“Memory, all alone in the moonlight
I can dream of the old days
Life was beautiful then.”

Speaking of the old days, I remember suiting up in my swanky cat suit to perform this song from the Broadway musical Cats in my middle school show. I recall uploading a photo of myself in my costume to my Myspace page, and similar to the animal Snapchat filters, this one was a hit. Now, the future has arrived: Throughout the month, Snapchat is rolling out Snapchat Memories for users like me who prefer to live in the past (Well, not really, but I like saving my Snaps so if you do too, keep reading).

This new feature will allow users to save and share old photos and Stories. Yes, this is great if you’re not having the best hair day or your forgot to put on your mascara again this morning. It’s also helpful for those of us whose Camera Rolls are littered with endless Snap Stories. With Memories, all of your favorite Snaps can remain on the app for safekeeping and organization. Plus, if you lose your phone, your Memories will be safe with Snapchat until you return to the app with a new device.

After swiping up on the camera icons within the app, some new tables will be revealed. Here is exactly what you will you be able to do with the new update:

Saving to Memories

There will be a new save button (similar to the Save to Camera Roll button) that will save your Snap or full Story to your Memories. These will be searchable by location, date, and even by auto object recognition (ex: sunset). You will also still be able to save your Snaps to the Camera Roll if you wish. In addition, if you’ve ever suffered from the regret of forgetting to save a Story, there will be an auto save option in settings for all of your future Stories.

Creating New Stories from Old Photos

Within Memories, the tabs, “Camera Roll,” and “Snaps” will allow you to send previously taken photos or previously saved Snaps from your device to friends. You can also add these moments to your Story. Unfortunately, old photos will be time stamped with a white frame so you can’t deceive people into thinking you’re doing something really cool at the moment.

Sharing Full Stories

You will now be able to send a full Story to a friend, which is great if you don’t want to be inundated with notifications from that one friend who sends every Snap on their Story to you. You can also save full Stories, which will now be contained in the “Stories” tab in the app.

My Eyes Only

This one is quite self-explanatory. Think back to everyone’s reaction when Snapchat first came out; people were in an uproar that an app came out to send racy photos that would disappear without a trace. Now, users can share and save sensitive photos in a safe place that doesn’t disappear after 10-seconds, by using the new password-protected tab. But hey, at least they’re not sitting in users’ Camera Rolls for all to see.

Like many new features on the app, you mustn’t forget to opt in to Memories when prompted, or you’ll be majorly out of the loop on this one.

All images courtesy of Mashable.com.