Social media giant Snapchat is set to begin charging users to store photo and video ‘memories’ on a phased basis.
The popular mobile application has allowed its users to store photos and videos taken in the app through its Memories feature since it launched in 2016, but is now introducing a charge for users with more than five gigabytes (GB) of storage.
The company said it “never expected” the use of the feature to become as popular as it has become, and that since its introduction 1 trillion ‘Memories’ have been saved.
“It’s never easy to transition from receiving a service for free to paying for it, but we hope the value we provide with Memories is worth the cost,” Snapchat said in a post on its website, noting the change would not impact the “vast majority” of its users.
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The storage plans offered by the company are set to be 100GB, 250GB with Snapchat+, or 5TB with Snapchat Platinum.
Users whose memories exceed the 5GB limit will be given 12 months of “temporary storage” and will be able to download the content to their devices during that time.
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The Irish Times has queried the planned payment for these plans in Ireland with Snapchat.
The company said the introduction of costs will allow the company to “continue to invest” in making the feature “better for our entire community”.
Snapchat lost $698 million (€596 million) in 2024, on revenue of $5,361 million. Its losses narrowed compared to 2023, when it recorded a loss of $1.3 billion. The company has been stressing the widening of its revenue streams and has focused on generating advertising revenue.
Snapchat chief executive Evan Spiegel said the company had seen “improved advertiser performance” in its second quarter this year while reporting a 7 per cent growth in its global monthly active users to 932 million.
