Snapchat has unsettled millions of users after revealing it will begin charging for photos and videos saved in its Memories feature.
Since 2016, Memories has offered free and unlimited storage. That is ending. Snap, the parent company, now says users will be capped at 5GB of free storage.
Those who exceed the limit must upgrade to a subscription plan. Prices start at $1.99 per month for 100GB, or $3.99 for 250GB as part of the premium Snapchat+ service.
“We know it’s never easy to transition from receiving a service for free to paying for it,” Snap admitted in a blog post. “But these changes will allow us to continue investing in making Memories better for our entire community.”
Snap says over one trillion Memories have been stored since the feature launched, proof of its importance to users. To soften the blow, anyone above the cap will get 12 months of temporary storage to download their archives before deciding whether to pay.
Anger From Users
The concession has not cooled tempers. Many users say they feel betrayed. One wrote: “I’ve got nearly a decade of my life in Memories. Now I either pay up or lose everything. It’s unfair.”
Another fumed: “They gave us free storage for years and now want to cash in. Typical corporate greed.”
Social media is flooded with posts of screenshots warning that content could be lost unless users subscribe. Some are even considering abandoning the app altogether.
“They want us to pay to keep our memories. That’s not just data, that’s our lives,” one user said.
Survival in a Fierce Market
Industry watchers say Snap’s move, though unpopular, is not shocking. Drew Benvie, a UK-based social media analyst, noted: “The road to paying for storage on social media is inevitable.”
He argued that as people share less publicly but save more privately, platforms must find ways to sustain themselves.
Snapchat has around 900 million monthly users. But rivals Instagram and TikTok have each surpassed one billion. The company is under growing pressure to diversify revenue as ad earnings struggle in a turbulent global economy.
Experts believe many younger users may eventually adapt, valuing the ability to preserve their digital diaries. But for heavy users, the choice is brutal: pay or risk losing years of personal history.
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