How To Clear Snapchat Memories

Snapchat is one of our favorite social networks, and not because it helps to create an archive of our lives. Instead, we love Snapchat because it allows us to focus on sharing the world around us for a temporary amount of time. Whether you’re trying to capture a snap of your friends doing something ridiculous, updating your followers on how your vacation is going, or just taking a gorgeous photo of the sunset behind your house, Snapchat makes it easy to share photos and videos without having to worry about them lasting longer than 24 hours on your public story.

Of course, sometimes your Snaps are so good you feel the need to keep them saved forever, and thankfully, Snapchat allows you to do that too. The Memories feature inside Snapchat allows you to easily save your favorite snaps, both before you send them to others or by saving them from your Story after they’ve posted.

Once you’ve saved a snap to your Memories, you can view it whenever you want by selecting the Memory tab within Snapchat, making it easy to revisit your favorite memories from years past. Snapchat will even remind you of “flashbacks” from your Memories with a small notification icon on the Memories tab, allowing you to revisit the time you went to see your favorite band live, or when you spent a week by a calm and serene lake.

Still, as with any photo gallery, sometimes you save a photo that, down the road, you no longer want to keep. A photo of your ex, an embarrassing video of you and your friends, or whatever else—you don’t want it around, and that makes sense. Deleting Memories is totally possible within Snapchat, but sometimes, the app can be confusing and difficult to navigate. Let’s take a quick look at how to delete your saved Snaps with Snapchat.

Accessing and Navigating Memories

If you’re new to the platform, finding your Memories might seem difficult. Thankfully, it’s actually pretty simple. Launch Snapchat to open the app to the camera interface.

At the bottom of the camera’s interface is where you’ll find the card icon to launch Memories just under the white circle used for recording. Simply tap on that icon to load into your saved Memories. You can also swipe up to access your memories.

To navigate your memories, scroll through all of the images using your finger. If you want to view the images in full screen, tap on one to expand it. Then swipe left and right to scroll through all of the images. Swipe up to return to the Memories view.

Delete a Memory from Snapchat

Tired of one of those snaps in your Memories? Just get rid of it. There are two ways to delete individual snaps or stories.

Method One:

1. Go to Memories
   
2. Tap and hold the snap or story for options
3. Tap Delete Snap or Delete Story
   
4. Tap Delete again to confirm
   

Method Two:

1. Go to Memories.
   
2. Tap on the snap or story you want to delete.
   
3. Tap the options icon in the lower-right-hand corner labeled More.

   

4. Tap Delete Story or Delete Snap.
5. Tap Delete again to confirm.
   

Be careful what you choose to delete. Once a snap or story has been deleted, it’s gone for good.

Delete All Memories from Snapchat

Maybe deleting one memory isn’t enough for you. Maybe you want to wipe the slate clean and start from scratch. Unfortunately, Snapchat doesn’t let you simply delete all of your memories in one click. However, there is an easier way to delete multiple items from your Memories.

1. Go to Memories. Tap the checkmark in the upper right-hand corner.
   
2. Tap all of the snaps you want to delete or tap Select All.
   
3. Tap the Trash icon in the bottom bar.
   

Tap Delete to confirm.

Now all of those awkward snaps from your last late night out with the girls will be history.

Clearing the Memories Cache

Maybe you’re not looking to delete anything from Memories. You just want to clear the cache for your Snapchat Memories. In other words, you want to purge your app of all that hidden data that piles up with use. Just complete the following steps from the Snapchat camera.

1. Tap the ghost(or Bitmoji icon if you have one) in the upper left-hand corner.
   
2. Tap the settings icon in the upper right-hand corner.
   
3. Scroll down and tap Clear Cache.
   
4. Tap Clear Memories Cache.
   

Tap Clear to confirm.

People do this when specific apps or their phone are running slowly. This will not remove any of the snaps or stories currently in your Memories. Go ahead. Check. They’re all still there. Looks like you’ll have to delete them the old fashioned way.

Who can see my Snapchat memories?

Only you can see your Snapchat memories. If you are worried that others will search and see your memories, don’t. Unless you show another person the content that Snapchat has saved, you won’t need to worry.

Can I recover deleted snaps?

Only if you’ve saved or screenshotted them. Just beware, if you screenshot someone else’s Snaps, they will know.

Can I re-share my Snapchat memories?

Yes, following the instructions above, click on the checkmark in the upper right-hand corner and select the option to share your memory again. This is a neat little feature that lets you replay your favorite content.

***

Snapchat’s biggest downfall as an application is the lack of any kind of documentation or help to describe how to use some of its best features. While most users probably know how to send images within a chat with another person or group, the ability to understand how Memories work in the app—and how to delete them—is important.

Becoming a Snapchat power user can be pretty difficult since the app has so many different features and modes of conversation, but luckily, exploring the app can often lead to discovering new features you didn’t know were there. The next time you accidentally save too many photos and videos to your memories, don’t panic: you can use your phone to delete them from your account.