Snapchat has become one of the most popular social media apps, with over 300 million daily active users. One of the main reasons for Snapchat’s popularity is that photos and videos sent through the app disappear after being viewed. This gives users a sense of privacy and allows them to share more candid moments without worrying about the content being saved or circling back to them later.
However, one question that many Snapchat users have is – does Snapchat save photos and videos to your phone’s gallery? The short answer is no, Snapchat does not automatically save sent or received snaps to the phone’s gallery or camera roll. However, there are a few exceptions where Snapchat photos can be saved externally without the sender’s knowledge.
How Snapchat Photos Work
To understand why Snapchat photos disappear, it helps to know how the app handles photos and videos. When a photo or video is taken via Snapchat, it is uploaded to Snapchat’s servers where it is assigned a unique ID. This uploaded content is what is then shared with friends and viewed within the app.
The app itself does not actually store the photo or video locally on the sender or receiver’s device. This ensures that once the content has been viewed, it can no longer be accessed as it is deleted from Snapchat’s servers.
When you take a screenshot of a snap, that screenshot gets saved to your camera roll. But the actual snap does not get saved by default.
Does Snapchat Save Photos You Take With The App?
Any photos or videos taken directly within the Snapchat app and shared will not be saved to your camera roll or gallery. The app accesses your phone’s camera and then uploads the content directly to Snapchat’s servers. So there is no local version saved on your actual device.
This applies to photos taken via:
- The main Snapchat camera
- Photo editing tools and lenses
- The rear and selfie cameras
So you don’t need to worry about embarrassing or private photos you take on Snapchat being saved without your knowledge. Once they are viewed, they will disappear as expected.
Does Snapchat Save Received Photos?
Similarly, any snaps you receive from friends in Snapchat will not be saved by default to your phone’s storage or gallery. Viewing and closing a received snap will cause it to be permanently deleted from Snapchat’s servers, as well as the app on your phone.
So direct photo and video snaps sent to you will automatically disappear after being viewed once. Recipients are not able to save, store, or re-access any received snaps.
Does Snapchat Save Sent Photos?
Just as received snaps are automatically deleted, any photo or video snap you send via Snapchat will not be saved to your device’s gallery. The content is uploaded to their servers and then deleted once your friend has viewed it.
So you don’t have to worry about copies of photos or videos you share via Snapchat being stored locally on your device without your knowledge. They are meant to be temporary and will disappear.
Exceptions – When Snapchat Photos May Be Saved
While Snapchat was designed so photos shared on the platform disappear, there are some exceptions where the content can be saved externally:
- Recipient takes screenshot – If the person viewing your snap takes a screenshot, that screenshot will be saved to their camera roll. You will be notified if they take a screenshot.
- Third-party apps – There are some third party apps that can covertly save Snapchat photos. These apps access the data before it is deleted.
- Backups – If you have backups enabled for your device, some apps back up data including Snapchat photos.
- External storage – Photos saved externally via screenshot or apps may be stored on cloud storage or storage drives connected to the device.
- Unauthorized access – Hackers or someone gaining access to your account may be able to recover deleted photos by accessing Snapchat’s servers.
So while Snapchat itself does not save photos, recipients and third parties do have some limited ways to save snaps externally without the sender’s knowledge.
Does Snapchat Save Photos in Memories?
The Memories feature in Snapchat allows users to save certain photos they take with the app. These locally saved photos in Memories will not disappear, allowing you to re-access them later.
Snaps can be saved to Memories in a few ways:
- Using the Save to Memories icon on the preview screen before sending a snap
- Pressing the Memories tab in the app and saving an existing snap
- Enabling the Auto-Save feature to have Snaps automatically added to Memories
So photos sent to Memories are the only Snapchat photos that will be intentionally saved. All other snaps will be deleted and inaccessible after being viewed.
Does Deleting a Snapchat Photo Also Delete It From Memories?
If you have saved a snap to Memories and decide you want to delete it, removing it from Memories will also delete that photo or video entirely.
Deleting a photo from Memories will:
- Permanently delete it from Snapchat’s servers
- Remove any local copies saved internally on your device
Once deleted from Memories, a snap cannot be recovered. So deleting it from Memories gives you a way to fully remove saved snaps, both locally and externally.
Can You Recover Deleted Snapchat Photos?
Since Snapchat photos are designed to permanently delete after being viewed, there is no built-in way to recover snaps after they have disappeared in the app.
However, there are some limited options users might explore if trying to recover a deleted snap:
- Device or cloud backups may have stored a local version of the snap before it was viewed and deleted.
- Snapchat Memories will keep any photos intentionally saved by the user.
- Jailbreaking tools could potentially help recover deleted files stored locally by the Snapchat app.
- It may be possible to use data recovery software to find and restore deleted Snapchat files.
But there are no guarantees. Once a snap is viewed and deleted per Snapchat’s system, it is generally gone for good without any way to restore it.
Does Deleting Snapchat Delete Photos?
Deleting your Snapchat account entirely will not by itself delete any Snapchat photos you have taken.
Here is what happens when you delete your Snapchat account:
- Your account is deactivated and removed from Snapchat’s servers.
- Other users can no longer search for or view your account.
- Your Memories are cleared – all saved Snapchat photos are deleted.
- Your content still on Snapchat’s servers is deleted.
- Locally saved photos, chat logs, etc. may remain on your device storage.
So deleting Snapchat does not automatically wipe or delete all Snapchat content from your phone’s storage or camera roll. But photos only saved in Memories will be removed.
To fully delete local Snapchat files, you would need to manually delete Snapchat and then clear its data cache and storage from your phone settings.
How to Stop Snapchat from Saving to Gallery
Because Snapchat does not save sent or received photos by default, there are no specific settings to adjust this behavior within the app.
However, if you want to prevent any Saving at all, including to Memories, you can take the following steps:
- Turn off the Save to Memories option in Snapchat settings.
- Disable Auto-Save so snaps do not get added to Memories automatically.
- Avoid manually saving any snaps to Memories.
- Use a third party app to block Snapchat’s access to your camera roll and gallery.
Following those steps will ensure no Snapchat snaps or stories end up in your camera roll or saved photos album without your knowledge.
Saving Snapchat Photos
If you do want to save certain Snapchat photos, you have a couple options:
Memories – You can manually save snaps before sending them, or use Auto-Save to always add Stories and snaps to Memories.
Screenshots – Screenshotting a snap before it disappears will save it to your camera roll. Keep in mind the other person will be notified.
Third-party apps – There are apps that will download Snapchat photos for saving externally. But they often violate Snapchat’s terms.
Ultimately it comes down to balancing saving photos you want to keep with respecting the privacy of other Snapchat users.
Conclusion
Snapchat was designed as an ephemeral sharing app where photos disappear after being viewed once. As such, Snapchat itself does not save photos taken or received in the app to your camera roll or gallery.
The only exception is saving snaps to Memories, which keeps those photos accessible internally. But standard sent and received snaps will automatically be deleted from Snapchat’s servers after they are opened.
While there are some limited workarounds, like screenshots and third-party apps, overall there is no built-in way to re-access snaps after they have disappeared. So you can feel confident using Snapchat for temporary sharing without worrying about copies persisting externally.