Data retention and deletion
Contents
1. Purpose and scope
1.1 What this document covers
This Policy states exactly what happens to your account and to the files stored in it when your subscription ends, is cancelled, expires, or is not renewed. It specifies how long your data is retained at each stage, what you can and cannot do at each stage, when your data is permanently deleted, and what notifications you will receive beforehand.
1.2 What this document does not cover
This Policy does not govern the processing of your personal data generally, which is addressed in the Privacy Policy; the commercial terms of the subscription, which are addressed in the Terms of Service; or suspension arising from breach of the Acceptable Use Policy, which is addressed in section 11 and takes precedence over the ordinary timeline.
1.3 Relationship to other documents
This Policy forms part of the agreement between you and the Service. Where this Policy and the Terms of Service address the same subject matter and cannot be read consistently, this Policy prevails in respect of retention periods and deletion timing only.
2. Definitions
The following terms have the meanings given below wherever they appear in this document, whether capitalised or not.
- Account — the user record identified by a unique login identity, together with all files, folders, file versions, trash contents, shares, and metadata associated with it.
- Content — all files, folders, file versions, deleted items held in trash, and document data stored in the Account by you or on your behalf.
- Expiry Date (T) — the exact date and time at which the last period of subscription you have paid for comes to an end. The determination of T is governed by section 3.
- Read-Only State — the account state described in section 5.2.
- Deletion — the permanent, irreversible removal described in section 5.3.
- Business Day — Monday to Friday, excluding public holidays.
- Payment Processor — Lemon Squeezy, LLC, acting as merchant of record for all transactions.
- Day T+n — the point in time occurring exactly n periods of twenty-four hours after T. All such calculations are performed in Coordinated Universal Time. No adjustment is made for local time zones, daylight saving transitions, weekends, or public holidays.
3. Determining the expiry date
3.1 Non-renewal or failed payment
Where a subscription is not renewed, or where a renewal payment is not successfully completed, T is the end of the last period for which payment was received in full and not subsequently reversed.
3.2 Cancellation by you
Where you cancel a subscription, the cancellation takes effect at the end of the period already paid for. T is that end date. Cancelling does not shorten the period you have paid for and does not trigger an earlier T.
3.3 Payment reversal, chargeback, or refund
Where a payment is refunded, reversed, disputed, or charged back after the subscription period has begun, T is deemed to be the date on which the reversal, dispute, or refund was initiated, and not the end of the period the payment nominally covered.
3.4 Authoritative record
The subscription status recorded by the Payment Processor is the authoritative record for determining T.
3.5 Notification of T
You will be notified of T in accordance with section 6. However, the timeline in section 4 runs from T regardless of whether any notification is received, opened, or read.
4. Retention timeline
| Phase | Period | Account state |
|---|---|---|
| Grace period | T+0 to T+14 | Full function |
| Read-only | T+15 to T+99 | Download only |
| Deletion | On or after T+100 | Permanently removed |
Transitions occur automatically. No action by you or by us is required for a transition to take effect, and no transition is delayed by the absence of such action.
5. The phases in detail
5.1 Grace period — T+0 to T+14
The Service operates without any change or limitation during this period. Its purpose is to absorb failed card payments, expired payment methods, bank authorisation delays, and late renewals without interrupting your work.
If payment is completed at any point during the grace period, the subscription continues uninterrupted and no further stage of this timeline is entered. No reinstatement fee applies. The grace period is granted once per subscription period; it is not extended, restarted, or granted a second time in respect of the same Expiry Date.
5.2 Read-only — T+15 to T+99
At T+15 the Account enters the Read-Only State automatically. You retain the ability to:
- Sign in to the Account through the web interface
- View the complete contents of the Account, including folder structure
- Download any file, individually or in bulk
- Download the entire Account contents via WebDAV
- Restore full functionality at any time by renewing
The following are disabled: uploading new files; modifying, renaming or moving existing files; creating folders; synchronisation via desktop and mobile applications in both directions; document creation and editing; creation of new share links; and existing public share links, which are deactivated at T+15.
Effect on third parties. Deactivation of share links means that persons to whom you previously distributed links will no longer be able to access the files through those links. This occurs at T+15 without separate notice to those persons. It is your responsibility to inform anyone who relies on such links. Renewal reactivates previously existing links.
All Content is preserved intact and unaltered throughout the Read-Only State. Nothing is deleted, compressed, moved to cold storage, or degraded. Renewal at any point up to and including T+99 restores the Account to full function automatically and immediately, with no loss of Content, no reinstatement fee, and no requirement to contact us.
5.3 Deletion — on or after T+100
On or after T+100, the Account and all Content are permanently deleted. This comprises all files and folders, all previous versions, all items held in trash, all share records and link definitions, all file metadata, the user record and login identity, and the corresponding stored objects held with our storage provider.
