Data Retention and Deletion Policy

1. Purpose

This policy explains how long Dear Tomorrow retains your data, when and how data is deleted, and what happens at each stage of the data lifecycle. It is the customer-facing version of our internal data retention rules and complements our Privacy Policy.

2. Core Principles

• We retain data only for as long as necessary to provide the service or to comply with legal obligations.
• You can delete your data at any time from your account settings.
• When data is permanently deleted, it cannot be recovered.
• Before any deletion that happens automatically at the end of a cold storage period, we notify you in advance. Deletion you request yourself takes effect immediately, without further notice.

3. Data Lifecycle

Your data passes through three states: Active, Cold Storage, and Deleted.

4. Cold Storage Periods by Plan

5. Notifications Before Deletion

We send multiple email reminders before any permanent deletion of your data:

• Reminders before your subscription expires
• Periodic reminders during the cold storage period
• A final warning before permanent deletion

For plans where a Nominee has been configured, we notify the Nominee on the assignment of the role only. Any decision to involve them for anything apart from this and outside the platform remains your responsibility.

6. Right to Early Deletion

You can delete your account and data at any time, without waiting for the lifecycle in Section 3 to run its course. To do this:

• Account settings → Privacy → Delete account
• Or email [email protected]

Deletion is immediate and permanent. Your messages and account data are erased straight away — they do not enter cold storage, they cannot be restored, and we cannot recover them for you. Please download anything you want to keep before you delete.

Deleting your account is not the same as cancelling your subscription. If you cancel or do not renew, your data moves into cold storage as described in Section 3.2 and you can renew during that period. If you delete, there is no cold storage and no way back.

Where you email us to request deletion rather than using account settings, we will action your request within 30 days.

7. Exceptions to Deletion

In limited cases, we may retain certain data even after deletion is requested:

• Where retention is required by UAE or other applicable law (tax records, court orders)
• Where retention is necessary to defend or enforce legal claims (limited audit logs)
• Where retention is necessary to prevent fraud or abuse (closed account markers)

Such retained data is access-restricted, encrypted, and never used for any purpose other than the specific legal requirement.

8. Special Case — Post-Death Data Access

If you have an eligible plan with a configured Nominee, your data lifecycle differs slightly. See our Nominee and Post-Death Access Policy for full details. In summary:

• On death (verified via death certificate), your Nominee may access and download your messages under our Nominee and Post-Death Access Policy.
• Nominee access does not pause or extend the retention periods in Section 4. Access ends, and your data is permanently deleted, at the end of the cold storage period for your plan.
• If a death certificate is not received during cold storage, your data is deleted at the end of the cold storage period as normal.

9. Contact

• Privacy and deletion: [email protected]
• General support: [email protected]