# Data Retention

This page describes how data is automatically deleted when you terminate your account, unsubscribe from an app, or abandon your account without active subscriptions.

## Definitions

- "Account data" means your account (*username, email, password, purchase history*) in the ElfHosted store, to which all of your subscriptions are tied.
- "Application data" refers to the config for a specific application, usually found in `/config/<app>` in [File Browser](</app/filebrowser/>). Examples would be your [Plex](</app/plex/>) metadata, or your [Prowlarr](</app/prowlarr/>) DB.

## When do we automatically purge data?

| Action | Data affected | Retention |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 🚫 Unsubscribe all subscriptions | Application data<br>Account data<br>Offsite backups | 7 days<br>1 month<br>3 months |
| Delete your account | Account data<br>Application data<br>Offsite backups | Immediately<br>Immediately<br>Immediately |

## Examples

If you...

- ... decide to switch from [Plex](</app/plex/>) to [Jellyfin](</app/jellyfin/>), nothing changes. Your Plex data persists at `/config/plex/`, consuming space, until you manually remove it.
- ... cancel / lapse all your subscriptions, after <mark>7 days</mark>, all your application data will be deleted. (*if you create a new subscription <mark>within 1 month</mark>, your data will be automatically restored from backup*), and after <mark>1 month</mark> your account itself, and all your offsite backups will be deleted (*you'll get a fresh 100GB if you start a new subscription*)
- ... [delete your account from the store](<https://store.elfhosted.com/delete-my-account/>), all your data (*including your store account, app data, and offsite backups*) will be <mark><ins>immediately deleted</ins></mark>.

## Questions

> [!NOTE]
>
> **Can you recover deleted data?**
>
> No 😢

> [!NOTE]
>
> **Do you backup my data?**
>
> Yes, we take daily backups of your `/config`, your `/storage/symlinks`, and your `/backups` volumes, and we store these offsite for a month. These backups are intended for datacenter migrations and disaster recovery, and can't be **selectively** restored. In other words, you can request us to restore the **entire** `/config` folder, but not just the `/config/plex` folder.

> [!NOTE]
>
> **How can I backup my data?**
>
> Use [ElfBot](<https://docs-internal.elfhosted.com/app/elfbot/>) to perform backups of your app data to `/backups`, and then copy the data offsite using filebrowser.

> [!NOTE]
>
> **I'm no longer subscribed to my app, how can I get my app data?**
>
> The data will persist in `/config/<app>` for as long as you have an active subscription.

> [!NOTE]
>
> **How can I immediately delete my account and data?**
>
> Go to the [Delete My Account](<https://store.elfhosted.com/delete-my-account/>) page on the store, enter your account password, and confirm deletion.