After nearly ten years of acting as a digital time capsule, Snapchat is changing how users store their Memories. The company has officially placed a 5GB cap on free storage, meaning that anyone who wants to save more will need to subscribe to one of its new paid storage plans.
According to Snapchat, the entry-level plan starts at $1.99 per month and gives users up to 100GB of storage. For those subscribed to Snapchat+ ($3.99/month), storage will jump to 250GB, while Snapchat Platinum subscribers ($15.99/month) will receive a massive 5TB.
When Memories first launched, Snapchat admits it never anticipated the feature to become so popular. Today, users have saved over 1 trillion Snaps, pushing the platform to rethink how it handles storage.
In a blog post, the company acknowledged the difficulty of moving from free to paid services but emphasized that these changes are necessary:
“It’s never easy to transition from receiving a service for free to paying for it, but we hope the value we provide with Memories is worth the cost. These updates will help us continue improving Memories for our community.”
To ease the shift, Snapchat will offer 12 months of temporary storage for Memories that exceed the new limit. Users can also download their Snaps directly to their devices. However, if you stay over the 5GB cap without upgrading, your oldest Snaps will remain safe, but newer ones that exceed the limit may be deleted.
Snapchat says most users won’t feel the impact, as the majority keep less than 5GB in Memories. The change primarily affects those who have “thousands of Snaps” saved.
Ultimately, Snapchat’s move to paid storage reflects its effort to manage rising infrastructure costs while ensuring that heavy users have options, all while keeping basic Memories access free for most people.
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