Almost ten years after launching as a digital archive for your personal highlights, Snapchat is now introducing a fee for its Memories feature. Last week, the company revealed it will restrict free Memories storage to 5GB.
Should your Memories surpass this threshold, you’ll have to either export them or subscribe to one of Snapchat’s new Memories Storage plans to keep them safe.
According to an email sent to TechCrunch, Snapchat’s entry-level storage plan provides up to 100GB for $1.99 per month. If you’re a Snapchat+ subscriber, you’ll receive 250GB with your $3.99 monthly payment, while Snapchat Platinum members get 5TB for $15.99 per month.
If you go over the storage cap and don’t purchase a plan, Snapchat will retain your oldest Snaps, deleting the most recent ones to remain within the limit.
While Snapchat is offering users a year of temporary storage for Memories that exceed 5GB, many are opting to export their content rather than pay for more space.
Below, we’ll guide you through the two available methods for safeguarding your Snapchat Memories.
Save your Snapchat Memories to your device’s camera roll
One option is to transfer your Snapchat Memories to your camera roll. While this can be done directly from your mobile device, you’re limited to exporting 100 items at a time, which can be tedious if you have a large collection.
However, this approach allows you to pick and choose which Snaps you want to keep.
Follow these steps:
- Launch Snapchat and tap the “Memories” icon beside the camera button.
- Select “Select” in the upper right corner.
- Choose up to 100 Memories you wish to save.
- Press the “Export” button at the bottom right of your display.
- Choose “Download” to move them to your camera roll.
Repeat these steps to save additional groups of 100 Memories.
Export your Snapchat data
If you’d rather not manually export Memories in batches, you can use Snapchat’s “Download My Data” feature to archive your Memories and receive them via email in a .zip file.
Here’s how you can do it:
- Open Snapchat and go to your Profile page.
- Tap the Settings gear in the top right corner.
- Scroll down and find the “My Data” section.
- Select Memories, HTML Files, and JSON Files. (Deselect other options unless you want to include more data, such as chat logs or user information. Be aware that extra data may make it harder to locate your Memories in the .zip file.)
- Tap “Next.”
- When asked for a date range, pick “All Time.”
- Verify your email address.
- Hit “Submit.”
The time it takes to receive your archive will depend on the amount of data you have stored.
