Many of us millennial parents use Snapchat as a sort of memory and baby book of sorts. I, for one, love logging into the app to see precious memories of my kids as babies and toddlers.
I have had so many moments and memories queued up through the app that I genuinely had forgotten, especially from that whirlwind time of my life, raising a bunch of little kids in a short amount of time. Even with a flower crown, banana face filter, or dancing around as a giant carrot, those are memories that I cherish.
But now, like apparently the rest of the world, Snapchat has decided it’s time to start charging us for access to our own memories.
In a press release from their newsroom, Snapchat announced that they will soon offer “Memories Storage Plans” to allow users to access their memories long-term.
The press release explains that there are three different Snapchat storage plans users can purchase.
In the press release, Snapchat said that the company “never expected” the app to grow to what it has become, seemingly inferring that the company didn’t expect the app to support the storage of over one trillion memories since 2016.
“Unlike the camera roll full of duplicates and screenshots, Memories on Snapchat are special because Snapchatters choose to save the moments that really matter,” the company pointed out.
As a result of the seemingly overstretched memory storage issue, Snapchat then explained that they are introducing three different paid storage plans that any Snapchat user with over 5GB of memories will have to choose from in order to have access to their memories long-term:
- 100GB
- 250GB with Snapchat+
- 5TB with Snapchat Platinum
As part of the transition period, the company also added that anyone with over 5GB of memories currently will have a temporary year of access to their memories before being forced to buy a plan to continue accessing those memories.
The change only affects users who have over 5GB of memories.
According to Snapchat’s press release, the change will not affect “the vast majority of Snapchatters” because most Snapchat users do not have over 5GB of memories.
But still, some people do, and some parents, like myself, are worried about losing that precious access to our babies’ memories stored deep within the vaults of Snapchat.
(Snapchat did add, for the record, that users can buy a plan at any time once they go over 5GB and get access to memories, so it sounds like the memories will not be deleted permanently if you fail to buy a plan in time.)
Many people have taken to other forms of social media to warn others about the impending change and encourage them to download their Snaps now, before the plans kick in. Others are just lamenting what they could lose if they don’t pay up.
“I got 3 relationships, 2 apartments, my whole pregnancy, and 7 years of my kid’s life in there,” wrote one TikToker on a video, adding in several crying emojis for good measure.
Snapchat+ has two different plan pricing currently available with 'experimental, pre-release' features.
The prices to pay for Snapchat storage will range from a few dollars a month up to $15.99/month for the Snapchat Platinum plan.
And while users have a full year to make the switch if they’d like, there are also a few ways to download your memories now, such as by exporting your photos through the app (you have to do it in 100 photo or video batches) or through a .zip file the company will email you, explains TechCrunch.
If you’re a parent over that 5GB threshold and looking for a way to hold on to you and your kids’ (perhaps heavily filtered) memories, it may be worth starting that downloading process now. Because the change is happening, like it or not.
“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,” Snapchat summed up in their press release.
