Home/When does the Snapchat Memories grace period end?
January 2027
When does the Snapchat Memories grace period end?
The date Snap publishes is January 2027.
Free · 1 restore / day · first 15 photos
No Snapchat export yet? How to get one, and a sample to try
The tool needs the Memories ZIP from Snapchat. You request it once:
- Sign in at accounts.snapchat.com and open My Data.
- Under Select data to include, turn on Export your Memories (add the JSON files if Snapchat offers them), pick the date range, confirm your email, then submit.
- Snapchat emails you when the ZIP is ready. Download every ZIP part.
- Come back here and drop them. Nothing leaves your browser.
Snapchat says it aims to deliver within 7 days; big accounts can take longer.
Two sentences people mix up
The newsroom post is the announcement: plans for people over the free allowance, 12 months of temporary storage for the overflow, and a download to your device. It does not print January 2027.
The Help Center page is the rule that names the month. Use that page if the post and the article ever look different. Checked against the live article on 19 October 2026.
What the end date changes
What stays open, and what becomes a thumbnail, is Snapchat deleting memories 2026. Whether that date is a deletion is When is Snap deleting memories?. Who is offered a plan is the 5GB storage limit.
What to finish before that month
- Request My Data while you can still sign in, and download every ZIP part to a computer. How to download Snapchat Memories.
- Copy those ZIP parts somewhere that is not only the laptop. Google Drive is one place to file them.
- Restore, open one picture from an old year, and confirm the year is the year you took it.
- Import that restored folder into Google Photos only if you want a library. The ZIPs are the backup either way.
A banner you have not seen yet is not a reason to skip the download. Snap says people without that banner stay on today’s storage until they are notified. The download is still the copy you hold if the notice arrives later.
Common questions
When does the 12 month grace period end for Snapchat Memories?
Snap’s storage article sets that end at January 2027: no Memories are archived before then. Do not subtract 12 months from the September 2025 announcement and treat September 2026 as the cutoff. The Help Center date is the one that governs.
Will Snapchat delete Memories when the grace period ends?
Snap says it will not automatically delete Memories because you do not upgrade. The dated change is archiving, as thumbnails, the overflow that is more than a year old and outside your oldest free allowance.
What if I never see an upgrade banner?
The same article says that if you do not see a banner offering a storage plan, Memories stay stored as they are today until Snap notifies you.
Is this the wait after I delete my Snapchat account?
No. Account deletion is a different flow. This date is the Memories storage window on the Help Center page.