My account is suspended
A suspended account is signed out everywhere and cannot sign in again until we re-enable it. Why it happens, what you see, and how to appeal.
Suspending an account is the strongest action we take, and it is rare. When we do it, the account is disabled: every device is signed out at once, and no sign-in — by password, email code or QR — succeeds until we enable the account again. Your encrypted data stays where it is; nothing is deleted by a suspension.
Why accounts are suspended
- Spam or abuse sent from the account — bulk unsolicited mail, phishing, malware, harassment. See the anti-spam policy.
- Violations of our terms of service.
- A legal obligation, in rare cases.
- Evidence the account has been taken over and is being used against other people. Here a suspension protects you as much as everyone else.
Suspension is never automatic. Rate limits and code lock-outs are automatic and lift by themselves — see Why am I rate-limited? and My account is locked. A suspension is a decision made by a person.
What you see
Almost nothing, and that is deliberate.
- Password sign-in fails with the same message as a wrong password: We couldn't log you in. Something you entered was incorrect, but we can't say what — it's part of how we protect your privacy.
- Email-code sign-in answers User not found.
- Open sessions stop working; the app returns to the sign-in screen on every device.
The sign-in screen does not say "suspended" because a form that did would let anyone test which usernames exist and which we have acted against. The only way to learn that an account is suspended is to ask us.
We cannot email you about it
Older versions of this help text said we might write to your recovery address. We cannot: the recovery address is stored only as a hash, so we have no address to send to. If you are suddenly signed out everywhere and your password is definitely right, assume a suspension is possible and get in touch.
How to appeal
- Contact support from any address, and give your Private.Ki username.
- If you set a recovery email address, say so — we can ask you to prove you control it, which is how we know we are talking to the account owner and not to someone else asking about it.
- Tell us what you think happened. If your account may have been taken over, say so; if you were rate-limited for sending a lot of legitimate mail, say that.
We look at every appeal. Accounts suspended by mistake, or after a takeover that has been resolved (new password, two-factor turned on), are re-enabled. Accounts suspended for sending spam or for violations of the anti-spam policy or our terms are not.
What happens to your data
- While suspended: your mailbox, chats and keys remain encrypted on our servers exactly as they were. We cannot read them — suspension changes nothing about encryption.
- If re-enabled: you sign in and everything is there. Sessions were revoked, so every device asks you to sign in again.
- If permanent: the account stays disabled. Deleting an account and all of its data is a separate step we take only deliberately; there is no automatic purge.
Because suspension does not touch your keys, we cannot hand you a readable export of your mail either — the same reason we cannot read it ourselves.
What our server sees
Cannot see
- Your mail, chats or attachments — a suspension does not give us any access we did not have
- Your recovery address in readable form, so we cannot notify you
Can see
- Whether your account is enabled or disabled, and when sessions were revoked
- Abuse reports we receive about your address, and delivery signals such as blocklist checks on outgoing mail
Common questions
How do I avoid being suspended?
Do not send unsolicited bulk mail or newsletters through Private.Ki, do not use it for phishing or illegal content, and keep your account secure — set a strong password, turn on two-factor, and review Active sessions if anything looks odd.
Can I create a new account instead of appealing?
Sign-up is by invitation, and evading a suspension is itself a violation of the terms. Appeal first.
Someone reported me but I did nothing wrong.
Reports alone do not suspend an account; we look at the evidence. If we did suspend, appeal and explain.
I want to report abuse from another account.
See Report abuse.