Snapchat Limits Free Memories: Here’s How to Save Your Snaps Before Loss
Snapchat limits free Memories to 5GB. Learn how to save, export, or upgrade to paid plans to keep your Snaps safe. Step-by-step guide inside.
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Snapchat is introducing limits on its popular Memories feature, nearly ten years after launching it as a digital repository for users’ photos and videos. The company announced last week that free Memories storage will now be capped at 5GB.
Users who exceed the new 5GB threshold must either export their saved Snaps or subscribe to one of Snapchat’s paid storage plans to retain their content.
Snapchat outlined its new plans in an email to TechCrunch. A basic storage plan offers 100GB for $1.99 per month. Subscribers to Snapchat+ receive 250GB as part of the $3.99 monthly fee. The highest tier, Snapchat Platinum, provides up to 5TB of storage for $15.99 monthly.
For users who do not upgrade, Snapchat will retain their oldest Snaps while deleting the most recent ones once storage limits are exceeded. The company is providing a 12-month grace period for Memories that surpass 5GB, giving users temporary storage before they must act.
Many users are choosing to export their Memories rather than pay for storage. There are two primary ways to preserve Snaps outside the app.
Export Memories Directly to Device
Users can save Snaps to their phone’s camera roll, but the app limits batch exports to 100 Memories at a time. The process, while potentially time-consuming for large archives, allows users to selectively preserve specific Snaps.
Steps to export:
1. Open Snapchat and tap the “Memories” icon beside the camera button.
2. Tap “Select” at the top right.
3. Choose up to 100 Memories.
4. Tap “Export” at the bottom right, then select “Download.”
5. Repeat for additional batches.
Download Full Snapchat Data
For larger archives, Snapchat’s “Download My Data” tool enables users to export their Memories in a single .zip file.
Instructions for download:
1. Open Snapchat and go to your Profile.
2. Tap the Settings icon.
3. Scroll to “My Data.”
4. Choose Memories, HTML, and JSON file options (additional options may be left unchecked for simplicity).
5. Select “Next” and then choose “All Time” for the date range.
6. Confirm the email address and tap “Submit.”
The delivery time for the .zip file depends on the volume of stored content.
