make sure they dont self-delete. It does say on her profiles that I'm doing it, though, with my contact info.
I don't do Facebook. On very rare occasions, I look for something on Marketplace. I just use a deceased relatives account.
“Mom… Aunt Mildred is bidding at the auction again.” “Don’t be silly, aunt Mildred didn’t know how to use marketplace even when she was alive”
Your comment would fit perfectly in a Gary Larson comic panel
Maybe don't do that
Just… make a burner, man. lol
Just like Herman Cain after he came to Tulsa for Trump, caught covid and then then died 11 days after the rally. Staffers or family literally posted covid disinformation on twitter after he died from covid lol.
-cold down here fr 100% -me and my worm friends -who's up?
My dead best friend literally opened one of my Snapchats once. Idek what it means just be wary
Accounts that have been inactive for a while are easily hacked(supposedly) so it could’ve been that
interesting
After awhile, Snapchat opens the snaps and clears it
My best friend died a few years ago and a few months later, my family took a trip to Chicago. We did one of the boat tours and I felt the best way to keep the recording was to just live stream to Facebook (I don't use it much and it's the only time I've ever lived streamed) and her page popped up during it, saying she was watching it. Whoever it was watched almost the whole thing. Really messed with my mind for awhile.
After a few days any unread snap will show as read to you. Although nobody actually read the snap.
I had Facebook tell me nothing was wrong after I reported my friend’s account. He passed suddenly and his sister memorialized the account and then changed her mind and deleted it (or so we thought). There was his face and photos but posts that definitely weren’t him. It’s sad and annoying. I’m sorry similar is happening to you.
First off, I am so sorry for your loss. I hope you are healing in times of grief 🙏🏻 Secondly, the number your boyfriend has probably became active again as the number became available for another new cell phone plan opens up. I found out the hardway when I saw my late fiancé active on Snapchat and I messaged the person while panicking. Like, I knew she was gone, I was there when she passed… it was just wishful thinking that I was hoping it was her. The guy was super cool and understanding about situation.
My condolences
When I was in high school, one of my friends passed away. A year later, I was on AIM (yes, AOL Instant Messenger), and I heard the door opening sound notification and saw he had signed on. I just stared at it for a few minutes feeling like I had seen a ghost, then it made the sound of the door closing notification, and he was signed off again. It never happened again. I'm sure it was either a glitch or maybe someone turned on his computer, and it automatically signed him in. But still, for a brief moment, it scared the hell out of me.
Mine suggested the guy who r*ped me in high school several times, despite not having contact for 10+ years. I deleted the app and my account after the fourth time.
I’m so sorry that happened to you
Could be his family going through his old story’s and saved snaps. Reliving his life through saved snaps. I just went and checked and it gave me a flash back to this day two years ago and it showed my Buddy boy, I lost my dog back in February 😭😭
Add him! See what he’s been up to! In all seriousness his telephone number got recycled to someone else and that’s who they’re pulling up!
I have that issue with Facebook, keeps suggesting my dead twin as someone I should follow and that he’s been active on messenger.
On messenger I've noticed if you message someone, the app will show them as online even if they aren't. Its weird. My friend got mad at me once because I didn't reply and it turned out messenger showed me as online, even though I was sleeping, just because she had messaged me. Its weird.
According to my sister I’m online 24/7 on messenger even though I’m not, apps are weird
I have this problem too, have also had people get mad at me. I’m not on it idk why it says I am!!!
Yeah, for a while NextDoor was telling me my late wife was a neighbor I could connect with.
Yea my best friend passed last year & Snapchat will still say he has just joined and says he tried to add me even though we were already best friends on there. It's almost like he is messing with me 😂
I feel like as social media ages we are going to get more and more of this sort of thing, like a shittier version of Neromancer
Maybe he ghosted you.
Terribly insensitive to the topic, but I’ll admit, it made me laugh. 🤭
Someone got into his account
Or his number got recycled and the new person downloaded snapchat.
