Snapchat has announced a significant change, implementing fees for the storage of users’ archived photos and videos, a decision that has elicited discontent within its community. For almost ten years, the Memories feature has served as a complimentary digital repository; however, the company has announced that it will limit free storage to 5 GB.
People who have many photos will have to decide whether to pay a new monthly fee or find a new place to store their memorable photos.
How to save your Snapchat memories for free
When they see this new fee, a lot of users decide to export their Memories instead of paying. If this sounds like you, there are two main ways to get your photos and videos back for free.
The first way is to download your Memories straight to the camera roll on your device. In order to do this,
- Open the Snapchat app and select the “Memories” icon next to the camera button.
- Tap “Select” in the top right corner, choose up to 100 Memories you want to save, and then tap the “Export” button that appears.
- Finally, select “Download” to save them to your camera roll. While effective, this process can be time-consuming, as it is limited to batches of 100 Snaps at a time, which is less than ideal for anyone who has amassed thousands of Memories over the years.
The second, more comprehensive option is to use Snapchat’s “Download My Data” tool. This feature allows you to request an archive of your information, which is then emailed to you in a .zip file.
- Navigate to your profile and then the settings icon in the Snapchat app.
- Scroll down and select the “My Data” option. From there, you can choose to download your Memories, along with HTML and JSON files if you wish.
- After selecting “All Time” as the date range and confirming your email address, tap “Submit.”
- The time it takes to receive your data can vary depending on how much you have stored, but it provides a way to save your entire collection at once without the hassle of multiple batches.
The new paid plans start with a storage plan that costs $1.99 a month and gives you 100 GB of space. Snapchat+ subscribers will get up to 250 GB of storage as part of their current $3.99 monthly subscription. Those who pay $15.99 per month for the premium Snapchat Platinum tier will get a huge 5TB of storage.
The company is giving users who are already over the 5GB limit a 12-month grace period. During this time, they can either export their old Snaps or upgrade to a paid plan. If you go over the limit and don’t sign up for a plan after this time, your most recent memory may be deleted to keep your account within the free storage limit. However, your oldest Snaps will be kept.
People on social media have reacted negatively to the announcement, with some accusing the company of being greedy. “Charging a subscription fee for my memories is the most greedy thing I’ve ever seen,” said one user, who spoke for many who feel like a service they’ve used for years is being taken away.
Snapchat has said that “it’s never easy to go from getting something for free to paying for it,” but they think the service is “worth the cost.” The company says that these changes are necessary to keep investing in the Memories feature for everyone, since users have saved over one trillion Memories since it launched in 2016. Users only have a short amount of time to figure out how much their digital memories are worth.