Deletion is irreversible. After Deletion has been carried out, Content cannot be restored by us, by you, or by any third party. This applies without exception, including where payment is subsequently offered, where the failure to act is attributed to illness, absence, or technical difficulty, and where a request is made shortly after the deletion has occurred.
6. Notifications
| Sent on | Subject |
|---|---|
| T+0 | Subscription ended or payment failed |
| T+7 | Reminder — seven days before read-only |
| T+15 | Account has entered read-only |
| T+45 | Reminder — remaining time stated |
| T+85 | Deletion warning — 15 days remaining |
| T+99 | Final warning — 24 hours remaining |
You are responsible for maintaining a current and functioning email address on the Account. The timeline in section 4 is not extended, suspended, or altered by non-delivery of a notification, delivery to a spam folder, a full or disabled mailbox, a rejected or filtered message, failure to read a delivered message, or an out-of-date address on the Account.
Notifications are provided to assist you. They are not a precondition to any transition described in section 4, and no transition is invalidated by a failure to send, deliver, or receive any notification.
7. Exporting your content
Up to and including T+99, you may download your Content using the web interface, including bulk folder download, or the WebDAV endpoint with any compatible client.
We strongly recommend exporting during the grace period rather than close to T+99. Large exports take time, and no extension is available on the basis that an export was started but not completed. We do not provide an export, copy, or extract of Content after Deletion has been performed, as no copy remains from which to produce one.
8. Deletion at your request
You may request deletion of your Account and Content at any time, irrespective of the state of your subscription, by written request to the address in section 16. Deletion requested under this section is carried out within thirty days of receipt and is irreversible on the same terms as section 5.3.
No refund or credit is issued for any unused portion of a subscription period in respect of a deletion requested by you. This does not affect your right to a full refund within fourteen days of a payment under the refund policy. We may require verification that the request originates from the Account holder before acting on it; the thirty-day period runs from the point at which verification is complete.
9. Backups
We maintain encrypted backups. Following Deletion of an Account, residual copies of Content may persist within those backups until the backups themselves are rotated out of retention, after which they cease to exist on any system under our control.
Backups exist solely to permit recovery from infrastructure failure, corruption, or loss. They are not used to restore individual files, folders, or accounts at the request of a user, and no such restoration is offered under any circumstances, including where a user has deleted Content in error. The existence of backups does not constitute a guarantee that any particular item of Content can be recovered.
10. Billing records
Payments are processed by the Payment Processor acting as merchant of record. Billing details, payment methods, invoices, and tax records are held by the Payment Processor under its own policies and in accordance with the tax and accounting obligations to which it is subject. These records are retained independently of the deletion of your Account with us and are not within our control.
We retain only the subscription identifier, the plan associated with it, and its status. These are deleted together with the Account.
11. Suspension and termination for cause
Where an Account is suspended or terminated for breach of the Acceptable Use Policy, for unlawful activity, or where required by a competent authority, this section applies in place of the timeline in section 4. Access may be suspended immediately and without prior notice, and the grace period and read-only state do not apply. Content may be retained for a shorter or a longer period than 100 days as the circumstances and any applicable legal obligation require.
Where we are subject to a binding legal obligation to preserve Content, that obligation prevails over the deletion timeline in this Policy for so long as it remains in force.
12. Service limitations
The Service is provided without any guaranteed level of availability, uptime, performance, or recovery time. No service level agreement applies.
You are expressly advised to maintain your own independent copy of any Content that matters to you. The Service is not designed, offered, or warranted as a sole repository for critical or irreplaceable data, and should not be relied upon as one.
13. Discontinuation of the service
Should we decide to discontinue the Service, we commit to not less than ninety days' written notice before the Service ceases, full access to export Content throughout that notice period, and a pro-rata refund of the unused portion of any current subscription.
14. Changes to this policy
Any change that shortens a retention period stated in this Policy will be announced not less than sixty days before it takes effect. A shortening change does not apply retroactively to any Account that has already passed its Expiry Date at the time the change takes effect; such Accounts complete the timeline that was in force at their Expiry Date. Changes that lengthen a retention period, add a notification, or correct an error take effect on publication.
15. Interpretation
This English version is the governing version of this Policy. Translations are provided for convenience; in the event of a discrepancy this version prevails, save where mandatory consumer protection law provides otherwise. Headings are for navigation only. If any provision is found invalid or unenforceable, the remaining provisions continue in full force.
Nothing in this Policy excludes or limits any right you have under mandatory provisions of applicable consumer protection or data protection law that cannot be excluded or limited by agreement.
16. Contact
Requests, questions, and notices under this Policy should be addressed through bitnwise.com/contact. We aim to respond within two Business Days.