On social media apps like Snapchat, privacy is one of the biggest controversial topics. They let people use their apps for free and, in return, they collect private information. Another side of concern you might have is if anyone except you would be able to access your data. One area you want to protect would be your camera roll on Snapchat. Let’s find out how the Snapchat camera roll works.
About Snapchat camera roll
On Snapchat, there is the memories section where you can store your Snapchat photos and Snaps. Just in case you don’ know, to access Snapchat memories, you just need to swipe up on the main camera screen that you see right after launching the app. In Memories, there are four menus – snaps, Snapchat stories, camera roll, and my eyes only. Among them, camera roll is where you want to know more about.
What camera roll can do
There are three main functionalities in the camera roll. First, when you save snaps into memories’ snap section only or the snap section and camera roll. So, it works as storage for your past snaps. Second, you can allow the Snapchat app to access your device’s camera roll photos and videos. If you enable that, you can directly use them on your Snapchat app.
Lastly, you can save a Featured Story in Memories into the camera roll. Snapchat has this called Flashback Memories. This lets you travel back in time and view the important moments of last year. These Flashback Memories appear as a Featured Story if you have a Snap that is saved at least a year ago. You can share this old Story with your friend and save it to your camera roll to keep it.
As you can learn, the contents in your camera roll will not be shared until you choose to. And, Snapchat won’t let any random people access your camera roll since it can contain all your photos and videos from your device.
Can anyone see my camera roll on Snapchat?
A good news is if that someone is just online, the person will not be able to see your camera roll. However, if that person holds your mobile device with Snapchat logged in as your account, the person can just simply swipe up and touch the camera roll tap. Then, all your photos and videos will be exposed.
Best ways to protect your personal photos
Normally, people will not be able to access your camera roll unless someone has physical access to your phone. However, security is important. You can’t be too careful. Then, what will be the best ways to eliminate even a slim chance of your camera roll being shown to unwanted eyes?
Don’t share your device’s camera roll
It can be inconvenient not to share your device camera roll with the Snapchat app since you cannot see all your photos and videos on the app. What we need to know is security and convenience go in the opposite direction. Imagine your main entrance door covered with numerous locks. It will be really inconvenient to unlock all those but it should be more secure.
Likewise, if you restrict the Snapchat app from accessing your device camera roll, you can have a more secure Snap life.
Set up strong passcode in your device
Does your smartphone get passcode-locked or can anyone simply just enter the main phone screen? If a person can access the main screen, that means the person not only can launch the app but also can see the app’s and device’s camera rolls. It is basic but enabling passcode or Face ID can help you to protect your personal photos.
Use My Eyes Only
My Eyes Only is a memories feature. As the name of it explains, it is designed to give you security over sensitive content. To enter My Eyes Only, you have to enter a passcode. So, it is like a lock inside Snapchat. Even if someone gained physical access to your phone, when your personal Snap contents are kept in there, you can protect them more securely.
Don’t lose your memories including camera roll photos
While protecting the photos in the camera roll, you may also want to make sure that you don’t lose the photos in the camera roll. It is a good practice to back up your Memories before you log out of Snapchat.
If you see the 🔄 icon on a Snap or Story in Memories, that means it’s not backed up.
To check if your Memories are backed up completely, follow the steps.
- Tap ⚙️ in My Profile to open Settings
- Scroll down and tap “Memories”
- Check that “Backup Progress” says “Complete”
- If “Backup Progress” says “# Snaps Remaining” or “No Network Connection”, then your Memories are not completely backed up! Make sure your device has good mobile service or is connected to Wi-Fi.
Warning: it’s not possible to recover lost Memories that weren’t successfully backed up.
When your Memories are backed up, you don’t have to worry about any loss of them when you switch to a new device or remove the Snapchat app and reinstall it.
Memories Settings
You can automate or choose a smarter option to control how your Snaps are saved to Memories and your device’s Camera Roll. Also, you can change how your Memories are backed up.
To change your Memories settings:
- Tap ⚙️ in My Profile to open Settings
- Scroll down and tap “Memories”
- Select the setting you’d like to update!
There are Memories settings you can adjust:
- Smart Backup: Your Memories can back up over mobile data when Wi-Fi is unavailable.
- Import Snaps from Camera Roll: You can import Snaps from your device’s Camera Roll into Memories.
- Save button: Choose where Snaps and Stories go when you tap the Save button.
- Auto-Save My Story Snaps: Snaps sent to My Story will be automatically saved to Memories.
- Save to My Eyes Only by Default: Snaps and Stories you save will be automatically stored in My Eyes Only.
Note that some of the Memories settings are only available on iOS currently, including “Save to My Eyes Only by Default” and “Import Snaps from Camera Roll”.
Wrapping up
We have learned if anyone can see my camera roll on Snapchat. It turned out people who are online won’t be able to see your Snapchat camera roll. However, if someone holds your smartphone and attempts to see it, that person can just open the app and go see the Memories’ camera roll. To avoid the situation, it is important to set up a secure environment such as setting up a lock into your phone’s main screen and storing sensitive photos in My Eyes Only.
