We don't hoard dead accounts. If yours goes truly dormant, here's exactly what happens — no surprises, no fine print.
The policy, plainly
- Unverified signups — accounts that never clicked their activation email — are removed after 30 days. The address was never confirmed as yours, so we can't even email you about it.
- Dormant accounts — no sign of life for 18 months and an empty library — get a "Keep My Account" email first. Click the button in it (or just sign in) and nothing happens; ignore it for 30 days and the account is deleted.
"Sign of life" is generous: signing in, saving anything, using the extension, or an AI assistant touching your library all count. And if your library has things in it, or you're in a shared team, or you have a subscription — you're simply never in this pipeline. The cleanup exists for abandoned empty accounts, not for people on a long break.
Got the warning email?
One click on Keep My Account and you're done — the clock resets entirely. If you meant to leave anyway, do nothing; the account and its data are deleted after the grace period, including from our systems.
Data retention on the free plan
Separate topic, same spirit of no-surprises: on Acorn, posts in your feeds and inboxes are kept for 1 year — older ones age out of those streams. Anything you've saved to a folder is yours forever on every plan. Oak keeps feed and inbox history without limits.
Want to close your account yourself?
Export your library first — it's one button. Then email us and we'll delete your account and its data, confirmed in writing by an actual person.