How to export all your Snapchat Memories

Getting a full copy of your Memories out of Snapchat is free. The process is a little hidden and the files arrive in an awkward shape, so here is the whole thing, start to finish.

Step 1: Open your data request

You can do this in the app or in a browser. In the Snapchat app, tap your profile, then the gear icon (Settings), then scroll down to My Data. Or go to accounts.snapchat.com and sign in. Choose Submit a request.

Step 2: Tick the setting people miss

This is the important one. Make sure the option to include Memories and other media is turned on. The default request can give you only your account data as text, without the actual photos and videos. If you do not tick this, you will get an export with no Memories in it.

Step 3: Submit and wait for the email

Submit the request. Snapchat prepares your archive and emails you a download link when it is ready. This usually takes a few hours, but for a large library it can take up to a day or so. Request early rather than waiting until close to the September 2026 deadline, when the queue gets busy.

Step 4: Download the files into one folder

Open the email and download the file or files to your computer. A large library often arrives as several ZIP files named something like data-1.zip, data-2.zip, and so on. Save them all into a single folder. You do not need to unzip them yourself.

Step 5: Restore the dates and locations

If you import the export as-is, every photo will show today's date with no location, because Snapchat strips that metadata out. (Here is why that happens.) To fix it, open SnapRescue, click Choose folder, and select the folder holding your ZIPs. It unpacks everything, reads the hidden memories_history file, and writes the real capture date, GPS and captions back into each photo and video, then sorts them into dated folders.

From there you can drag the rescued folders straight into Google Photos or Apple Photos, or Immich and other self-hosted libraries.