Snapchat stories allow users to share photos and videos that disappear after 24 hours. This ephemeral nature is part of what makes Snapchat so popular. But exactly how long do Snapchat stories stick around before they vanish?
The 24-Hour Limit
The default timeframe for Snapchat stories is 24 hours. Once you share a photo or video to your story, it will remain visible to friends for 24 hours before disappearing forever.
You can post to your Snapchat story as often as you want within that 24-hour period. Everything you share during that timeframe will disappear at the same time.
So if you share your first story update at noon on Monday, that snap will expire 24 hours later at noon on Tuesday. Any other snaps you post Monday afternoon or evening will also remain visible until noon on Tuesday as well.
View Counts Disappear Too
Along with the story content itself, the view counts also disappear after 24 hours. You can see who viewed your story while it’s live, but once the 24-hour window ends, the view data disappears.
This prevents you from being able to go back and see how many people saw your story after the fact. The ephemeral nature of Snapchat stories applies to the view data as well as the photos/videos.
Customizing Story Length
While most Snapchat stories live for 24 hours by default, there are couple of ways to customize the expiration time:
- My Story settings – You can change your default My Story expiration to as little as 1 hour or up to 24 hours.
- Individual story posts – When sharing to your story, you can set a custom expiration time anywhere between 1 hour and 24 hours.
So if you want your full My Story archive to stick around for longer, you can extend the default expiration in your settings. Or on a post-by-post basis, you can shorten or lengthen the time if you want a particular snap to disappear faster or remain visible longer.
My Story Settings
To edit your default My Story settings:
- Go to your profile page
- Tap the gear icon to access settings
- Tap “My Story”
- Choose your desired expiration time
This will change the default visibility timeframe for all your story posts. You can re-enter settings at any time to change it back to 24 hours or modify to a different duration.
Customizing Individual Stories
You can also set custom expiration times for individual story snaps when posting:
- After taking a photo/video for your story, tap the expiration icon at the bottom
- Select your desired expiration time
- Tap the check mark to confirm
- Share the snap to your story as usual
The snap will disappear after the chosen timeline instead of the standard 24 hours. You can choose a custom time for each story you share.
Saving Your Story
If you want to save a Snapchat story before it disappears, there are a couple of options:
- Replay – You can replay your own stories unlimited times before they expire.
- Screenshots – Take screenshots to save part or all of a story.
- Save to Memories – Add your story snaps to Memories before they disappear.
Replaying Your Own Story
Snapchat lets you re-watch your own stories as often as you want before they expire:
- Open your story
- Tap any snap to replay it
- Swipe left/right to view other snaps in your story
- Tap to replay any snap again
There’s no limit to how many times you can replay or re-watch your own story. You can use this method to see your story again before the 24-hour time period ends.
Saving via Screenshots
You can also use your phone’s screenshot function to save parts of a Snapchat story:
- Open the snap you want to save
- Take a screenshot using your phone’s buttons or on-screen function
- The screenshot will save to your camera roll
Snapchat will notify your friends when you take a screenshot. But it can be a quick and easy way to save a snap before it disappears if you don’t mind others knowing you took a screenshot.
Saving Story Snaps to Memories
The best way to save a story snap without anyone knowing is to add it to your Snapchat Memories:
- Tap the More Options icon from your story
- Select “Save to Memories”
- Tap to confirm
This adds the story snap to your memories privately so you can view it again anytime without a screenshot notification.
Deleting a Story Early
If you change your mind about having a particular story visible, you can delete it before the 24-hour window ends:
- Tap the More Options icon from your story
- Select “Delete”
- Confirm that you want to delete
This will permanently delete the story right away instead of waiting for the expiration time. All views and other data for that snap will be immediately erased as well.
Story Exposure from Shared Links
Keep in mind that even though Snapchat stories disappear from the app itself, people can still save your content by taking screenshots or recording video from their phones.
And if someone shares the link to your Snapchat story externally, it’s possible for people to view your story even after the 24 hours by passing around the URL link.
So while Snapchat stories have temporary visibility in the app itself, the content could remain exposed online if others explicitly share it outside of Snapchat.
Conclusion
Snapchat stories are designed to share glimpses into your life with friends in a fun, ephemeral way. By default, stories expire after 24 hours.
But you have options to customize the visibility anywhere from 1 to 24 hours per snap. And you can also replay and save stories to memories before they disappear if you want to keep them.
Overall, the 24-hour limit gives Snapchat stories a spontaneous, in-the-moment feel. But keep in mind your snaps can still be saved or shared by determined friends. So only share what you’re comfortable with the world potentially seeing!