With a wide variety of interesting face filters and other fun features, Snapchat still remains an incredibly popular photo and video sharing application. However, one of the aspects that make this app so unique is also one that makes it difficult to save any memories – the fact that Snaps get automatically deleted on Snapchat, either immediately after they’ve been viewed, or once they’ve expired.
Still, there might come a time when you wish to revisit and relive some of your old memories, even though they’re not readily available on Snapchat. In those instances, here are some ways you might be able to view your old Snaps when using your Android smartphone:
Table of Contents
Looking at Snapchat Memories
Snapchat has an archive of previously posted Snaps called Memories, and it might be the simplest way to view any old, saved Snaps. Here’s how:
- Load the Snapchat application on your smartphone.
- Then, simply press the Memories icon (two cards/photos) that’s located on the left side of the Record circle at the bottom of the screen.
- Here, you will be able to view some of your old Snaps that were saved on your profile.
In case you haven’t managed to locate the exact Snap you were looking for, then give one of the methods below a try.
Recovering Snaps from collected Snapchat Cache
On most Android smartphones, deleted media can normally still be recovered from certain folders on your device. If you’ve previously deleted a Snap but you haven’t cleared any Snapchat cache since, follow these steps to get your images back:
- On your phone, load the File Managed application.
- Now, open the Android folder, and then press data.
- Click on the com.snapchat.android section, open the cache folder, and then press on the received_image_snaps section.
- Copy this folder, and then paste it into your device’s internal or external storage.
- Rename all the .nomedia files contained in this folder into .jpg files.
- You should now manage to see all the old images that were saved in your phone’s cache.
Note: To reiterate, this method will only be possible if you haven’t deleted the cache stored from the Snapchat application.
Recovering Snaps from a synced Cloud service
If your Android smartphone automatically backs up your data onto a Cloud service such as Google Drive, you should also manage to find any deleted Snaps there. Here’s how:
- Open the dedicated Cloud storage application on your smartphone, and sign in if necessary.
- Here, either locate the specific Snapchat folder or go through all images that were backed up.
- Once you’ve found a Snap you’d like to view, select it, and then click on Restore to save it to your smartphone.
Note: The specific method might vary depending on the exact Cloud service you use, but they all operate in quite a similar manner.
Using a dedicated recovery tool
If all else fails, there are also a number of third-party applications you could download in an effort to recover deleted Snaps, such as Phone Rescue or Android Data Recovery.
These apps all work in similar manners – you will have to download them onto your computer, and then connect your smartphone with a USB cable. When you load the application, you would go to the Multimedia, Photos, or Videos section, and then choose which old Snaps you would like to recover from your device.
Evidently, the process for viewing old Snaps can either be incredibly simple or a bit more complicated, and require some additional steps. However, it can still be done with this helpful guide above.
