Delete a story you posted yourself

You can delete your own story at any time, even if it has not expired yet. Open Snapchat and tap your profile icon in the top left corner. Tap "My Story" to see all the snaps you have posted. Long-press on the story you want to remove — your finger should stay on it for a second or two. A menu will appear with the option to delete. Tap "Delete" and the story is gone immediately.

Stories you delete this way are removed from your profile and no one can see them anymore, even if they had already viewed them. The deletion happens right away — there is no waiting period or undo button after you confirm. If you change your mind within a few seconds, close Snapchat completely and reopen it; sometimes the story will still be there if the deletion has not fully processed on Snapchat's servers.

Key Takeaways

  • You delete your own story by opening your profile, tapping "My Story", long-pressing the story, and selecting delete from the menu that appears.
  • Stories disappear from your profile immediately when you delete them, and no one can view them after that point.
  • You cannot delete individual snaps that other people have posted to a group story or shared story that you started.
  • If you want to prevent people from screenshotting your story, you need to change your privacy settings before posting, not after.
  • Stories automatically disappear 24 hours after you post them if you do not delete them manually.

Stories that expire on their own

Every story you post on Snapchat disappears automatically after 24 hours. You do not have to do anything — Snapchat removes it for you. This happens whether people have viewed it or not. If you want a story to stay visible longer, you would need to repost it, but Snapchat does not have a built-in way to extend the original story's lifespan.

The 24-hour timer starts the moment you post the story, not when the first person views it. If you post a story at 3 p.m. on Monday, it will be gone by 3 p.m. on Tuesday, regardless of how many people have watched it by then. You can see how much time your story has left by opening your profile and looking at the timer that appears under "My Story".

Stories you cannot delete yourself

If someone else posted a snap to a group story or a shared story that you created, you cannot delete their snap from that story. Only the person who posted it can remove it. However, you can delete the entire shared story if you started it — this removes all the snaps in that story, including ones posted by other people. To do this, long-press the shared story name and select delete.

If you are worried about a snap someone else posted to a shared story, you can ask them to delete it themselves. They can do this by opening the shared story, long-pressing their own snap, and selecting delete. Alternatively, you can remove yourself from the shared story, which means you will no longer see new snaps added to it, though the story itself stays active for other members.

Preventing screenshots before you post

Snapchat notifies you when someone takes a screenshot of your story, but you cannot prevent them from doing it. However, you can control who sees your story in the first place by changing your privacy settings before you post. Open your profile, tap the settings icon (the gear), and scroll to "Who Can..." section. You can set your story to be visible to "Friends" only, "Custom" (a list you choose), or "Private" (only you can see it).

Once a story is already posted, changing these settings will not hide it from people who have already seen it. The privacy settings only affect who can view the story going forward. If you posted a story to "Everyone" and then changed it to "Friends Only", people who are not your friends will no longer see new stories, but they may have already screenshotted the old one.

Deleting stories from your memories or camera roll

Stories you save to Snapchat's Memories feature are separate from your posted story. If you saved a snap to Memories before posting it as a story, deleting the story does not delete the Memories copy. To remove it from Memories, open Snapchat, swipe up from the camera screen to open Memories, find the snap, long-press it, and select delete. This removes it from Memories but does not affect any story you already posted using that snap.

Snaps you save to your phone's camera roll are also separate. Deleting a story does not delete the original file from your phone. If you want to remove a snap from your phone entirely, you need to open your phone's photo app or gallery and delete it there. Snapchat does not have access to delete files from your phone's storage.

What happens when you delete a story

When you delete a story, it is removed from your profile immediately. People who have not yet viewed it will not be able to see it. People who already viewed it will not see it if they try to look at your profile again. However, if someone took a screenshot before you deleted it, they still have that screenshot on their phone — deleting the story does not erase screenshots that were already taken.

Snapchat keeps a record that the story existed and was viewed by certain people, but this is only visible to you in your own account data. Other users cannot see that you posted and deleted a story. The deletion is clean from everyone else's perspective — it is as if the story was never there.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I delete a story after someone has already screenshotted it?

Deleting the story does not remove the screenshot from the other person's phone. Once someone has taken a screenshot, that image is saved to their device and is outside of Snapchat's control. Snapchat will notify you that they took a screenshot, but you cannot undo that action by deleting the story.

What if I delete a story and then want to post it again?

If you saved the snap to Memories before posting it, you can find it there and post it again as a new story. Open Memories, find the snap, and select the option to post it. If you did not save it to Memories, the snap is gone and you cannot retrieve it from Snapchat. You would need the original file from your phone's camera roll to post it again.

Does deleting a story notify the people who viewed it?

No, Snapchat does not send a notification to people who viewed your story when you delete it. They will simply not see it if they try to look at your profile again. There is no alert that tells them the story was removed.

Can I delete just one snap from a story I posted?

No, Snapchat does not let you delete individual snaps from a story you posted. You can only delete the entire story at once. If you want to remove one snap, you have to delete the whole story and repost the snaps you want to keep.

How long do I have to delete a story before it disappears on its own?

You have up to 24 hours from the time you post the story. After 24 hours, Snapchat automatically deletes it, and you no longer have the option to delete it manually because it is already gone. If you want to keep a snap, save it to Memories before the 24 hours are up.