When will my Snapchat Memories be deleted?

The shortest possible answer: nobody knows the exact day, not even Snapchat has said it. But the rule itself is confirmed, and that is the part you need to plan around.

In September 2025 Snapchat introduced a 5 GB limit on free storage for Memories. If you are under the limit you are not affected. If you are over it, the content that exceeds 5 GB gets a grace period of 12 months, and when that grace period ends it can be removed permanently unless you have a paid storage subscription.

The important part, and the part most often reported wrongly, is that Snapchat has not announced a date when the deletion happens, nor when the 12 months start counting. Be sceptical of any page that gives you an exact day: that figure does not come from Snap, it is somebody's arithmetic from the date of the announcement. Our own countdown is exactly that kind of estimate, and we say so plainly rather than pretending otherwise.

What happens to the content above the limit, on the other hand, Snapchat has described: your oldest snaps are kept, and it is the more recent material above the limit that is removed first. That may sound backwards, but it means your oldest memories are not necessarily the ones in danger.

In practice there are three routes. You can pay Snapchat for more storage, you can let the content be deleted, or you can get your memories out and keep them yourself. The last one is the only option that makes you independent of whatever Snapchat decides next, and once the archive is on your own computer their storage rules stop mattering.

One piece of advice whatever you choose: ask for the export in good time. Snapchat needs a few days to prepare it, and anyone who waits until it is urgent has put their fate in the hands of somebody else's queue.