Inactive accounts and deletion
We never delete accounts for inactivity. What does expire while you are away, what you need to get back in, and how to have an account deleted on request.
Private.Ki does not delete accounts or mail because they have not been used. There is no inactivity timer, no scheduled clean-up and no "log in every N months" rule. You can leave an account alone for as long as you like and come back to it; your mailbox, chats, keys and settings will be as you left them, and mail sent to you in the meantime will be waiting.
What does expire while you are away
The account stays. Some of the things that keep you signed in do not:
| Item | Lifetime | What it means when you return |
|---|---|---|
| A device's signed-in session | 90 days without use | The clock is reset every time that device unlocks, so a device you keep using never expires. After 90 days of silence you sign in with your password again — see Signed-in devices. |
| Locked state | ~30 minutes offline | The app locks itself; unlock with your password or passphrase. On Android, App lock may ask for your fingerprint first. |
| Recovery-email and sign-in codes | 5–15 minutes | Only matters while you are in the middle of a flow. |
None of these affect your data. They are about the device, not the account.
Before a long break: make sure you can get back in
The one thing that can lock you out of an account for good is forgetting a secret we do not hold. Check these before you close the lid:
- Know your password. We do not store it. If you might forget it, set a recovery email address now — that is the only way to reset it later.
- If you unlock with a passphrase, keep it safe. A passphrase cannot be recovered or reset by anyone. Without it your mail is unreadable, even to you.
- If you use two-step verification, keep the authenticator. There are no backup codes. If you plan to change phones, move the authenticator app first or turn it off and on again on the new phone. A security key or passkey as a second way in saves you from exactly this.
- Consider a recovery key. Twelve words on paper get you back in when the recovery mailbox is gone too.
- Password-only accounts: do not reset the password while away. A reset does not re-encrypt your key; see Reset a forgotten password for what that means.
Deleting an account
You delete the account yourself, in Settings → Security and privacy → Privacy and data → Delete my account: two confirmations, the second one asking you to type your email address. The same screen has Pause my account if you want everything to stop without losing anything. The full account is written out in Delete your account, and on the website at Delete your account and Delete your data.
Deletion is immediate and cannot be undone, and we cannot hand you an export of your mail first — download what you want to keep while you are still signed in. If you cannot sign in at all, write to support with the subject Delete my account from your recovery email address.
What our server sees
Cannot see
- Your mail, chats or attachments, at any point — inactive or not
- Your passphrase or password, so an inactive account cannot be "recovered" for you
Can see
- When you last signed in (this is how support can confirm an account exists and is enabled)
- Whether the account is enabled, and the date sessions were last revoked
Common questions
Will you warn me before deleting an inactive account?
There is nothing to warn about: we do not delete for inactivity. We could not warn you anyway — your recovery address is stored only as a hash, so we cannot send you mail on our own.
Does incoming mail stop after a while?
No. Mail keeps arriving and is stored encrypted to your key until you sign in and read it.
Can I delete just my messages instead of the account?
Yes, from inside the app: delete threads, then empty Trash. See Delete and restore email and, for the full list of what you can remove yourself, Delete your account. That removes the messages from our servers; the account stays.
I want to exercise my GDPR rights.
Deletion and access requests go through support in the same way. See GDPR for what we can and cannot provide — in short, we can delete everything, and we can hand over only what we can read, which is not your mail.
Is a suspended account the same as an inactive one?
No. A suspended account has been disabled by us and cannot sign in; an inactive account is simply one you have not opened for a while and works normally when you return. See My account is suspended.