You can leave privymail.eu with all your data at any time. We call this exit by design. This page describes how you take your data with you, what happens to your domain and what is deleted after cancellation.
The export is a duty, not an extra
Every plan includes a complete export free of charge, the Free plan too. It covers mail, contacts, calendars and keys in open formats. You start the export yourself, in your account settings.
Open protocols are the second way out
Besides the export there is a second way: the open protocols that mail apps use to access your mailbox. A mail app that fetches your mailbox over IMAP can also save the mail on your computer. The export tool itself works over standard protocols such as IMAP.
| Data | Protocol |
|---|---|
| Mail and folders | IMAP |
| Mail, simple retrieval | POP3 |
| Calendars | CalDAV |
| Contacts | CardDAV |
| Filter rules | Sieve, ManageSieve |
IMAP, CalDAV and CardDAV are part of all paid plans. Mail apps and open standards covers the protocols in detail.
Your domain is yours. It moves with you.
You bring your own domain with you: during set-up you show that you control the domain, and you enter the DNS records at your DNS provider yourself. Domain Autopilot checks your zone there from outside; it cannot change anything.
When you leave, you point the MX records to the new service. The addresses on your domain stay the same. As on the way in, it helps to lower the TTL of the MX records beforehand. Two places deserve attention:
- Records that point to us. The SPF record with its
include:and the CNAME records for DKIM refer to privymail.eu. After the switch they need replacing or removing. - MTA-STS. If your domain's policy still names our mail servers, senders that honour MTA-STS will not deliver to the new servers in
enforcemode. SPF, DKIM and DMARC explained gives the right order.
After cancellation: first the keys, then the copies
You delete your account yourself, in your account settings. The deletion concept has two stages: first privymail.eu removes the keys, which ends access to the data stored in encrypted form. The stored copies are then deleted within fixed periods.
| Data | Retention |
|---|---|
| Mail, attachments, contacts, calendars | 30 days after cancellation |
| Account data | contract term plus 30 days |
| Login logs with IP address | 7 days at most |
| SMTP logs without content | 14 days at most |
| Abuse cases | 90 days at most |
| Backups | 30 days rolling, encrypted |
| Invoices | for as long as the law requires |
So export before you cancel: access ends with the keys. The purpose and details of each row are under Privacy.
Limits
- Sealed folders. They are encrypted with OpenPGP (RFC 9580), and decryption happens on your device. An ordinary mail app therefore does not open them directly. The export includes your keys as well.
- Addresses on a privymail.eu domain. They stay here, just as an address with any other provider stays there. You can only take addresses on your own domain with you.
Switching describes the way in. Short answers are under Frequently asked questions.