You’re standing outside, it’s absolutely roasting, and you want to complain to your friends. Naturally, you open Snapchat. You take a photo of your melting ice cream or the heat haze rising off the asphalt. But then you start swiping. And swiping. Where is the weather? Honestly, figuring out how do you put temperature on Snapchat used to be a lot more intuitive back when everything was just a basic swipe-left filter, but the app has changed its UI so many times that even power users get tripped up.
Snapchat moved the furniture.
The temperature isn't a "filter" in the classic sense anymore; it’s a sticker. If you’re looking for that old-school overlay that lived right next to the sepia and black-and-white options, you’re going to be swiping until your thumb gets sore. To get that degrees-Fahrenheit (or Celsius, if you’re fancy) reading onto your snap, you have to dive into the sticker drawer. It’s a simple fix, but if your location settings are wonky or your app is outdated, it becomes a whole ordeal.
The Quick Way to Find the Weather Sticker
Let’s get straight to the point. Open the app and take your photo or video. Look at the right-hand side of the screen—there’s a vertical stack of icons. You want the one that looks like a sticky note with a folded corner. Tap that.
This is your sticker drawer. It’s usually a chaotic mess of Bitmojis, recently used icons, and random Giphys. You need to scroll through these or look for the specific icon that shows a number with a degree symbol. Sometimes it’s right at the top if you’ve used it recently. Other times, you have to hunt for it among the "Smart Stickers." These are the ones that pull live data, like the time, your battery percentage, or—you guessed it—the temperature.
Once you tap it, it lands right in the middle of your snap. You can drag it around with one finger. You can pinch it to make it tiny or use two fingers to rotate it so it’s diagonal. If you tap the sticker itself once it's on your photo, it usually cycles through different styles. One might be a small, minimalist number; another might show a five-day forecast or a more graphic sun/cloud icon. It’s basically Snapchat’s way of letting you customize the "vibe" of your weather report.
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Why Can’t I See the Temperature?
Sometimes the sticker just... isn’t there. It’s incredibly annoying. Usually, this happens because of one of three things: location permissions, data connection, or a literal software bug.
Snapchat isn't a meteorologist. It doesn't actually "know" it's hot outside; it’s pulling that data from a third-party weather service based on your GPS coordinates. If you have "Ghost Mode" on or if you’ve denied Snapchat access to your location in your phone's main settings, the app has no idea where you are. No location equals no weather data.
To fix this on an iPhone, you’ve gotta go to Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services and make sure Snapchat is set to "While Using the App." On Android, it’s a similar path through the "Apps" menu. If your location is on and it’s still missing, try toggling your Wi-Fi off and on. Sometimes the app gets "stuck" on an old location and needs a fresh data ping to realize you’ve moved from the chilly airport to the humid beach.
The Secret World of Units and Overlays
Not everyone wants to see 90°F. If you’re traveling or just prefer the metric system, you can actually change how the temperature displays. Usually, this is tied to your phone’s overall language and region settings, but within Snapchat, a simple tap on the sticker often toggles between Fahrenheit and Celsius.
There’s also a common misconception that you can only have one "smart" sticker. Not true. You can technically layer the temperature, the time, and your altitude all on one snap if you really want to overwhelm your followers with data. Just keep going back into that sticker drawer.
Wait, what about the "old" filters? Some people still have access to legacy filters depending on their region or if they are using a specific "Lens." If you use the search bar (the magnifying glass) and type in "Weather" or "Temperature," you’ll find hundreds of community-created Lenses. These are often much more creative than the standard sticker. Some will make it look like you’re inside a frozen block of ice if it’s below freezing, or add flaming emojis if it’s a heatwave.
Troubleshooting the "Missing Sticker" Glitch
If you’ve checked your location and updated the app, and you still can't figure out how do you put temperature on Snapchat because the icon is literally gone, you might need to clear your cache. This sounds technical, but it’s basically just taking out the digital trash.
- Tap your Bitmoji in the top left.
- Hit the gear icon (Settings) in the top right.
- Scroll all the way down to "Account Actions."
- Tap "Clear Cache."
Don't worry, this won't delete your Memories or your streaks. It just forces the app to redownload the latest stickers and assets. Often, the weather sticker disappears because the local file for that "smart" asset got corrupted during an update. Clearing the cache forces Snapchat to go, "Oh, right, I need to show the weather," and it’ll pop back up.
The Evolution of the Snapchat Weather Feature
It's actually kind of wild to think about how much this one feature matters. Back in 2013-2014, the temperature filter was one of the "big three" along with the speed filter (which was eventually removed for safety reasons) and the time overlay. It turned your phone into a digital scrapbook.
Expert digital analysts, like those at TechCrunch or The Verge, have noted that Snapchat’s shift from swipable filters to the "sticker drawer" was a strategic move to compete with Instagram Stories. Instagram made stickers the standard, and Snapchat eventually followed suit to keep the UI somewhat familiar for people who jump between apps. But for long-time users, it felt like a step backward in terms of speed. Swiping was faster. Hunting through a menu? Not so much.
There's also the "Battery/Weather" bug. On some older Android models, if your battery is extremely low (under 5% or 10%), the phone might restrict high-accuracy GPS to save power. When this happens, Snapchat might lose the ability to pull weather data accurately. If you’re at 2% battery and trying to snap the sunset, you might just be out of luck until you hit a charger.
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Making Your Weather Snaps Stand Out
Just slapping a number on a photo is a bit 2016. If you want to actually make it look good, try "pinning" the sticker.
If you take a video, you can press and hold on the temperature sticker to "pin" it to an object in the frame. Imagine you’re filming a thermometer or a melting popsicle; you can pin the digital temperature sticker to the popsicle, and as you move your camera, the sticker will move with it, staying perfectly in place. It adds a level of depth that a static overlay just can't match.
Another trick involves the "Color Picker." While you can't always change the color of the official weather sticker, you can use the drawing tool to create a backdrop or use Lenses that react to the current temperature. Some Lenses will change the entire color grade of your photo based on how hot it is—shifting to warm oranges in the heat or cool blues in the cold.
Practical Steps to Master the Temperature Sticker
If you are ready to get that weather data onto your story, follow these definitive steps to ensure it works every time.
First, verify that your Snapchat app is running the latest version from the App Store or Google Play. Developers frequently patch bugs that cause "Smart Stickers" to fail. Second, ensure your phone's "Precise Location" toggle is on. It's not enough to just have "Location" on; Snapchat needs the high-accuracy setting to pull local weather station data.
Once you’re in the app, take your Snap and immediately hit the Sticker icon. If you don't see the temperature, try typing "Weather" into the search bar within the sticker drawer. This often surfaces the official sticker if it’s buried under a pile of Bitmojis. If all else fails, a quick restart of your device usually resets the GPS handshake between the OS and the app, bringing the temperature back to your fingertips.
Finally, keep an eye on your data usage. If you are on a very slow "Edge" or 3G connection in a rural area, the "Smart" part of the sticker might time out before it can grab the temperature. You’ll see a blank icon or a loading circle. In those cases, you’re better off just using the text tool to type the temperature manually—it's not as high-tech, but it gets the message across.
Check your location settings first, then head to the sticker drawer, and tap the number to change styles. It's the most reliable way to make sure your friends know exactly how much you're suffering in that summer heat.
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Actionable Next Steps:
- Check Permissions: Go to your phone's settings and ensure Snapchat has "Always" or "While Using" access to your location.
- Toggle Styles: Once the sticker is on your screen, tap it to see at least three different design variations.
- Try Pinning: Record a video and hold down on the sticker to attach it to a moving object for a more professional look.