Not exactly the best news from Snapchat, but if business is the goal, it may have no other choice.
The platform is making a major shift that’s bound to frustrate many of its users. Since 2016, Snapchat’s Memories feature has let people save and revisit photos and videos that were meant to disappear after 24 hours. Over time, this turned into a kind of digital time capsule, with more than a trillion Memories stored.
Whether it's about covering costs or grabbing an opportunity when you see one, Snap Inc. has decided that keeping Memories past the limit will now come with a price.
The company has announced that users with more than five gigabytes of Memories will soon need to pay to keep them stored on the platform.
Those who go over the 5GB limit will be prompted to upgrade to one of Snap’s new storage plans.
The base plan offers 100GB of storage for $1.99 a month, while Snapchat+ subscribers who pay $3.99 a month will receive 250GB. At the top end, a new Snapchat Platinum subscription priced at $14.99 a month will include five terabytes of storage.
Snap is keen to point out that most users won’t be affected by the change, saying in a newsroom post that the "vast majority" of Snapchatters have less than 5GB saved.
However, for those who do exceed the limit, the company will provide a 12-month grace period during which excess content will be held temporarily.
After that, users will need to either subscribe to a plan or download their content to their devices. If they choose not to pay, Snapchat said that their oldest Snaps will remain saved, but more recent ones above the limit will eventually be deleted.
The move has drawn criticism from many longtime users who feel blindsided by the change.
Some have said that they relied on Snapchat Memories as a free storage alternative to services like Google Photos, and now feel they are being forced into paying for something that was once free.
Others have expressed anger on social media, calling the decision "unfair" and "greedy," with some even threatening to quit the platform altogether.
Snap, however, has defended the change, saying that charging for storage will allow the company to continue investing in the Memories feature and ensure its long-term sustainability.
"It’s never easy to transition from receiving a service for free to paying for it," the company admitted in the newsroom post, but argued that the value of preserving people’s most important moments will justify the cost.
Call it business or necessity, Snap’s move is part of a broader trend.
Cloud storage has never truly been free. While social media platforms don't really limit the size of content users uploaded to its servers, Amazon, Apple, Google, Microsoft, and Dropbox all charge once users exceed a limit.
As people post less but save more, other social platforms may eventually follow the same model.
With 900 million monthly users, mostly aged 18 to 34, Snapchat has built a dedicated community.
Whether those users will stay loyal once their Memories come with a price tag is the gamble Snap is making.