Snapchat Is Saying Pay up or We Won't Store Your Memories — Here's When the Change Happens

Being able to take a quick pic or video with your phone and upload it to your followers on Snapchat is a streamlined and simple process. And, of course, one of the main benefits of the app is that their presence on the app is temporary. At least, as far as the general public is concerned.

But there's something to be said for the Memories option, which stores these quick moments in a cloud storage account so that you can still go back and enjoy them without taking up space on your phone.

However, in late 2025, Snapchat made an announcement about their plans to change the way Memories are stored and how much storage users have access to. So, when will Snapchat start to delete your Memories if you don't comply with the new system? Here's what we know.

It used to be that any content posted to your Snapchat was saved in your cloud Memories account. This was an extraordinary resource, because instead of saving the endless varieties of every single photo you take to upload, only the moments you considered share-worthy made it into the storage system. People have cloud storage accounts going back years, and sometimes dozens or hundreds of gigabytes worth of content stored in their Memories.

Unfortunately, in September 2025, Snapchat announced that it would be limiting free cloud storage to just 5 GB. According to USA Today, anyone who wants more than 5 gigs will have to pay to increase their storage.

Which means that if you have storage already that exceeds the 5 gigs, and you don't want to pay for more, the assumption is that the overage will end up deleted.

Unfortunately, it's unclear when exactly these deletions might occur. The new system is going to be implemented in 2026, so that seems like a reasonable time period to assume. However, some TikTok users have reported that their Memories are already slowly disappearing, which could suggest that deletions of files over 5 gigs are already happening for people who aren't paying to upgrade their storage. It's unclear if this is planned or misunderstanding, however.

Luckily, if you don't want to pay to keep your Memories, you can download them before they're gone. However, this can be size prohibitive for many people, considering that Memories started in 2016, and many people have been active on their accounts since then.

Understandably, people are pretty upset about it.

Many people took to TikTok to air out their fears and frustrations, with users saying that the Memories function was the sole reason they still used Snapchat; to save room on their phone. Others declared that they would be leaving the app now that their Memories aren't sticking around. In one video comment section, a user summed up the frustrations of many by saying, "this is a shameless cash grab, and I want to leave Snapchat for that as much as any inconvenience about my files."

While users are already reacting to the news from Snapchat, it's unclear how, or if, the new restrictions will impact user interactions with the app overall. While people may complain about changes to social media, it doesn't always translate to real-world migrations off the platform.