GUIDE

How to download your Snapchat data

Updated August 2026 · 2-minute read · screenshots from Snapchat for iPhone

Snapchat will hand over everything you've ever saved — every Memory, in original quality. You just have to ask. Asking takes about two minutes on your phone; here's every tap, and what to do with the zip files they email you.

Worth doing sooner rather than later: Memories over the free 5 GB cap start getting deleted in September 2026. The export is free, doesn't touch your account, and ends with your own permanent copy — a set of mydata~….zip files. (One catch we'll get to: the files inside arrive with their dates, places and captions stripped off.)

STEP 1

Open your profile, tap the gear

In Snapchat, tap your avatar in the top-left, then the ⚙️ gear in the top-right to open Settings.

Your profile. The gear up top is where we're headed.

STEP 2

You're in Settings — keep scrolling

Settings opens on My Account. Ignore all of it and scroll down. A long way.

Snapchat Settings screen showing the My Account section — Settings. The good stuff is much further down.

STEP 3

Tap “My Data”

Just past the privacy section you'll find My Data — Snapchat's data-export page.

Snapchat Settings scrolled to the My Data row beneath the privacy options — There it is, hiding under the privacy choices.

STEP 4

Tap “Request Only Memories”

Snapchat offers ten kinds of data. For your photos and videos you need exactly one: the blue Request Only Memories button flips on the Export your Memories toggle and nothing else.

Snapchat My Data screen with the Export your Memories toggle switched on and a blue Request Only Memories button — One tap, one toggle. That's the whole selection.

Memories is all you need. Chat history, JSON files, user info — leave them off unless you want them for something else. Unsnap reads everything it needs from the Memories export itself.

STEP 5

Pick “All Time”, confirm your email, hit Submit

Turn on the date-range option and choose All Time — otherwise you only get recent history. Make sure the email address is yours (that's where the download links go), then Submit.

Snapchat export screen with the All Time date range selected and an email confirmation field above the Submit button — All Time = every year you've been saving, not just this one.

STEP 6

That's it — Snapchat is packing your bags

Your request shows as In progress. Small libraries take minutes; years of Memories can take a day or two. You can't queue a second request while one is running, so make it count (that's what All Time was for).

Snapchat My Data screen showing an export request marked in progress — Now you wait. They'll email you when it's ready.

No phone handy?

The same request works from any browser: sign in at accounts.snapchat.com/accounts/downloadmydata — same toggles, same date range, same email at the end.

What happens next

Snapchat emails you when the export is ready. Inside are download links to your mydata~….zip files — a big library arrives as several zips, and you want all of them.

Two things worth knowing: the links expire after about a week, so don't sit on that email. And don't unzip anything — the tools below take the zips exactly as they arrive.

You have the zips. Now un-break them.

Open the export and you'll see the damage: every photo and video has lost its date, its place and its caption. That's not your phone being weird — that's how Snapchat ships it. Unsnap reads the metadata buried in the export and writes it all back onto every file.

Get Unsnap — it's free Get the free iPhone app Restore my Memories

Free desktop app for Mac & Windows — nothing is uploaded, your photos never leave your computer.

Runs entirely on your iPhone — nothing uploaded. It's in open beta, so you'll need Apple's free TestFlight app first.

Works right from your phone — upload the zips, we email you a download link, files auto-delete after 7 days.

On a different device? Every version of Unsnap →