How to make a texting-story video for Snapchat Spotlight
Spotlight videos are short and vertical, so a texting story has to get to its point fast. Follow five steps from the first bubble to the finished file.
Try it: start from this sample
Pick a story that fits ten to thirty seconds
Spotlight videos are short, roughly 5 to 60 seconds as of November 2026, so a texting story must be one idea. The sample runs one mishap from question to punchline. If your draft has two subplots, keep the stronger and save the other for a second video. Check Snapchat's own help page for the current limits before you publish.
Set up the editor
Choose the Snapchat look, which needs the Standard plan, then write two people and your messages. ChatsRat draws its own interface in a similar general style and uses the name only to describe the kind of layout. This look supports read receipts and a typing indicator, but not reactions, so plan the joke around the words alone.
Export and review
Open the export dialog from this preset, which starts at 9:16, and render the video on the Creator plan. Watch it twice: once as a viewer who has never seen it, once looking only at the top and bottom edges, because Spotlight overlays its interface there. Fix any bubble that sits too high or low by trimming the chat.
Post and describe it honestly
Upload to Spotlight from your phone, add a short description and mark it as fiction in your own words. A viewer should never mistake the chat for a real private message. Avoid using real names, real brands as characters or phone numbers. If the first version gets little attention, change the opening bubble before you change anything else, since that line decides whether anyone keeps watching.
Tips
- Choose one joke or one twist per video, never two.
- Plan the punchline for the final bubble, not the middle.
- Without reactions on this look, let the wording carry the humour.
- Review the top and bottom edges on a real phone.
- State that the story is fictional in the description.
Questions
Which plan do I need for this look?
The Snapchat look is in the Standard plan. Exporting video, which Spotlight needs, requires the Creator plan.
Is ChatsRat connected to Snapchat?
No. It is a separate tool, not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by any messaging app. You upload the file yourself and follow the platform's rules.
Can I use a typing indicator?
Yes, this look supports it. Each appearance costs about a second of video, so use it before the key reveal only.
Can I write the chat with help?
Yes. On a paid plan the script writer turns a scenario and a tone into a short conversation you can edit.
Use it for simulated, labelled content. ChatsRat makes mock-ups and fictional conversations for creators, designers and teachers. Do not use it to pass off a made-up conversation as a real one, to impersonate a real person, or as proof of anything. See the Acceptable Use policy.
About the watermark. Exports on the Free plan carry a visible ChatsRat watermark, and every export carries an invisible mark that the verify page can read. Plans list what changes on paid plans.
ChatsRat is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by any messaging app. App names on this page describe a style only.