Snapchat is filled with amazing settings, filters, and effects — yet one of its most entertaining ‘features’ is the viral ‘tap to load’ prank. If you use social media apps with close friends or family members, chances are you’ve all pranked each other before. From sending funny photos, making goofy video calls, or whatever else comes to mind, pranking your best pals on apps like Snapchat and TikTok can be a fun way to pass the time.

For Snapchat, specifically, there are plenty of pranks you can pull off on your friends. Want people to think you’re on a lavish vacation when you’re just hanging out at home? Find a picture of a fancy resort or beach online, post it to your Snapchat Story, and act like you’re having the time of your life. You can also send a video to your friend, but instead of talking, just mouth the words you’re ‘saying’ — tricking your friend to think something’s wrong with their phone audio.

Related: Snapchat Notifications Not Working? Here’s How You Can Fix Them

Another popular Snapchat prank is the tap to load one. When you send a picture to someone on Snapchat, the photo normally auto-downloads so your friend can see it right away. Send a Snap, the other person sees it immediately in your chat conversation, and that’s all there is to it. It’s a convenient system for quickly sharing photos, but it also lends itself perfectly to the tap to load prank. All you have to do is send an image to someone that says ‘Tap to load’ — making it look like you’ve sent them a picture that isn’t loading correctly. That should lead them to try tapping that image to load it, but in reality, there isn’t anything else to see. As shown by Twitter user @boston_byerly, the results can be pretty hilarious.

How To Do The Snapchat Tap To Load Prank

Snapchat messages with 'Opened' status

So, how do you perform the Snapchat tap to load prank on your friends? It’s actually very easy. To get started, download the ‘tap to load’ picture on your phone (either from the above Tweet or by searching for the image online). Once it’s on your phone, simply open Snapchat, tap on the friend you want to send it to, tap the photos icon, and send the tap to load image. There are a couple of ways to approach the prank. You could send the tap to load image on its own without any context and lean into the randomness of it. Alternatively, you could preface the photo by saying something like ‘OMG you won’t believe what I just saw,’ followed by the tap to load picture.

The tap to load prank has been around on Snapchat since at least 2021, but for whatever reason, it seems to be popular with users again in 2022. That could make it harder to pull off the prank if your friend already knows how it works, but it’s still worth a shot. Download the picture, send it to someone, and watch as hilarity ensues. The tap to load prank isn’t the most productive way to use Snapchat, but it sure can be a lot of fun.