Delete your account
You can delete your NewsDiary account and everything in it at any time, from inside the app or by writing to us. You do not need to install anything to make the request.
From the app
- Open You (the last tab).
- Scroll to Delete account.
- Confirm.
It happens immediately and it is permanent. There is no grace period and no way to undo it — that is deliberate. If you want a copy of anything first, export it before you confirm.
Without the app
Email services@capewesley.com from the address on the account, with the subject Delete my NewsDiary account. We will confirm and delete it. If you cannot write from that address, tell us the handle and we will verify another way before deleting anything — an account is not deleted on an unverified request.
What is deleted
- Your account and sign-in details.
- Every article you captured, and its extracted text.
- Every highlight, note and comment you wrote.
- Your diary entries and any posts you authored.
- Any audio you recorded and its transcript.
- Your profile: handle, display name, bio, topics, and your stated position if you set one.
- Your circle memberships, and any invitations you created.
- Your place in every chat room, your name and picture on the chat server, and every device signed in to chat.
What happens to circles you own
A circle is other people's too, so deleting your account does not destroy theirs. If a circle you own has other members, it is handed to one of them — a moderator first, otherwise its longest-standing member. Only a circle where you are the sole member is removed with you.
What is not deleted, and why
- Messages other people wrote stay in their circles. They are not yours to remove.
- Encrypted chat messages cannot be deleted by us at all: the rooms are end-to-end encrypted and we do not hold the keys. Redact your own messages in the chat before deleting the account if you want them gone.
- An empty chat account identifier stays on the chat server, with no name, rooms or devices. Room history from before the deletion still shows the name you used; the chat server cannot rewrite past events.
- Records we are required to keep — for example an abuse report someone filed about content, or a fraud or billing record where the law requires retention. These are kept only as long as that obligation lasts.
How long it takes
Deletion from the app is immediate. Encrypted backups are rotated out within 30 days, after which no copy remains anywhere in our systems. An email request is actioned within 30 days of us verifying it, and normally within a few working days.
A different thing: withdrawing consent
Withdrawing the privacy consent in the app is not the same button. It also ends the account — consent is the lawful basis for processing — but it uses a 30-day window during which you can sign in and cancel. Reads and exports keep working in that window so you can recover your data. Use Delete account if you want it gone now, and consent withdrawal if you want the chance to change your mind.
More detail on what we hold and why: Privacy Policy.