Account closure should never become a shortcut around someone's safety.
This policy explains how StayKnown handles voluntary account closure, suspected pressure or coercion, owner verification, trusted-contact notices, a reversible 30-day recovery period, reactivation, chats, contacts, identity reservation, and records that may need to remain for safety, security, legal, or abuse-prevention purposes.
Immediate danger comes before account settings.
StayKnown is not an emergency dispatch service. If you or another person may be in immediate danger, contact the appropriate official emergency service or nearby trusted authority first. An account closure request does not replace emergency help.
1 · Policy summary
Closure is staged, verified, reversible, and safety-aware.
StayKnown does not treat an account closure request as an ordinary one-tap setting. The process is designed to distinguish a voluntary decision from pressure, device theft, unauthorized access, or an attempt to remove a person's safety connection.
Verified decision
No immediate deletion
A request must pass policy review, safety questions, security preflight, owner authentication, and a one-use email confirmation.
Recovery window
30 reversible days
Confirmed closure makes the account unavailable to ordinary service use while preserving a secure route back to the same identity.
Safety continuity
Evidence is not erased blindly
Eligible public and optional data may be removed or anonymized, while necessary safety, consent, security, billing, legal, and abuse records may be restricted and retained.
2 · Safety review
Before continuing, StayKnown asks whether the decision is truly yours.
The closure screen presents four Yes or No questions. These answers are used only to decide whether a normal closure may continue or whether StayKnown should protect the account from destructive changes.
Are you closing StayKnown freely?
No creates a critical coercion signal.
Is someone watching, pressuring, or instructing you to remove your safety account?
Yes creates a critical coercion signal.
Would losing access make it harder for trusted people to know you are safe?
Yes pauses closure and offers safety-focused guidance.
Do you need time, privacy, or assistance before continuing?
Yes pauses closure and offers safer next steps.
Critical-answer rule
“Closing freely: No” or “Pressure or monitoring: Yes” stops the closure process. StayKnown may activate a server-enforced Protection Lock and notify eligible approved safety contacts using controlled, high-priority channels. The screen may use neutral wording so a nearby coercer is not shown sensitive alert details.
3 · Coercion Protection Lock
Destructive actions stop for 24 hours, but emergency access stays available.
A Protection Lock is tied to the account on StayKnown's backend. Reinstalling the app, clearing local storage, restarting the device, or attempting the same destructive action elsewhere does not shorten the lock.
Remains available
- SOS and supported emergency-call actions.
- I’M SAFE and manual safety capture where otherwise available.
- Existing Visit and LIVE safety controls.
- Read-only access to important safety information.
- Official emergency services and appropriate nearby authorities.
Temporarily blocked
- Account closure, sign-out, or account switching.
- Removing approved contacts or recovery relationships.
- Changing critical identity or security settings.
- Removing trusted devices or active security sessions.
- Other destructive actions that could reduce safety continuity.
Contact acknowledgement does not unlock the account
Eligible contacts may receive a signed email action to say they checked on the user or remain concerned. That acknowledgement may stop repeated contact alerts, but it cannot unlock the account, sign in for the owner, cancel security review, view unrestricted private data, or override the minimum 24-hour protection period.
After the minimum period, the owner must complete trusted-device biometric verification or an account-specific security email flow before destructive controls return.
4 · Normal closure steps
A voluntary closure must pass every protected checkpoint.
StayKnown may change the exact interface as security systems evolve, but the owner-verification and safety principles in this sequence remain controlling.
Policy review
Open the Account Closure, Privacy, Data Retention, and Terms information, then affirm that the information was reviewed and understood.
Safety-operation preflight
An active Visit, LIVE, SOS, I’M SAFE delivery, Capture, Threat Alert, offline safety write, or other protected operation may need to finish first.
Strong owner verification
Complete Protection Shield biometric verification on a trusted device where available. StayKnown never stores biometric material.
Deliberate confirmation
Type CLOSE or complete another clear confirmation that distinguishes a staged closure from immediate permanent deletion.
One-use email confirmation
Open a short-lived signed email link. The email also offers actions for an unauthorized request or a decision to keep the account.
Closure scheduled
Only confirmed requests enter the 30-day recovery period. Until email confirmation, the account remains active.
5 · 30-day recovery period
The account becomes unavailable, not instantly erased.
During the recovery period, the original account identity remains reserved. Ordinary discovery and communication are restricted, while verified reactivation remains possible.
Service status during closure
- The account is removed from ordinary user search and new contact selection.
- New chats, Stories, Visits, LIVE sessions, and SOS initiation are unavailable from the closing account.
- Ordinary presence, typing, and account-bound push activity stop.
- Other accounts on the same device keep their own sessions and push registrations.
- The email and username remain reserved to the original identity.
Six owner reminders
- Immediately after closure confirmation.
- Day 7.
- Day 14.
- Day 21.
- Three days before permanent closure.
- Twenty-four hours before permanent closure.
Reminder wording changes as the permanent-closure date approaches. Delivery is best effort and may depend on email, device, provider, region, and account conditions.
6 · Chats, contacts, and relationship health
Other people should understand what changed without receiving private reasons.
StayKnown uses clear unavailable states so contacts and chat participants are not left wondering whether their app is broken. Private closure answers and coercion details are not shown to ordinary contacts.
Chats · first 7 days
Read-only unavailable notice
Existing messages may remain reviewable. The composer is disabled, the avatar may be visually softened, and a premium status explains that the account is temporarily unavailable.
