Guide
How to export all your Snapchat Memories (2026 step-by-step guide)
Exporting your Snapchat Memories is a request-and-wait job: you ask Snapchat for your data, it emails you a download link, and you unzip the result. The catch nobody warns you about is that the export hands your photos and videos over with their capture dates and locations stripped out — so importing straight into Photos scrambles everything. Here's the full flow, and how to fix the metadata before it becomes a mess.
What does Snapchat's export actually give you?
A zip (often several) containing your Memories plus the data that describes them — but not in the place your photo app looks. Inside you'll find your photos and videos, an HTML index for browsing them, and a single memories_history.json file that holds the real capture date and GPS for every memory. The media files themselves come out with those fields left blank. That split — correct data in the JSON, empty metadata in the files — is the whole reason a plain export lands wrong when you import it. See what's in the export folder for the full breakdown.
How do I request my data from Snapchat?
Open the My Data page and submit a request with Memories included. Sign in at accounts.snapchat.com, or open the Snapchat app and go to Settings → My Data — both reach the same request page. The one step you can't skip: under “Select data to include,” toggle “Export your Memories” on. Leave it off and your export comes back with account data but none of your actual photos or videos, which is the most common reason people think their export is broken or empty. Pick a date range that covers everything (all-time is safest), confirm the email address for the notification, and submit. Snapchat's own support page says it strives to deliver your data within 7 days, though a big library can take longer.
Why does my export arrive as multiple zip files?
Because it's too big to ship as one. Large Memories libraries don't come as a single download — Snapchat splits them into several parts named mydata~….zip (part 1, part 2, and so on). The important twist is that memories_history.json lives in only one of those parts, while your media is spread across all of them. Download the full set: skip a part and you'll be missing either files or the metadata that describes them. We go deep on stitching these back together in handling multi-part Snapchat exports.
How long do I have before the download link expires?
Long enough if you act when the email arrives, but not indefinitely. Snapchat's own page frames the 7-day figure as how quickly it delivers your data, not a guarantee of how long the finished link stays live — and once generated, that link does eventually lapse. Users have reported the live window landing on the shorter side, so don't sit on the email: download every part as soon as it lands. If a link expires before you grab everything, you can re-request the export, but you're back to waiting — and if your account is near Snapchat's storage limits, waiting is exactly what you don't want to do (that's the crux of the September 2026 deadline, which covers the why-and-when this guide leaves out).
Why do my exported memories lose their dates and GPS?
Because the export never writes them into the files — it hides them in the JSON instead. A normal camera stamps the capture time into each photo's EXIF metadata and each video's QuickTime atoms, and the GPS alongside it. Snapchat's export doesn't: it leaves those fields empty and keeps the true date and location for every memory in memories_history.json. Apple Photos and Google Photos read the metadata inside each file and never touch that side JSON, so when you import the raw export your gallery falls back to the import date and an empty map — years of memories collapse onto one day with no locations. Nothing is lost; the data just isn't joined to your files yet. That's the whole problem, and it's why downloading without losing your metadata takes one extra step.
How do I fix the metadata before importing?
Restore the real dates, GPS and overlays into the files first, then import the corrected copies. That's the job MemoriesExport does: you give it the export you already downloaded — it doesn't fetch anything from Snapchat, you hand it the zips or the unzipped folder — and it reads memories_history.json, matches each entry to its photo or video, and writes the metadata back in. Photos get their EXIF capture date; videos get the QuickTime creation-date atoms plus the specific Keys:GPSCoordinates atom Apple Photos requires before it will pin a clip on the map — the atom most other tools can't write. It merges your Snapchat captions and stickers back onto the media, handles multi-part exports in one pass, and lets you pick how the output is foldered (a flat folder, or split by year, year-month, or year-month-day). One honest caveat: Snapchat groups memories by day without a per-item timestamp, so several memories from the same day come back with the right date and location but not a guaranteed minute-by-minute order. Walk through the full pipeline in how it works.
Online or offline — where should I run the fix?
Whichever suits how private you want it. Online, you upload your export in the browser and large libraries are processed in batches and not stored indefinitely; on a phone, that's the only route (folder upload needs a desktop browser, so mobile users add the export as a zip). Or use the Mac and Windows desktop app, where processing runs fully on your computer and the media never leaves it. Either way the first 100 main memories are free and a one-time $9.99 unlocks unlimited for life — overlays don't count toward the free 100.
Frequently asked questions
- How do I export all my Snapchat Memories?
- Go to accounts.snapchat.com (or Snapchat app → Settings → My Data), toggle 'Export your Memories' on, pick an all-time date range, confirm your email and submit. Snapchat emails a download link when it's ready — usually within a few days — and large libraries arrive as several mydata~*.zip parts you download and unzip.
- Does the Snapchat export include my actual photos and videos?
- Only if you turned 'Export your Memories' on when you submitted. With that toggle on, your request includes the real media plus a memories_history.json describing each one. Leave it off and you get account data with no photos or videos — the single most common reason an export looks empty.
- Why did my Snapchat export come as multiple zip files?
- Because it's large. Snapchat splits a big Memories export into several parts named mydata~*.zip. The memories_history.json manifest lives in only one part while the media is spread across the rest, so you need every part — skip one and you're missing either files or the data that describes them.
- How long does the download link stay active?
- Snapchat's own page says it aims to deliver your data within 7 days of the request; that's the processing window, not the same as how long the finished link stays live. The link does eventually lapse, and users have reported windows on the shorter side, so treat it as time-limited and download every part as soon as the email lands.
- Why are my exported memories all on today's date with no location?
- Because Snapchat leaves each file's own date and GPS fields blank and keeps the real values in memories_history.json instead. Apple Photos and Google Photos read the metadata inside each file, not that side JSON, so a raw import stamps everything with the import date and drops the map pins. Restoring the metadata into the files before you import fixes both.
- Does MemoriesExport download my memories from Snapchat for me?
- No. You request and download the export from Snapchat yourself; MemoriesExport is the step after. You hand it the export you already downloaded and it writes the real capture dates, GPS and overlays back into your files — it doesn't fetch anything from Snapchat's servers.