Account & Data Deletion

In the updated SKM app, open Profile → Settings → Delete account. Read the information about removal, confirm your SKM password and type DELETE. After secure confirmation, permanent deletion starts automatically. You do not need to email staff or obtain manual approval for this route. When removal succeeds, the app confirms completion and signs you out. If it fails, the app shows an error so you can retry; a submitted request is not described as completed deletion.

This removes your app account and associated personal data, including your profile, membership application, saved progress, personal notifications, bookings and messages. It is permanent, not a temporary deactivation. Records that must be retained separately are described below. An app-account deletion does not itself decide questions about historic church membership or records that SKM must independently retain lawfully.

Older app versions may still show the previous scheduled process. Existing pending requests keep their previously communicated dates; this policy update does not silently accelerate them. Use the updated secure confirmation flow to make a fresh deletion choice, or contact SKM for assistance. Protected staff accounts require secure transfer of workspace responsibilities; contact the technical operator for that assisted process.

Email admin@schoolofthekingdom.co.za with the subject SKM Account Deletion. Include your account email and registered name. You may copy pushafy@gmail.com for technical assistance. This is an alternative assisted route, not a compulsory extra step for in-app deletion.

Staff will verify that you control the account using information already held, record the request securely and arrange removal. Do not email your password, one-time codes or identity documents. We aim to complete newly verified assisted requests within 14 days and will tell you the expected date and confirm completion. A legal requirement or unresolved identity question may affect what can be removed; we will explain any necessary delay. New assisted requests do not require the old blanket 90-day waiting period.

Live app data: removed when confirmed deletion succeeds. There is no general 14-day or 90-day holding period for the live profile after completion.

Minimal deletion receipts for the new automatic route: an account identifier, completion time and source are retained privately for up to 90 days for operational accountability, then automatically purged. The receipt does not contain your password or chat messages.

Assisted and legacy request records: limited verification evidence and audit records are retained privately for one year after the recorded outcome under the existing accountability process. They are not active membership profiles.

Financial records: necessary contribution/accounting records are kept separately under SKM's financial retention schedule, currently five years from removal for the protected deletion archive. This does not justify retaining an entire active profile or unrelated pastoral messages. If a specific legal obligation or legal hold requires a different period, SKM must identify and apply that requirement.

Provider backups and security logs: deletion from the live database does not immediately erase historic backups or every infrastructure log. Those follow the provider's actual configured retention cycle. Supabase backup windows vary by plan and settings; there is no universal 14-, 90- or 200-day Supabase rule. SKM will provide the relevant configured period on request. Restoring a backup requires reapplying completed deletions before normal service resumes.

SKM does not promise cryptographic destruction on a fixed 200-day schedule without evidence of that configuration. Copies another recipient independently saved outside the service are not controlled by the app.

SKM is introducing a warning process after 12 months without recorded account activity. A delivered email warning must give at least 14 days before automatic removal. Sign in during that period to keep your app account. No account will be deleted merely because a warning was queued, email delivery failed, or a migration left its last-activity date unknown. A new period of activity cancels that inactivity cycle.

This is SKM's operational policy, not a waiting period mandated by Apple or POPIA. It does not replace your ability to choose Delete account directly, and it does not authorise destruction of records with an independent lawful retention requirement.

School of the Kingdom Ministry is responsible for membership and personal information. Motheo Siyasebenza Consulting (Pty) Ltd, trading as Pushafy, provides technical processing under SKM's instructions. The service is administered under South African law, including POPIA; mandatory rights under other applicable laws remain available. Read the privacy policy or contact SKM about access, correction, retention or deletion concerns.