Chats · after 7 days
Archived, not silently destroyed
The notice moves out of the main chat list. Safety evidence and records covered by retention rules are not erased merely to hide the relationship change.
Reactivation
Normal relationship state returns
Eligible chats, profile visibility, contacts, and relationship states may return when the same verified account is restored.
Contact Health and Protection Readiness
If the closing user was another person's approved emergency contact, guardian, SOS responder, or trusted recovery contact, StayKnown may mark that relationship as temporarily unavailable, notify the relationship owner, recalculate Protection Readiness, and recommend an approved replacement. It does not silently present an unavailable person as a healthy protection contact.
7 · Data handling and permanent closure
Permanent closure removes eligibility for ordinary use, but lawful retention may continue.
StayKnown aims to remove or anonymize eligible public and optional data while protecting records that remain necessary for safety history, consent proof, legal obligations, security, fraud prevention, billing, disputes, or abuse review.
Data that may be removed or anonymized
- Public profile visibility and ordinary discoverability.
- Eligible avatar, biography, optional profile, and presentation data.
- Presence, typing, ordinary push registrations, and nonessential preferences.
- Eligible media or account content not subject to a safety, legal, security, or dispute hold.
Records that may remain restricted
- Contact consent, guardian approval, and relationship authorization evidence.
- Visit, LIVE, SOS, Capture, delivery, and safety-timeline proof.
- Account-closure, reactivation, device-security, fraud, and abuse audit records.
- Payment, subscription, tax, refund, chargeback, and transaction records.
- Records covered by legal hold, preservation request, investigation, or dispute.
Read the Privacy Policy and Data Retention Policy for broader information about deletion rights, verification, safety-history retention, legal holds, security logs, contact consent, chat, media, and provider records.
8 · Reactivation and identity protection
Returning restores the same identity; it does not create a second account.
During the recovery period, Sign In and Create Account may intercept the reserved email and offer restoration instead of issuing an ordinary signup flow.
Reactivation choices
- Restore my account.
- This was not my request.
- Keep the account closed.
- Contact StayKnown Support when ownership or device evidence needs review.
Verification methods
- Email ownership and a one-use security link.
- Trusted-device biometric verification where available.
- Trusted-device and account-security evidence.
- Optional recovery-contact confirmation as one risk signal.
- Support or security review for higher-risk recovery attempts.
A trusted recovery contact cannot take ownership
A designated recovery contact may confirm that they know the claimant, report concern, or help StayKnown evaluate context. They cannot receive the owner's magic link, sign in as the owner, change the owner's email, view private chats, cancel a security lock alone, or restore the account without independent ownership verification.
9 · Notifications and protected links
Closure and safety notices use controlled channels and signed actions.
Notification availability depends on the user's approved relationships, delivery settings, valid contact details, provider availability, and the exact security state.
Normal closure notices
- The owner receives confirmation, reminders, reactivation, and permanent-closure notices.
- Eligible contacts may receive a calm closure-scheduled notice, a restoration notice, and a permanent-closure notice.
- Contacts are not sent the owner's private reasons or safety-question answers.
Coercion-risk notices
- Eligible approved contacts may receive critical push and branded email alerts.
- Repeated alerts may follow a controlled schedule until a signed email acknowledgement or the protection period ends.
- Location context is limited to authorized safety purpose, available permission, reliability, time, and confidence.
- Push may open the app, while security decisions remain inside signed email or protected web flows.
10 · Minors, guardians, and vulnerable users
Higher-risk accounts may require stricter review.
A guardian relationship does not remove the minor's safety rights, and guardian authority does not permit coercion, exploitation, hidden monitoring, or destruction of safety evidence.
- Accounts below StayKnown's permitted age remain ineligible for normal account use.
- A minor closure may require verified guardian context, while suspected guardian coercion must be handled as a safety concern rather than an automatic approval.
- The approved guardian may be considered for recovery or contact alerts only when the relationship is active, unrestricted, and not under safety review.
- StayKnown may preserve guardian-consent and minor-safety records where necessary for protection, legal compliance, or abuse prevention.
11 · Policy acknowledgement
The app may require the policies to be opened before closure continues.
StayKnown may record which policy version was presented, when relevant policy links were opened, and when the owner affirmed their understanding. This does not prove that every word was read, but it records that the information was presented and affirmatively acknowledged.
Suggested acknowledgement: “I confirm that I reviewed and understand the StayKnown Account Closure, Privacy, Data Retention, and Terms information, including the 30-day recovery period and the possibility that some safety, consent, security, billing, legal, or abuse-prevention records may remain.”
12 · Support, unauthorized requests, and policy changes
Report a closure request you did not start.
StayKnown may require identity verification before discussing private account details, changing closure state, releasing retained data, or restoring account access.
Get support
Use the Help Center or Submit a Request page for closure, reactivation, unauthorized-attempt, privacy, retention, account ownership, or security concerns.
Policy changes
StayKnown may update this policy for security improvements, closure or recovery features, legal requirements, provider changes, safety findings, or operational needs. Material changes may be communicated through the app, website, email, push, or another reasonable method.
This policy is product and operational guidance. Rights and retention requirements may vary by jurisdiction, legal hold, safety event, account status, and applicable law. StayKnown should obtain qualified legal review before relying on this page for regulatory, litigation, law-enforcement, or app-store representations.