Snapchat described the new feature as a personal collection of favorite moments kept safe below the smartphone camera screen.

“You can use Memories to create new Stories from Snaps you’ve taken, or even combine different Stories into a longer narrative,” the California-based company said in a blog post.

“We’ll be rolling out Memories selectively over the next month or so—it’s a big change for our service so we want to make sure everything is running smoothly.”

Snapchat also added a “My Eyes Only” tag for selected saved snaps to avoid accidentally showing friends pictures not meant to be seen by others, according to the startup.

The move brings Snapchat closer to competing with mainstream messaging or photo services such as those run by Facebook or Google , which have long let people look back on images captured in the past.

Snapchat estimates it has more than 100 million users globally of the service for sending videos, images and text messages which vanish after being viewed. Some reports say it generates 10 billion video views per day.

Along with its playful, ephemeral style, Snapchat has tapped into an interest, particularly among young Internet users, in communicating intimately with one or a few people instead of broadcasting messages across networks.

(Feature image source: AFP)