Snapchat cloud storage full? What it means for your Memories
It means your Memories take up more than the 5GB Snapchat stores for free. Nothing gets deleted, but from January 2027 your older memories beyond the first 5GB are archived, and you'd need a paid plan or a download to open them.
Step by step
- See how much you're using In Snapchat, tap your profile picture, then ⚙, then Memories. Cloud Storage shows how much space your Memories take.
- See what would be archived Put that number into our storage calculator. It shows roughly which years would end up as thumbnails.
- Decide whether to pay or download A paid plan keeps them all open in Snapchat. Or download everything once, for free, with Snapchat's data export. Our guide shows how.
Will you lose everything?
No. Snapchat’s help page says it won’t delete your Memories because you don’t upgrade. “Full” means you’ve gone past the 5GB that’s free, not that anything is being removed.
What changes is how you can open them. From January 2027, Snapchat archives memories that are more than a year old and aren’t part of your oldest 5GB. You still see them in Memories as thumbnails, but to open, edit or share them you need a paid storage plan, or a copy you downloaded. Your oldest 5GB and everything from the last 12 months stay open either way.
Why it says full now
When Snapchat brought in storage plans in September 2025, everyone over 5GB got 12 months of temporary storage for the rest, so nothing has been archived yet. The warning is Snapchat telling you you’re over the limit. Saving a new Snap while you’re over it can bring up the upgrade options too.
Snapchat says nothing is archived before January 2027, and that it will tell you in the app before anything changes for you.
What you can do
| Option | Cost | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Pay for more storage | From $1.99 a month in the US (plans and prices) | Everything stays open in Snapchat, for as long as you pay |
| Download everything | Free | Your own copy of every memory, to keep wherever you like |
| Get back under 5GB | Free | Nothing archived, but only by deleting memories from Snapchat |
If you’d rather get back under 5GB, only delete memories from Snapchat once you have a copy of them somewhere else. A deleted memory can’t be brought back.
Downloading them all
Snapchat’s data export gives you every saved memory as ZIP files, for free. But the files aren’t ready to keep as they are: photos have no date or place inside them, captions come as separate images and long videos are cut into 10-second pieces. So years of memories would all land on the day you saved them. BackupMemories puts all of that back, free. There’s more on what’s wrong with the export.
Not the same as your phone’s storage
Cloud Storage is the space your Memories take on Snapchat’s servers. If it’s your phone that’s full, that’s a different problem: Snapchat keeps a cache on your phone, and you can clear it in Snapchat’s settings (⚙, then My Privacy & Data, then Clear Cache) without losing any Memories, Snaps or chats.
Waiting for Snapchat's email?
Snapchat usually takes a day or two to send your export, sometimes up to a week. Leave your email and we'll send you one reminder, with what to do next.