Snapchat spent eight years letting you save unlimited snapchat Memories for free. Now they want you to pay for it.
Starting now, if you’ve saved more than 5GB of Snaps, you either upgrade to a paid plan or start deleting. The company dropped this bomb in a latest policy change trying to sound sorry about it, but the message was clear: the free ride’s over.
Most users still do not care much. The 5GB limit is high enough that the ones who do not use it regularly will never hit it. But if you are the one, THAT ONE! And you have been saving thousands of Snaps since 2016? You’re about to get hit with a bill.
The New Rules about Snapchat Memories – You Ready?
Under 5GB of snapchat Memories? You’re fine. Nothing changes for you.
BUT! Over 5GB? You get 12 months to figure out what to do. After that, you either pay for more storage or lose access to your old Snaps.
This Is How The Paid Options Look Like:
- The 100GB one (price not announced yet)
- 250GB with Snapchat+ ($3.99/month)
- 5TB with Snapchat Platinum ($7.99/month)
You can download everything to your phone. Most people will not do that though. It takes forever, kills your storage space, and then what? You still want them in the app.
This Is Just Google Photos All Over Again
Remember when Google Photos offered unlimited free storage? Then in 2021 they just… stopped. Everyone complained for about a week, then most people either paid or deleted their stuff.
Snapchat watched that happen and thought “we should do that too.”
They’re not wrong to copy the idea of it. Storing 1 trillion Memories does not come for free. Servers cost money. Data centers cost money. All that storage adds up. But here’s the thing. If this was the case, they could have charged from the start. Instead they waited eight years, let everyone pile up thousands of saved Snaps, and then flipped the switch. That’s heartbreaking!
5GB Storage Will Run Out Faster Than You Think
See, when talking about 5GB, we might think it only holds maybe 1,500 photos. Few hundred videos. Tons of text Snaps.
Sounds fine until you remember people have been doing this since 2016. That’s nine years of saving everything. Birthdays. Concerts. Trips. That one dinner that seemed important at the time.
Anyone who’s actually been using Memories this whole time? They have been past 5GB years ago. 20GB, 30GB, who knows.
And now Snapchat wants them to pay for it.
They Want Your Subscription Money
The pricing makes it obvious. Standalone storage will probably cost close to what Snapchat+ costs. So why not just get Snapchat+ and get other features too?
That’s the trap. Once you’re paying monthly, you stick around. You don’t leave for TikTok or Instagram because you’re already invested.
Storage is just the excuse to get you paying.
What Can You Actually Do To Cope With The Damage?
Download everything. Snapchat lets you export all your Memories. Move them to your camera roll, Google Photos, iCloud, wherever. You own them.
Delete the junk. That blurry video from 2017? The screenshot you don’t remember taking? Gone. Get back under 5GB.
Pay up if it matters to you. If keeping everything in Snapchat is worth a few bucks a month, then pay. No judgment.
Why Is This Feeling Like Betrayal?
Snapchat sold Memories as this safe place to keep your important stuff. People bought into it. Eight years of photos and videos, all sitting there because Snapchat said it would always be free. Now they’re changing the rules.
Yeah, the 12-month grace period is something. Gives you time to deal with it. But let’s be honest about what this actually is. Classic bait and switch.
They let you save everything for free. You built up years of content. Now you’re stuck. Downloading thousands of Snaps sounds awful. Deleting eight years of snapchat memories feels worse. So you pay.
It’s not even original. Google pulled this exact move with Photos in 2021. Apple’s been squeezing people with iCloud storage since the beginning. Snapchat just watched everyone else do it first and figured they could get away with it too.
Most people using Snapchat won’t even know this happened. Their snapchat Memories are nowhere near 5GB. But the heavy users who’ve been saving everything since 2016? They’re about to lose their minds.
And Snapchat knows most of them will just pay up instead of dealing with the hassle.
