Delete Your Account

Account deletion is built into ArticleFM. You do not need to email us or wait for us to action it.

• Open ArticleFM on your iPhone or iPad.
• Make sure you are signed in to the account you want to delete.
• Go to the Settings tab.
• Scroll to the account section and tap Delete Account.
• Read the confirmation, then confirm. Deletion runs immediately and signs you out.

This cannot be undone. Your library and converted audio are erased, and we cannot recover them afterwards. If you want a copy of your data first, request it at privacy@articlefm.io before you delete the account.

Confirming deletion permanently removes the following, across our authentication, database, and file storage systems:

• Your sign-in credentials and account record — including your email address and the internal user ID associated with it.
• Your profile and preferences — default voice, playback speed, and any other in-app settings.
• Your library — every article you converted, its extracted text, and its transcript.
• Your generated audio files — the narration stored for each of your articles.
• Your listening history and progress — what you played and where you stopped.
• Your push notification token, so we can no longer send anything to your device.

Any articles you downloaded for offline listening live on your device rather than on our servers. Delete the ArticleFM app to remove those too.

A small amount of data outlives the deletion, either because we are legally required to keep it or because it can no longer be connected to you:

• Purchase and transaction records — kept for 6 years. UK company and tax law (Companies Act 2006 and HMRC record-keeping rules) requires us to retain records of sales. These are held by Apple and by our subscription provider, RevenueCat, and are keyed to an anonymised purchase identifier rather than your profile.
• Crash and diagnostic reports — kept up to 90 days, then deleted on our provider's rolling schedule. These are device-level and are not linked back to a deleted account.
• Aggregated, anonymised usage statistics — retained indefinitely. These contain no identifiers and cannot be traced to you or re-associated with you.
• Support correspondence — kept for 24 months from our last reply, so we have a record if a dispute arises. Ask us at privacy@articlefm.io and we will delete it sooner where no legal obligation requires us to keep it.

Encrypted infrastructure backups may still hold your records for up to 35 days after deletion. They are not used to serve the app, are not searchable, and roll off automatically.

Deleting your ArticleFM account does not cancel your subscription, and Apple will keep billing you. Subscriptions are sold and managed by Apple through your Apple Account, which we do not control and cannot cancel on your behalf.

Cancel the subscription first, then delete the account:

• On your iPhone or iPad, open Settings → tap your name → Subscriptions → ArticleFM → Cancel Subscription.
• Apple's instructions: How to cancel a subscription from Apple.

Cancel at least 24 hours before your current period ends to avoid the next charge. Refunds are handled by Apple — see Refunds.

If you have lost access to your account and cannot reach the in-app Delete Account option, email privacy@articlefm.io from the email address on the account, with the subject “Account deletion request”.

We may need to ask a question or two to confirm the account is yours before we erase anything. We will complete the deletion and confirm it to you within 30 days of verifying your identity, as UK GDPR requires.

General questions can go to support@articlefm.io.

Erasure is one of several rights you hold under UK and EU GDPR. You can also ask for a copy of your data, correct it, restrict or object to how we use it, or have it transferred elsewhere. Our Privacy Policy sets all of them out, along with your right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office.