Delete your data

Last updated: May 2026

You can delete your hug.care account and all associated data at any time. If you can sign in: tap "Delete my account" below — deletion is immediate, OTP-confirmed. If you can't sign in: email us at support@hug.care and we'll complete the request within 30 days (usually within 48 hours).

What gets deleted

Your account (phone number, display name, email)
Your name and recipient labels on hugs you sent (the message itself is preserved — see below)
Hugs you received that were saved to your account
Scheduled hugs and check-ins
Referral credits and any unused free hugs
Session tokens (you'll be signed out everywhere)

About hugs you've already sent

Once you've shared a hug link with someone, that link stays openable for them — the message text, situation, and vibe are preserved exactly as delivered. Only the sender info is removed (your name shows as "(removed)" if anyone visits the link).

This is intentional. A recipient may have your hug sitting in their messages waiting for a hard moment, and we don't want to break that link just because you closed your account. The warmth that arrived stays with them; the link back to you doesn't.

If you need a specific hug's content fully erased — for example, a sensitive situation where you want the link to return "not found" — email support with the hug's short-code and we'll fully delete it within 48 hours.

What we may need to keep (and why)

Some records are legally required to be retained even after account deletion:

Payment records. If you ever subscribed to hug+, our payment processor (Stripe) keeps transaction records for tax and fraud-prevention purposes for up to 7 years. We don't store your card details — Stripe does.
Anonymous server logs. Web server access logs containing IP addresses rotate out automatically within 14 days; we don't keep long-term logs tied to identity.

How to delete your account

Tap the button below. If you're not signed in we'll ask you to sign in first, then text a one-time code to your phone to confirm. The deletion is immediate.

Delete my account

Can't sign in? If you've lost access to the phone number on your account, email support@hug.care with whatever details you remember (any prior phone number, recipient names from hugs you sent, approximate sign-up date). We'll verify your identity another way and complete the deletion within 48 hours.

Confirmation

Deletion is immediate. The "Account deleted ✓" screen you see in-app is the confirmation — your data is removed from our systems before that screen appears. Nothing tied to your identity remains after that, except the legally-retained records noted above. If you'd like a written confirmation for your records, email us and we'll send one.

If you used Facebook Messenger to share a hug

hug.care never receives any information from Facebook or Messenger when you use the Messenger share button. The button only generates a link that you choose to send — Facebook is not involved in our data storage. If you want to manage data Facebook holds about you, visit Facebook's Data Policy page.

One thing we can't undo. If a recipient screenshotted, copied, or saved the hug text before deletion, that copy belongs to them — like any message in any messaging app, once it's been seen it can be kept.

Questions?

If anything here is unclear, or you need help with a special situation (lost phone, account locked, etc.), email support@hug.care. A real person reads every message.