Snapchat lets you turn off Spotlight notifications, but I couldn't find any setting that removes the Spotlight tab itself. If you want Spotlight gone and Chat kept, the most direct option is minulo, an iPhone app that opens Snapchat with Spotlight and Discover hidden, and hiding is free. Locking the official Snapchat app is free for up to 2 hours per block, and schedules are part of minulo Pro.
People who search for "turn off Snapchat Spotlight" usually mean one of two things. Some want the Spotlight notifications to stop. Others want the Spotlight tab itself gone, because they open Snapchat to reply to a friend and end up swiping through Spotlight instead. Snapchat lets you do quite a lot about the first. For the second, I couldn't find a setting at all.
I'll split this into what you can control, what you can't, and the workaround I built. That last part is the reason for this disclosure: I'm Ayumu Kitabayashi, the developer of minulo, an iPhone app that can hide Spotlight. I'm biased about that section. The Snapchat facts come from Snapchat Support pages and Apple's iPhone User Guide, checked on 2026-10-23. Menu names can change with updates.
What you can control
Which notifications you get
- In Snapchat, tap your profile icon at the top.
- Tap ⚙️ to open Settings.
- Tap Notifications.
- Turn off each notification type you don't want.
Snapchat's help doesn't list the notification types by name, so you'll have to look at the toggles on your own screen.
If what's bugging you is comments on Snaps you posted to Spotlight, there's a Comments toggle on the same Notifications screen.
Whose Stories you hear about
On that Notifications screen, Manage Story Notifications lets you keep only the people you still want alerts for. You can also do it per friend: swipe right to the Chat screen, press and hold a chat, tap Story Settings and turn Story Notifications off. This is about Stories from people, not the Spotlight feed, but it cuts down a lot of the reasons to open the app.
Everything, all at once
In the iPhone Settings app: Notifications → Snapchat → turn off Allow Notifications. That silences Snapchat completely, chat notifications included, so it only makes sense if you're fine checking chats manually.
What Spotlight shows you
Snapchat says it uses hiding, skipping and reporting as signs you don't enjoy something and shows less like it. In Discover, Hide this Content removes that Story or Show. In the European Economic Area, the UK and Switzerland, you can also turn off personalized recommendations in Spotlight and Discover, or reset suggested content. Snapchat says you'll still see content, just less tailored to you.
Which tab the app opens on (Snapchat+ only)
Subscribers can open My Account, tap their Snapchat+ membership card, tap Home Tab and choose the tab Snapchat opens on. This needs a paid Snapchat+ subscription, and the Spotlight button stays in the tab bar.
For parents
In Family Center, a parent can turn on Hide Sensitive Content for a teen. It limits sensitive or suggestive content in Stories and Spotlight. Spotlight itself stays.
What you can't control
The Spotlight tab. As of October 2026 I couldn't find any setting in Snapchat's help that removes it or turns it off. About Discover, Snapchat's help says directly that you can't completely disable the section, and I found nothing different for Spotlight.
iPhone Screen Time doesn't help here either. It limits or blocks the whole Snapchat app. It can't target one tab, and if you block Snapchat, your chats are blocked too.
So the choice inside Snapchat is: tune Spotlight, or block everything. There's no built-in middle.
The middle option
You can open Snapchat somewhere that hides Spotlight. That's the approach minulo takes. It opens Snapchat's website inside the app, and in its Snapchat settings you turn on hiding for Spotlight and Discover. Chat opens straight from the minulo home screen. The hiding stays on until you switch it off, so you don't have to remember to tap away from Spotlight each time.
Setup:
- Install minulo from the App Store.
- On the home screen, tap Add a service and choose Snapchat.
- Tap the gear next to Snapchat and turn on hiding for Spotlight and Discover.
If you keep tapping the official Snapchat icon out of habit, minulo can lock that app with Screen Time and send you to minulo instead. A block is free for up to 2 hours, and you can start another one whenever you want. minulo Pro ($9.99 a month or $39.99 a year in the US) adds schedules by day and time, blocks longer than 2 hours, Hard Mode (turning a block off takes a few minutes on purpose) and multiple block lists.
A privacy note, since Snapchat involves the camera: on iPhone, minulo uses the camera and microphone only when you take a photo or video in Snapchat inside minulo.
Where minulo falls short
I'd rather you know these before installing:
- The official app stays the same. minulo shows Snapchat's website. It doesn't modify the Snapchat app.
- No notifications while the official app is locked. That includes chat notifications, and minulo sends none of its own. If you need to hear about Snaps right away, don't lock the app. Lock it for study time or at night.
- No Android. iPhone only for now.
- Very few ratings. minulo is new (September 2026) and had no US App Store ratings when I checked on 2026-10-24.
If push notifications matter most, SocialLite is worth a look: it offers push notifications for Instagram and Snapchat, and it had 15,058 US App Store ratings on 2026-10-24. Other apps in this space, such as UNDOOMED and Nope, focus on different sets of networks, so check whether Snapchat is on their list.
Quick answers
Can you turn off Spotlight? Not that I could find in Snapchat's help as of October 2026.
How do I stop Spotlight comment notifications? Profile icon → ⚙️ → Notifications → turn off Comments.
Does hiding Snaps make Spotlight go away? No. It ranks similar Snaps lower, one Snap at a time.
Can Snapchat open on a different tab? With Snapchat+, via Home Tab. Spotlight is still one tap away.
Full guide with every source: https://minulo.app/en/turn-off-snapchat-spotlight.html?ref=devto-en-spotlight-1025
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