Snapchat’s Memories feature allows you to save and replay Snaps, Stories, and other media. However, sometimes Memories can stop working properly, leaving you unable to access old Snaps. There are a few potential reasons why your Memories may not be working on Snapchat.
Your Memories May Be Temporarily Unavailable
One of the most common reasons why Memories temporarily stops working is due to connectivity issues. If you are having trouble accessing Memories, first make sure that your internet connection is stable. Close out of the Snapchat app entirely, toggle airplane mode on and off on your phone, and then launch Snapchat again. This resets the connection and will often fix Memories loading issues.
Snapchat’s servers could also be experiencing problems on their end. Server outages happen from time to time and can cause Memories and other Snapchat features to be unavailable. Check Snapchat’s status page to see if there are any known issues with the app. If so, you’ll simply need to wait until Snapchat resolves the problem on their end before Memories will work again.
Your Memories data is stored securely in the cloud, so temporary outages should not result in any data loss. Your Snaps will return once connectivity is restored.
Your Account May Be Locked or Suspended
If your Snapchat account has been locked or temporarily suspended due to violation of Snapchat’s terms of service, your Memories will become inaccessible. Possible reasons for suspension include:
- Sharing illegal or dangerous content
- Sharing nudity or sexually explicit content
- Sending spam or fake information
- Impersonating other users
- Bullying or harassing other Snapchatters
Check your email associated with your Snapchat account – Snapchat should inform you if your account has been locked or suspended. You can appeal the suspension by following the instructions in the email. Once your account access has been restored, your Memories should become available again.
Your Memories Storage Could Be Full
Snapchat limits how much storage space you have for Memories. The storage limit varies based on your Snapchat usage, but can be up to 10GB.
If you consistently save a lot of Memories, you may have reached your storage limit. This will prevent you from saving any new Memories until you clear out some existing ones to free up space. You can check if you’ve hit your Memories limit by going to Settings > Memories.
To free up Memories space:
- Permanently delete old, unwanted Memories
- Turn off auto-saving for Stories to reduce the number of new Memories being added
- Save Memories to your phone’s local storage rather than to Snapchat’s cloud storage
Deleting enough Memories to get below the cap will allow saving new Memories again.
Your Memories Could Be Corrupted
In rare cases, your Memories files may become corrupted or damaged. This can potentially happen if there is an error saving a Memory, your phone experiences crashes or lag when using Snapchat, or you update the app while Memories are loading.
Corrupted Memory files can cause all Memories to fail loading. Luckily, there are a couple of ways to fix corrupted Memories:
- Reset Cache: In Snapchat, go to Settings > Clear Cache to delete any damaged files.
- Re-install Snapchat: Uninstall and re-install the Snapchat app to fully clear it of errors.
- Contact Snapchat: Snapchat may be able to restore your Memories from the cloud if files become corrupted locally.
Resetting the cache or re-installing the app forces Snapchat to re-download your Memories from the cloud. This can resolve any glitches or corruption issues.
Your Phone May Have Insufficient Storage
In order for Memories to work properly, your phone needs to have enough free storage space available. Memories take up space on both your phone’s storage and Snapchat’s cloud storage.
If your phone is almost out of space, Memories may have trouble loading. To fix this, you’ll need to clear up storage space on your device:
- Offload unused apps
- Delete large files like videos and photos
- Transfer files to external storage or your computer
- Delete and re-download Memories to reduce local copies
Adding several gigabytes of available space will help Memories function again. You can also set Memories to solely save to the cloud rather than locally to your phone.
Your Snapchat App May Need to Be Updated
Snapchat releases regular app updates to fix bugs, add new features, and improve performance. Sometimes new versions of Snapchat can get buggy and cause Memories problems.
Check to make sure you are running the latest version of Snapchat. In the App Store or Google Play store, view Snapchat and see if there are any pending updates. Installing the most up-to-date version can potentially resolve any Memories glitches or loading issues.
Additionally, make sure your phone’s operating system is updated. Having the latest iOS or Android version will ensure maximum compatibility with Snapchat.
Conclusion
Memories failing to load is a common Snapchat problem with several possible fixes:
- Check for internet connection issues or Snapchat server problems
- See if your account has been locked or suspended
- Free up Memories storage space if full
- Reset local Memories files if corrupted
- Clear phone storage if insufficient
- Update the Snapchat app and phone OS
In most cases, Memories will become accessible again by clearing app cache, re-installing Snapchat, freeing up storage space, or updating software. Contact Snapchat support if the issue persists across troubleshooting attempts.
With millions of daily users, Snapchat sometimes experiences bugs that affect Memories and other features. But thankfully there are straightforward steps you can take to get your Memories working again and rediscover all those old Snaps and Stories!
Some additional tips for managing Memories storage:
Review and Delete Old Memories
Memories allows you to save every Snap and Story forever. But most old Snaps have a pretty short shelf life before they become useless. Get in the habit of regularly reviewing and mass deleting old, irrelevant Memories to clear up storage space.
Use Memories Selectively
Avoid blindly saving every Snap or Story to Memories. Be selective and only preserve the really special or important ones. Uncheck auto-saving for Stories and manually choose the best ones to keep.
Save Only Locally
By default, Memories saves a copy to both your phone and Snapchat’s cloud storage. You can change the setting to only save locally instead. This halves the storage space used.
Export Memories Outside Snapchat
You can export Memories to your phone’s local storage or cloud services like Google Photos or iCloud. Then you can delete those Memories from Snapchat while still retaining access to them.
Memories is meant to let you reminisce about old Snaps, not be a massive long-term media storage repository. Be smart about what you keep in Memories and actively manage your storage usage to avoid hitting the limit.
Troubleshooting Corrupted Memories
If your Memories become corrupted, here are some additional troubleshooting steps to try:
- Force close the Snapchat app and clear app data
- Turn your phone off and back on to completely clear memory
- Check device storage for any Snapchat files that may need deleting
- Change Memories storage from cloud to local or vice versa
- Use Snapchat on a different device to see if the issue persists
For advanced corruption issues, you may need Snapchat’s help to identify and restore damaged files from a backup. Contact their customer support for further assistance.
Though losing access to Memories can be frustrating, most issues can be resolved on your own through some app housekeeping. And preventing problems comes down to being mindful of storage limits and prudent about what you actually preserve.
With some dedicated management, you can keep those Snapchat memories alive and easily accessible for when you want to reminisce.