Data removal

I do not make money from your private data, and for data minimisation reasons, unused free accounts will be irretrievably deleted after a waiting period of a few weeks.

See the Terms of service for the exact duration.

Why data is deleted

Many people have quietly accepted that using the internet is a threat to their privacy; that their private information is sold for money and abused by Big Tech.

Not with me. I don’t do that. I fight against it. I do everything I can to protect your privacy.

One of our strongest weapons in protecting your privacy is deleting your data when you are no longer using the product.

I believe that deleting unused data is the best way to prove that collecting user accounts is not part of the business. I want to provide you with a safe working environment. Privacy first is one of my top rules.

There is no investor behind me, so I neither have nor want to fake numbers with expired accounts. I make my own rules.

And one of these rules is: if an account is not used for one month, it will be removed.

The system will warn you about an upcoming deletion with an email titled: “Your cloud is unused - Data deletion is imminent”

After receiving this email, you have a short period of a few days to log in and create a subscription in order to keep your cloud active and continue creating new timesheets.

If you do not do so, your cloud will be permanently deleted and cannot be restored.

This process only applies to free users. Paying customers pay me to host Kimai, and their data is protected and will not be touched.

Can you restore my deleted data?

The short and simple answer: NO.

If, for any reason, you were not aware of this rule and your data was deleted, then it is gone. That is the entire purpose of deleting data in a privacy-compliant manner.

There is no backup of your deleted data. It cannot be restored, even if you offer to pay for it.

Missing your login / cloud?

You can ask for details, but unfortunately there is no way I can provide them.

If you stop using Kimai, your data will be completely deleted. Hello GDPR.

I do not know whether you had an account in the past. If it is no longer there, but you are sure it existed, then it has been removed by our privacy processes.

You are always welcome to register a new account and create a new cloud.

But please make sure that you can receive and actually read the transactional system emails next time. I do not spam — you will only receive important updates about your cloud.

Unsubscribing from our system emails is not only a bad idea, it is also a violation of the TOS.

Warning emails

Kimai will send you warning emails that your cloud is unused, together with more information, if the following applies:

• the trial period has expired and you are on the unpaid plan
• the last timesheet was created more than 30 days ago

If you no longer need your Kimai cloud, you do not have to do anything. Shortly after sending the warning email, your cloud and your account will be completely deleted.

Data protection for paying customers

Data for paying accounts is safe.

Paying customers are protected, and their data will never be touched by this process while they have an active subscription.

Once the subscription is canceled, the above rules apply to you as well.

We do not keep your data, even if you paid us in the past to do so.

Yes, we have been asked whether we keep data archived for years to comply with regulatory laws in some countries. And we are happy to do so if you pay us for that.

But if you do not, please download your latest backup. It includes your entire cloud.