How to choose a data retention period
Every privacy regime asks how long you keep things. "As long as necessary" is not an answer a regulator accepts.
What this is
Every privacy regime asks how long you keep things. "As long as necessary" is not an answer a regulator accepts.
Step by step
- Split the data by why you hold it: running the account, billing, security, analytics.
- For each, ask what breaks if you deleted it today.
- Pick a number for each, and pick the shortest one that does not break anything.
- Write those numbers into the policy.
- Set something that actually deletes at that age, or the number is a claim you cannot support.
One thing people miss
Invoices are the usual exception: tax law in most countries keeps them for six to ten years, whatever the person asked for.
Keeping it true after launch
A legal page stops being true the moment the product moves past it, usually by adding a payment provider, an analytics SDK or a sign-in. No store re-checks your pages against your build, so the drift is yours to notice.
- Re-read it whenever you add a dependency that sees user data.
- Re-check what loads on the page after any change: the cookie notice and the policy have to agree.
- Keep the URL stable. Changing where a policy lives breaks every listing that points at it.
Common questions
How long does this take?
Minutes, once the page it points at exists. The writing is the slow part, not the form.
Can I change it later?
Yes, and you should whenever the app changes. What you want to avoid is changing the URL, because everything that points at it breaks.