Is Snapchat deleting Memories?
No, Snapchat isn't deleting anyone's Memories. From January 2027, memories that are more than a year old and aren't part of your oldest 5GB get archived, which means you still see a thumbnail but need a paid storage plan to open them.
What Snapchat is changing
On 26 September 2025 Snapchat announced storage plans for Memories. Everyone keeps 5GB of Memories storage for free, and Snapchat says most people have less than that, so nothing changes for them.
If you have more than 5GB, Snapchat gave you 12 months of temporary storage for the rest. After that, from January 2027, the archiving starts.
What “archived” means
Archived memories still show up in Memories as thumbnails. But to open, edit or share one, you need to upgrade your storage. Snapchat says nothing is archived before January 2027, and that it’ll tell you in the app before anything changes for you.
So it’s not deleting. It does mean that past the free 5GB, your memories are only a tap away if you pay.
Which of your memories it affects
Two groups stay open whatever happens: your oldest 5GB, and anything from the last 12 months. It’s everything in between that gets archived.
Say you’ve been saving Snaps since 2016 and have 20GB in total. The first few years (up to 5GB) stay open, and so does the past year. The years in the middle are the ones that end up as thumbnails.
How to keep all of them without paying
Download them. Snapchat lets you ask for a copy of all your Memories for free, and that copy is yours whatever happens in the app. And asking for it doesn’t remove anything from Snapchat. Our guide shows how to download all your Snapchat Memories at once.
The files Snapchat sends aren’t quite ready for a photo app, though. Photos come without their dates, captions are separate files and long videos are cut into pieces. That’s what BackupMemories fixes, and why the dates look wrong explains the problem in more detail.