Snapchat has begun to roll out a new feature called "Memories" that will allow users to save snaps indefinitely, with the option to later add them to their Snapchat Stories, the company announced on Wednesday.
The move marks a further shift away from the app's early focus on in-the-moment sharing, a shift which first began with the app's introduction of the Stories feature, a visual status of sorts that lets users weave together photos and video clips that can be rewatched for 24 hours after they're posted.
Snapchat has since allowed people to download their Snapchat Stories to their phone's camera roll, but those snaps were not able to be re-posted on the app. Memories changes that.
With Memories, which is accessed by swiping up from the main camera screen, you'll now have access to a Snapchat-only camera roll that can be used to collect snaps you want to hold onto. Memories can also be re-posted as Stories later on. You'll be able to choose if you want to download a snap to Memories, so you won't be required to save every snap or Story.
Here's what it's like to use.
Snapchat is making the vault of photos and videos searchable by keywords, similar to Google Photos or Apple's upcoming Photos app in iOS 10, so you can sift through the collection by searching for terms like "car" or "cat."
Memories will be eligible to be included in Stories, and can be combined with other Memories or new snaps. Any photo or video that's pulled from Memories will be marked with a special "frame" around it to denote that it wasn't captured in the moment.
And since everyone has been in the awkward situation where they show a friend a photo in their camera roll only to have them swipe left or right onto other private photos, Snapchat announced a password-protected "My Eyes Only" option that can hide specific Memories from wider view in the collection.
Snapchat Memories began rolling out on Wednesday, but Snapchat says that it's a limited rollout "over the next month or so," and that everyone will be notified by a Snapchat Chat from the company when they're granted access to the new feature.
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