It can be frustrating when your Snapchat memories suddenly vanish. Snapchat memories are photos, videos, and stories that you save to your memories tab in the app. There are a few potential reasons your Snapchat memories could have disappeared.
Your Memories Tab Reached Capacity
Snapchat only allows you to save a certain amount of snaps and stories to your memories. The limit is different for each user based on how long you’ve had your account and how often you use Snapchat. If your memories tab has reached full capacity, then when you save new memories, the oldest ones will be deleted to make room.
Here’s a breakdown of the approximate Snapchat memories limit for different account levels:
| Account Level | Memories Limit |
|---|---|
| New user (less than 1 week) | 100-200 memories |
| Occasional user (less than 6 months) | 500-1000 memories |
| Active user (more than 6 months) | 1000-2000 memories |
| Frequent poster (1+ year) | 3000+ memories |
As you can see, even long-time Snapchatters have a limit on how many memories they can save. So if you’ve been actively using Snapchat for years and saving lots of memories, chances are you’ve hit the cap. When that happens, old memories will disappear as you add new ones.
You Deleted Memories by Accident
Another possibility is that you or someone else who uses your Snapchat account deleted memories without realizing it. There are a couple ways this could occur:
- Tapping the trash icon on individual memories
- Using the “Clear All Memories” option in settings
- Letting a friend borrow your phone and they started deleting stuff
If you handed your phone to a friend or family member recently and noticed memories vanishing afterwards, they may have done some accidental deleting. Kids in particular may have tapped around and removed memories without understanding the impact.
Your Account Was Hacked
In some cases, disappearing Snapchat memories can indicate your account was compromised. If a hacker gains access to your account, one of the first things they’ll often do is start deleting memories. That way there’s less evidence of them snooping around if you regain access later.
Signs your account may have been hacked include:
- Memories disappearing suddenly
- Memories you know you didn’t delete yourself vanishing
- Suspicious login activity from unknown locations/devices
- Friends telling you they received odd Snapchats you never sent
If you notice any of those, change your password immediately and check your account settings for anything unfamiliar. Unfortunately there’s no way to recover deleted memories if a hacker erased them, but at least you can secure your account.
Your Storage Space Filled Up
Snapchat stores all your saved memories locally on your device. So if you run out of storage space, some memories may automatically get deleted to free up room. This typically only happens if your phone or tablet is very full and has almost no free space left. But it’s possible losing GBs of storage to things like new apps, music, or photos caused Snapchat to erase old memories.
You can check your device’s storage in Settings. If it’s close to capacity, try deleting unused apps and files before it impacts your Snapchat memories further.
The Memories Expired
By default, Snapchat memories are set to expire after 30 days. If you haven’t re-saved a memory in that time, Snapchat will automatically delete it. Of course, this means memories you thought were permanently saved can suddenly vanish if you haven’t viewed them in awhile.
You can change the expiration date in Snapchat’s settings. Your options are:
- 1 hour
- 1 day
- 7 days
- 30 days (default)
- Never (memories don’t expire)
Setting it to Never will prevent memories from disappearing due to an expiration date. But keep in mind they can still be deleted if you run out of storage space or reach your account’s memory limit.
Your Account Was Temporarily Locked
If Snapchat locks your account due to suspicious activity, all your memories will temporarily disappear. They haven’t been deleted – they’re just hidden until your account is restored. Here are some reasons Snapchat may lock your account:
- You violated the terms of service
- Suspicious login attempts from a new device
- Spamming or abusive behavior reported by other users
- 3rd party apps tampering with your account
If your account was locked, your memories will reappear if you’re able to successfully unlock it by passing Snapchat’s verification process. But any memories set to expire within the lockout window will be erased.
Your Phone Changed Time Zones
Snapchat ties your memories to the time zone set on your phone. So if you travel to a different time zone, it can mess up the expiration date for memories. For example, if you have memories set to expire after 1 day:
- Original time zone: Memories taken on Monday expire on Tuesday
- New time zone: Monday snaps may already be “expired” and deleted
To avoid this, you can set memories to Never expire before traveling. Just remember to change it back afterwards if you want snaps to auto-delete as normal.
How to Recover Disappeared Memories
Unfortunately, there is no way to recover deleted Snapchat memories if they’ve vanished. The app erases them permanently from their servers once deleted. However, there are a few ways you may be able to get certain memories back:
- Restore from backups: If you had backups enabled for Snapchat, you can restore missing memories from a previous date.
- Repost old stories: If friends re-shared your stories before they disappeared, you can save them again.
- Ask friends for copies: Friends may have saved snaps and videos you sent them before they expired.
- Check camera roll: Some snaps get saved automatically to your camera roll.
Enabling backups, keeping camera roll on, and having friends share memories can help protect your Snapchat memories in case they disappear again.
How to Prevent Disappearing Memories
While you can’t always prevent Snapchat glitches, here are some tips to help keep your memories intact:
- Turn on Snapchat backups in your phone settings
- Change expiration to Never
- Save memories you really want to camera roll
- Don’t give friends full access to your phone
- Log out of unused devices to boost security
- Monitor device storage space
- Don’t violate Snapchat’s terms of service
Ultimately memories will eventually reach the account limit and get deleted by Snapchat itself. But these precautions can help you hang onto them for longer.
Conclusion
Snapchat memories vanishing can be annoying, but is often caused by simple technical issues. The app limits how many memories you can save before deleting old ones, so staying under the cap for your account level is key. You can also lose memories by accidentally deleting them, getting hacked, having your account locked, or letting your storage fill up.
While there’s no way to recover deleted Snapchat memories, you can take steps to better secure and backup your memories going forward. Enabling backups, changing expiration dates, giving friends limited app access, and saving favorites to camera roll can help. With some caution, you hopefully shouldn’t lose your favorite Snapchat memories again.