Snapchat just broke a decade-long promise to its users. The company announced it's capping free Memories storage at 5GB and launching paid storage plans, forcing millions of users to either pay up, export their digital memories, or watch their oldest content get deleted. It's the first time the ephemeral messaging app has monetized its popular Memories feature.
Snapchat just delivered a hard truth to its 800 million users - your digital memories aren't free anymore. After nearly a decade of unlimited storage for Memories, the company quietly rolled out storage caps that could force users to pay or lose years of saved content.
The change hits right at the heart of how people use Snapchat. Since launching Memories in 2016, the feature evolved from a simple save function into a digital diary where users store everything from concert videos to family moments. Now that unlimited storage era is over.
Snapchat told TechCrunch the new pricing structure breaks down into three tiers: an introductory plan offering 100GB for $1.99 monthly, while existing Snapchat+ subscribers get 250GB included in their $3.99 subscription. Premium Snapchat Platinum users receive 5TB as part of their $15.99 monthly plan.
The 5GB free limit might sound generous, but it's not. High-quality photos average 3-5MB each, while videos can easily hit 50-100MB. Power users who've been saving content for years could hit that ceiling with just a few hundred items. When users exceed the limit without upgrading, Snapchat keeps the oldest content and deletes recent saves - exactly backwards from what most people would want.
Snap Inc stock jumped 3% in after-hours trading following the announcement, as investors see this as another revenue diversification move. The company's been under pressure to expand beyond advertising revenue, which makes up roughly 99% of its income according to recent SEC filings.
But there's a user revolt brewing. Early reports on social media show people frantically exporting their Memories before the 12-month grace period expires. The export process itself reveals Snapchat's strategy - it's deliberately cumbersome. Users can only download 100 Memories at a time through the app, making bulk exports painfully slow for anyone with thousands of saved items.
The alternative bulk export through Snapchat's "Download My Data" tool delivers everything in a compressed file that's harder to navigate than the original Memories interface. It's functional but feels designed to encourage users toward paid plans rather than genuine data portability.
