What happens to Snapchat Memories in 2026?

Snap has announced that they will start deleting Memories for users who have more than 5 GB of Memories and no paid Snapchat subscription, once the 12 month grace period runs out, around September 2026. Snap's own announcement is here: newsroom.snap.com/snap-memory-storage

The single most important sentence in this whole topic is this one: once Snapchat has deleted your Memories there is no way to get them back. It is not a bin with a 30 day grace period. It is gone.

Two details decide whether this applies to you. The first is the limit: if all of your Memories content sits under 5 GB you are not affected at all. The second is that Snap has never said when the 12 months start counting, only that they exist. So no date can be given that is actually correct, not for you and not for anyone else.

What sits above the limit goes first, while the oldest snaps are kept. It sounds backwards, but it means your childhood is not necessarily the part most at risk. It could just as easily be last summer.

You have three options. Pay Snapchat for extra storage, let the content be deleted, or get the export out and keep the memories yourself. Only the last one makes you independent of whatever Snapchat decides next, and it is also the only one that still holds if you ever stop using the app.

Whichever you choose: ask for the export in good time. Snapchat needs a few days to prepare it, and the queues do not get shorter as the deadline gets closer.