Data Retention & Deletion

Last updated: 2026-07-14

This page describes how long skink keeps different categories of data, and how you can request earlier deletion.

## Principles Minimize what we store, delete on a defined schedule, and honor deletion requests promptly.

## Retention schedule - Submitted email addresses — stored as a keyed hash and domain by default. Retained 1–90 days per your account's retention setting (7 days by default), then purged automatically. If you opt into keeping a readable copy, it's encrypted at rest and follows the same schedule. - Verification results — retained on the same schedule as the submitted address. - Bounce outcome data reported by your ESP — retained 12 months, used to measure and improve verification accuracy over time. - Bulk upload files and results — retained until your bulk job and its retention window expire; per-email cache entries expire within 24 hours of processing. - Account and billing records — retained as required for legal, tax, or accounting purposes.

## Deletion on request - You can request deletion of specific addresses or lists at any time — we remove matching records by their hash, including any cached copies. - Closing your account deletes your data per the schedule above, subject to legal or tax hold requirements.

## Automatic purging A scheduled job removes records once their retention period expires. This runs continuously, independent of any manual deletion request.

## Note on hashed storage We identify records by a keyed hash of the lowercased email address, not a plain hash — a plain hash is efficiently reversible for email addresses given how predictable their format is, so it wouldn't meaningfully protect what you sent us.

## Note on opt-in plaintext storage Storing a readable copy of submitted addresses is off by default. Turning it on is not retroactive — only verifications made after you enable it get a stored copy. Turning it off does not delete or decrypt copies already stored; those are still purged on your normal retention schedule.

## Contact Questions about this page: `privacy@skink.dev`.