Your data

Delete your account

Last updated August 17, 2026

How to permanently delete your Circl account and personal data — in the app, on the web, or by email if you can't sign in — plus exactly what is deleted and the little we're required to keep.

01How to delete your account

There are three ways, and they all end in the same place: your account and personal data are permanently removed. Deleting is irreversible — there is no restore window and no way for us to bring an account back once it is gone.

In the Circl app — open Settings from your profile, scroll to Manage account, and tap Delete account. You'll be asked to type DELETE and confirm once more. This is the fastest route and it takes effect immediately.
On the web — sign in at circlhq.com and open your Account page. The Delete account control there is the same one-step-at-a-time confirmation, and the same server call.
By email — if you can't sign in, write to support@circlhq.com from the email address on your account, or tell us the phone number you signed up with. See “If you can't sign in” below for what we need and how long it takes.

02If you can't sign in

You do not need a working login to have your account deleted. Email support@circlhq.com with the subject “Delete my account” and include enough for us to identify the account — the email address or phone number you signed up with, and your Circl username if you remember it.

We will verify that the request comes from the account holder before deleting anything. That verification is the point: an unverified deletion request is indistinguishable from someone trying to erase another person's account, so we would rather ask you one more question than act on the wrong one.

We respond to deletion requests within 30 days, and in practice much sooner. Once your identity is confirmed the deletion itself is immediate.

03What gets deleted

Deleting your account removes your personal data from Circl's live systems. That includes:

Your profile — name, date of birth, email address, phone number, username, photo, bio, gender and location.
Everything you posted — posts, photos and videos, captions, comments and replies.
Your messages — direct messages, group chats, and anything you sent in a circl's channels.
Your social graph — friendships, friend requests, and the people you had blocked or muted.
Your memberships and passes — circl memberships, event bookings and tickets.
Your uploaded files — everything in your folders in Circl's file storage is purged.
Your devices — saved sign-in sessions and push-notification tokens, so the app stops reaching your phone.

Technically this is a hard delete of your account record, and every row that belongs to it is removed with it. It is not a flag that hides your profile while the data stays behind.

04What we keep, and why

A small amount of information outlives a deleted account. We keep only what the law requires or what would otherwise let deletion be used to erase evidence, and none of it is used to build a profile of you or to contact you.

Financial and tax records. If you bought a membership, a ticket or a gift card, Canadian tax law requires us to retain the transaction record — amount, date and tax — for the statutory retention period. Payment card details are never held by Circl at all; they stay with our payment processor.
Safety and moderation records. If you were reported, or you reported someone else, the report and its outcome are retained. Otherwise deleting an account would be a way to erase the evidence about it, which would make the reporting system worthless to the people it exists to protect.
Content other people still hold. Messages you sent remain in the recipient's copy of the conversation, in the same way an email you sent stays in the other person's inbox. We delete your copy and your account; we do not reach into someone else's.
Aggregate counts. Anonymous, non-identifying totals — such as how many people attended an event — remain, because they no longer refer to you.

05If you run a circl

Deletion is refused while you still own a circl, and this is deliberate rather than an oversight. Deleting a host's account would take their community, its members and its payment records with it — including money owed to and by other people.

Before deleting, transfer ownership of each circl you run to someone else, or delete the circl itself. Once you own none, deletion proceeds normally. If you're stuck, email support@circlhq.com and we'll help you work through it.

06How long it takes

Self-serve deletion — in the app or on the web — is immediate. Your account is gone by the time the confirmation finishes, and you are signed out on every device.

Emailed requests are answered within 30 days of us confirming who you are, and usually within a few days. Backups are overwritten on a rolling cycle, so a deleted account may persist in an encrypted backup for up to 90 days before that copy is cycled out; those backups are never used to serve the product and are not searchable.

07Your rights

Deleting your account is one of several rights you have over your personal information. Under Canada's Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA), and comparable laws including the EU/UK GDPR and the California Consumer Privacy Act, you can also ask what we hold about you, ask for a copy of it, and ask us to correct it.

To exercise any of those, email support@circlhq.com. Our Privacy Policy sets out what we collect and why in full.

Deletion is permanent

There is no undo and no grace period. Once your account is deleted we cannot restore your profile, your posts, your messages or your memberships — not even if you sign up again with the same phone number or email. If you only want a break, you can sign out instead and come back whenever you like.

Questions?

Reach us at support@circlhq.com — we read everything.