Is Snapchat Deleting Memories? What Happens in January 2027, Who Is Affected, and How to Save Yours

No, Snapchat is not deleting Memories, but some of them will be locked. In its own help center, Snapchat says it "will not automatically delete your Memories because you do not upgrade." What it will do, starting in January 2027, is archive some older Memories for people who have more than 5GB saved and have not bought more storage. Archived Memories stay on Snapchat and show up as thumbnails, but you cannot open, edit or share them until you upgrade your storage or download them (Snapchat Support).

Snapchat has also promised that no Memories will be archived before January 2027, and that you will get advance notice in the app before anything changes for you. That date comes from a commitment Snap made when it announced the storage plans: 12 months of temporary storage for any Memories over the 5GB limit (Snap, 2025). If you saw a post claiming your Memories disappear in September, October or "next week," it was wrong.

Your Memories split into three groups, and only one of them gets archived. You keep full access to everything you saved in the last year, and full access to your oldest 5GB of Memories. Everything else, meaning Memories older than a year that fall outside that oldest 5GB, is archived. You can still see the thumbnails, so you know they are there, but you need a storage plan or a download to open them.

Here is a worked example with made-up numbers. Say you have 12GB of Memories saved since 2016, and 3GB of them are from the last year. You keep the last year (3GB) and your oldest 5GB, which might cover 2016 to 2018. The remaining 4GB, from roughly 2019 to 2025, become thumbnails you cannot open. Those middle years are often the ones people care about most, which is why it is worth downloading now rather than waiting for the notice.

Only people with more than 5GB of Memories. Snap says the vast majority of Snapchatters have less than 5GB, and for them nothing changes (Snap, 2025). Five gigabytes is a lot of photos but not many videos, so heavy video savers, long-time users and anyone who has used Snapchat as their main camera since high school are the most likely to be over the limit.

To check your usage, open Snapchat, go to your Profile, tap the gear icon to open Settings, scroll down to My App and tap Memories, where you can see how much storage you are using (Snapchat Support). If you are under 5GB, you can stop worrying. If you are over, keep reading.

Snapchat gives everyone 5GB free, and sells larger storage in three tiers. When the plans were announced in September 2025, Snap told TechCrunch the US prices were US$1.99 a month for 100GB, while Snapchat+ at US$3.99 a month includes 250GB and Snapchat Platinum at US$15.99 a month includes 5TB (TechCrunch, 2025). Prices vary by country and may have changed since, so check the price shown in your app before you subscribe.

Paying is the simplest option if you want to keep using Memories as your photo library. Downloading is the better option if you want a copy that does not depend on a subscription, on Snapchat's future decisions, or on your account staying open. Many people do both: they pay for a plan while they download everything, then decide.

Request a Memories-only export from Snapchat's My Data page, then download the zip file from a computer. These are Snapchat's own steps (Snapchat Support):

1. Log in at accounts.snapchat.com, or in the app go to Settings and choose My Data.

2. Click My Data.

3. Under "Select data to include," turn on "Export your Memories."

4. Click "Request Only Memories."

5. Choose the date range, or turn the date range off to get everything. Longer ranges take longer to process.

6. Confirm your email address and click Submit.

7. Wait for the email. Snapchat says it aims to deliver data within 7 days, but large downloads can take longer. You can also check "See exports" on the same page.

8. Download the zip file, extract the folder, open index.html in your browser, click Memories, and download them individually or all at once.

Snapchat recommends downloading from a computer rather than a phone, and trying a different browser if the download fails. Do it on a reliable connection, and make sure you have at least twice the space of your Memories free on the drive, because you are downloading a zip file and then extracting it.

The most common problems are size, time and dates. Here is how to avoid each one.

• The export takes days. Big libraries take longer to prepare, so request the export now rather than in December.

• The download fails partway. Use a computer, a wired or strong Wi-Fi connection and a desktop browser, and retry from the export page.

• The dates look wrong. Some people report that downloaded files show the download date instead of the day the Memory was taken. Check a few files after extracting, before you delete anything in the app.

• You run out of space. Download to an external drive if your laptop is nearly full.

• You only keep one copy. A single folder on one laptop is not a backup. Keep two copies in two places, such as an external drive and a cloud photo service.

Keep them in at least two places, and make one of them somewhere you already check every day. A cloud photo library such as Google Photos or iCloud Photos is the easiest everyday home, an external hard drive is a cheap second copy, and a family member's account is a good third copy for the photos that matter most. Whatever you choose, do it in the same week you download, because a zip file sitting in your Downloads folder is the easiest thing in the world to lose. While you are at it, rescue the other things that live only inside apps: our guide on how to save WhatsApp voice messages covers the voice notes people regret losing most, and what happens to Instagram when you die explains why photo apps are a poor place to keep the only copy. Apps change their rules more often than people expect, as our tracker of AI app shutdowns shows.

Most of your Memories are snapshots, but a few dozen are the story of your life: the trip that changed something, the friend who is no longer around, your grandmother's 80th birthday, the first night in your first apartment. Those are the ones to rescue first, and they are worth more than a file in a folder. A photo without the story behind it gets more confusing every year, and in twenty years nobody, including you, will remember why it mattered.

That is where Afterlife.ai™ comes in. In Your Library you can keep the photos and videos that matter and tell the story behind each one, so your Persona, the AI version of you that speaks in your own voice, remembers it and can tell it to the people you choose. The free build includes up to 10 photos and 25 memories, with no card, and it never expires; Legacy includes 1 GB of storage and Eternal includes unlimited storage and photos. It is not a bulk backup for ten thousand snaps. It is the place for the fifty that tell your story. If you want to go further, our guides to the best way to record family memories and choosing a family memory app compare the options.

Nobody in your family can open them unless you have planned for it. Snapchat accounts are personal, and a password in your head is not a plan. Our guide to what happens to Snapchat when you die explains the options. The simplest step is the one on this page: download your Memories, keep a copy your family can reach, and put the stories behind the important ones somewhere they will last, such as your Afterlife.ai™ Persona, protected by Executor Lock™. For other things on your phone that are easy to lose, see our guide on how to save a voicemail forever.

• Snapchat Support: How do I manage my Memories storage?

• Snap Newsroom: Introducing Memories Storage Plans (2025)

• Snapchat Support: How do I download my data from Snapchat?

• TechCrunch: Snapchat caps free Memory storage, launches paid storage plans (2025)