That title sounds shockingly like Black Mirror, doesn’t it. From now on, Snapchat users will have to pay to keep their “Memories” stored if they exceed 5 GB. That’s the threshold above which the service becomes a paid feature.
Until now, Memories (its archive of Snaps, Stories, videos and photos saved by users) were largely free. The company has not yet confirmed how much extra storage beyond 5 GB will cost, or whether regional pricing will vary.
What Are Snapchat Memories?
Snapchat’s big hook has always been disappearing photos and videos. But in 2016, the company added a feature called Memories, a personal archive built right into the app. Instead of losing Snaps after 24 hours, you could save them to Memories, where they stay on Snap’s servers.
Naturally, these are important for many users as they are a documented history of events they’ve been to. Memories provide a searchable archive, letting you find old Snaps by date, location, or even objects like “dog” or “concert”. From time to time, Snapchat will serve up Throwbacks, with memories from today’s date back over the years. There is also a private storage where users can pin-lock certain memories.
For many, this has turned into a digital diary. Birthdays, holidays, and years of random nights out all sit there, with some users now holding many gigabytes of content.
What’s Changing?
Snapchat has announced that you’ll soon need to pay for the privilege of keeping these Memories. It’s somewhat understandable given that storage isn’t free for Snapchat, particularly large volumes of rich content at scale.
Under Snap’s new rules, users with more than 5GB of saved content will have to pay to keep it stored. While it’s yet to be confirmed, those who hit the cap will be nudged onto something like a 100GB paid plan, with extra space available through premium subscriptions like Snapchat+.
Snap says the change will roll out globally over the coming months. It’s being reported that the entry-level storage plan will cost $1.99 (about €1.90) per month, while 250GB is bundled into the $3.99 (€3.80) Snapchat+ subscription. Irish pricing hasn’t yet been confirmed but expect these to be rounded up for Euro pricing.
Given Snapchat’s general demographic, pricing will have to be reasonable. For a large portion, the company will have to expect parents to pay this, regardless of price.
Building on Rented Land
I love a good cliche, and this is one of my all time favourites; we shouldn’t build on rented land. Storing memories or valuable content used to mean we had printed photos or video tapes. Now, we let large faceless companies look after them.
The result is painfully predictable – these companies monetise the access. Reactions online have been swift and mostly negative. Many loyal Snapchatters say they’ve spent years relying on the platform’s free storage, amassing far more than 5GB of Memories. Now they feel cornered into paying to avoid losing cherished photos and videos.
Social media posts have accused Snap of being greedy, forcing users into subscriptions or payments to keep their personal archives. The company acknowledges it’s a hard sell, admitting “it’s never easy to transition from free to paid” but insists that charging is the only way to improve the service long term.
Why Snap Is Doing This
Snap isn’t the first tech firm to put a price tag on storage. Google Photos famously ended unlimited free uploads in 2021, and Meta is rumoured to be exploring similar models.
Snapchat says over a trillion Memories have been saved since the feature’s launch. That amount of data comes with serious infrastructure costs, which explains why Snap is nudging users towards its paid tiers. The company is also betting that bundling storage with Snapchat+ subscriptions could push more people into premium plans.