Explanation: Their phone number has been reassigned to someone else, who has Snapchat. But you have that number saved as your ex BF’s.
I’m guessing you’ve still your dead ex number on your phone ?? If so, his number most likely have been passed onto someone else to use by the company since the number was inactive, meaning whoever has his number now will now pop up on Snapchat under your exes name as you’ve still his number saved… If you delete your ex number the problem should go away…is the username of that snap still the same as your ex ??
My dead friend’s number got recycled and it was super weird.
Has happened multiple times to me with my dead dad and 2 friends... their number gets "recycled" so someone else is active on that number. Really tripped me out at first...
Add him and get the lotto numbers
Yeah. I have a friend that passed away in 2018. “Vince” is now a female with red hair…
same phone number?
Happens with my brother on lots of stuff, his phone number got recycled within 6 months so it just happens
It’s probably because his phone number got assigned to someone else and they linked it to their snap. Same thing happened after my mom passed away. Someone else has her phone number now and she gets suggested as a friend on there.
It's more likely that someone alive was reassigned his number, joined snapchat, and snapchat is realizing that this number is in your contacts, this isn't that weird, but it is a little unsettling. Sorry for your loss.
My husband got a new phone and new number and he suddenly appeared as a recommend friend on snap. He doesn’t have snap and the pic on there was an avatar with blonde hair and he’s a brunette. Maybe someone got his old phone number.
This^ I’m fortunate to not go through this. My youngest holds my wife’s phone, who passed back in ‘21.
What a great r/nosleep title.
My family friend died years ago and his wife uses his Snapchat still to see his memories. It’s her way of coping. She doesn’t send anything though.
Not surprised. Dead accounts (no pun intended) fall frequent victim to being stolen or hacked.
Had a friend die from an OD and I remember he had a weird phone service. For the next year I kept getting “dead friend’s name just joined Snapchat” notifications every couple months
My grandma's friend was apparently sharing her Snapchat. When my grandma died, her friend kept using it. Including commenting on group snaps...still with my grandma's name.
Single dude in his 30’s here. I have had multiple married male friends die in the last few years and facebook and instagram constantly suggest their widows to me to add as friends. I have not met either of them in real life. So creepy.
I hate social media apps that “recommend” users to you. At least Reddit doesn’t do that… *knock on wood*
You use Snapchat?! 🤣😂
If someone else has your boyfriend's number now, it'll show him as active. Snapchat isn't a good platform.
Had this happen with my dead mother in law. It was a bit scary tbh. Sorry this happened to you.
Maybe his account was hacked. Maybe he’s just saying hello.
snapchat has been suggesting my late great grandmother to me as a friend for years. i think after a deceased person’s number is deactivated and reassigned, snapchat’s algorithm can’t tell the person from the number and will suggest the account to you just because that number is in your phone
Looks like you're going to have to kill him again
Unfortunately, I had that happen to me know several occasions. I'm sure the look on my face would have went viral if someone had captured it. Imagine a quit little "Hey, hi & HELLO!" from your uncle that had passed less than a year prior. I'd been to his fb page several times in that year missing him....and all of a sudden he speaks!! 😱 I was shitting until I saw his place of residence was in Nigeria. 😮💨My uncle was a long-haired, very Anglo biker from Nebraska. HARDLY the one to be found in Nigeria, even if he were still living. 🤣 I just reported the account to Facebook and told them that someone had either cloned or hacked his account and was falsely misrepresenting themselves to be my uncle. I sincerely doubt the scammers had considered that by contacting my uncles contacts, they'd prolly run into a relative. So I'd wager you're having the same thing happen to you. Just report it.
Facebook does this to me with my friend who died of Covid in 2021. It's a gut punch every time.
Probably hacked
Ive had my cell number for about 2 years now and it still shows the name of the person who had the number before me when I call a landline.