Help Data Retention

Understanding Data Retention

Data retention refers to how long we store your information after you create it. At AskFLC, our retention policies balance your need to access past information with privacy best practices and legal requirements. This guide explains what we keep, for how long, and why.

Retention by Data Type

Conversation History

Premium+ Feature

Free Plan:

Conversations are NOT saved. Once you close the browser or navigate away, your conversation history is lost.

Why: Conversation history is a premium feature designed to provide additional value to paying subscribers.

Premium & Premium+ Plans:

Conversations are saved indefinitely while your subscription is active. You can access, search, and continue any past conversation.

After cancellation: Conversation history is retained for 30 days, giving you time to export your data or resubscribe.

After 30 days: Conversations are permanently deleted from our systems.

Uploaded Files

Premium+ Feature

During Active Subscription:

Files you upload (PDFs, images, documents) are stored securely and remain accessible until you delete them or cancel your subscription.

Storage limits: Premium+ includes up to 10GB of file storage. Files can be deleted at any time to free up space.

After Cancellation:

Files are retained for 30 days after subscription cancellation or downgrade, allowing you to download them.

After 30 days: All uploaded files are permanently deleted from our servers and backups.

Account Information

While Account is Active:

We store your account information (name, email, preferences) for as long as your account exists.

Profile information: Name, email, phone number
Account settings and preferences
Subscription details and payment history
Usage statistics and analytics

After Account Deletion:

Most personal information is deleted within 24 hours of account closure.

Grace period: We keep some data in secure backups for 30 days to allow account recovery if deletion was accidental.

Legal retention: Certain records (billing, support tickets) may be retained longer if required by law (typically 7 years for financial records).

Usage & Analytics Data

We collect anonymized usage data to improve our service:

Raw Analytics Data

Kept for 90 days, then aggregated and anonymized

Aggregated Statistics

Retained indefinitely but completely anonymized (no personal identifiers)

Security & Audit Logs

For security and fraud prevention, we retain:

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Login activity: IP addresses, device info, authentication attempts (kept for 90 days)
•
Security events: Suspicious activity, failed login attempts, account changes (kept for 1 year)
•
Support interactions: Customer support tickets and communications (kept for 3 years)

Why We Retain Data

Provide the Service

We need to store your account information and conversations (Premium+) to operate the service and give you access to features like conversation history.

Improve Our Service

Anonymized usage data helps us identify bugs, understand feature usage, and make informed decisions about improvements.

Security & Fraud Prevention

Security logs help us detect suspicious activity, investigate incidents, and protect users from unauthorized access.

Legal Compliance

Some data must be retained to comply with tax laws, financial regulations, and legal obligations (e.g., billing records).

Customer Support

Support ticket history helps us provide better assistance and track issue resolution over time.

Managing Your Data Lifecycle

You're in Control:

Delete Individual Conversations

Premium+ users can delete specific conversations from their history at any time.

Settings → Conversation History → Select & Delete

Delete All Conversation History

Premium+ users can wipe their entire conversation history while keeping their account active.

Settings → Privacy → Delete All Conversations

Remove Uploaded Files

Delete files individually or in bulk to free up storage or remove sensitive documents.

Settings → Files → Select & Delete

Export Your Data

Download a complete copy of your data before deletion or when switching services.

Settings → Privacy & Data → Download My Data

Delete Your Account

Permanently remove all your data from AskFLC (with a 30-day grace period for recovery).

Settings → Account → Delete Account

Backup & Disaster Recovery

Protecting Your Data from Loss

We maintain encrypted backups of all user data to prevent loss due to hardware failure, accidents, or disasters:

Continuous Backups

Data is automatically backed up every 24 hours to geographically distributed locations

Retention Period

Backups are kept for 30 days, then permanently deleted

Deletion Requests

When you delete data or your account, it's immediately removed from active systems. Backups are purged within 30 days.

Changes to Retention Policy

We may update our data retention practices over time. If we make significant changes that affect how long we retain your data, we'll notify you via email and update this policy. Changes will only apply to data created after the policy update, unless required by law.

Respect for Your Privacy

We believe in data minimalism - we only keep information as long as necessary to provide value to you or fulfill legal obligations. When data is no longer needed, we permanently delete it.

Questions About Data Retention?

Have questions about how long we keep your data or want to request early deletion?

Data Retention Policy