Culvert VPNHow to delete your VPN account and data
Delete the account in the app or by email, then uninstall. What is erased at once, what is kept for a fixed period, and what Google Play keeps regardless.
Deleting a VPN account is two steps: ask the provider to delete the account, then uninstall the app. Uninstalling alone deletes nothing on the provider's side. For Culvert VPN there are two ways to make the request, from inside the app or by email, and both are described at /data-deletion. Deletion removes the account and its device records at once; a small amount of data is kept for a fixed period afterwards, and Google Play keeps its own purchase records regardless of what the provider does.
Why uninstalling is not deleting
The app on your phone is a client. The account, the device registration, any subscription link, and whatever the provider keeps for abuse handling all live on the provider's systems, and removing the app leaves every one of them in place. If you never ask for deletion, they stay until the provider's own retention rules remove them, which for account records may be never.
The reverse is also true: deleting the account without uninstalling leaves an app that can no longer connect, and on the next launch it will usually make a new account. Do the deletion first, then uninstall.
The two paths at Culvert VPN
In the app. Open Settings and choose the delete-account option. The app confirms, then removes the account and this phone's device registration and returns to its first-run state. This works for free accounts too, which have no email: the request comes from the phone whose hardware key created the account, and that is what identifies it. The no-sign-up post explains why a free account has nothing but that key behind it.
By email. If the phone is lost, the app will not open, or you would rather not reinstall it in order to delete it, send a request to the address on /data-deletion. Because free accounts have no email attached, the page explains what to include so the request can be matched to the right account, and what happens if it cannot be.
Either path ends the same way: the account, its device registrations and any subscription link are deleted. If you kept a recovery phrase for an account with no email, it stops working, since the account it opened no longer exists; the recovery phrase post covers what the phrase is for while the account is alive.
What is deleted at once, and what is kept
| Data | After deletion |
|---|---|
| The account and its device registrations | Deleted at once |
| Link between the account and a Premium subscription | Deleted at once |
| Client IP address kept for abuse handling | Kept for up to 30 days from when it was recorded, then erased; deletion does not shorten this |
| Optional app analytics, if you left them on | Covered separately in the privacy policy |
| Aggregate server counters | Contain no per-user data, so there is nothing to delete |
| Sites visited, DNS queries, traffic contents | Never recorded, so there is nothing to delete |
The IP retention is the row people ask about. Culvert VPN does not log the websites you visit, your DNS queries or the contents of your traffic; its servers see only an opaque connection id; and it keeps your client IP address for up to 30 days so that an abuse complaint about a server's exit address can be attributed. That record is erased on its own schedule whether or not you delete the account, and the privacy policy states it in those terms, including why a connection record of this kind exists at all.
Premium: cancel the subscription separately
A subscription bought through Google Play belongs to your Google account and is managed by Play, not by the VPN. Deleting the VPN account does not cancel it, and neither does uninstalling; Play keeps billing until you cancel there. Open the Play Store, go to Payments & subscriptions > Subscriptions, and cancel. Google keeps its own purchase records under its own policy, which the VPN provider cannot delete for you. The Play billing post walks through it.
Cancel before you delete if you do not want to be billed again; the subscription outlives the account.
If you are deleting a different VPN
The same questions apply to any provider, and the answers should be in its privacy policy under a heading like "your rights" or "deletion":
- Is there a delete option in the app, or only a form or an email address?
- What identifier do they need from you to find the account, especially if you never gave an email?
- What is kept after deletion, and for how long? A short list with periods is a good sign; a vague "as required" is not.
- Is the subscription handled by the app store, and does cancelling it need a separate step?
The privacy policy reading guide shows where to find that section in a hurry.
Culvert VPN can be deleted from inside the app or by email, with the details and the address at /data-deletion, and if you are starting rather than leaving, it is on Google Play.
Questions people also ask
Does uninstalling the app delete my account?
No. The account, device registration and any records the provider keeps live on its systems, and removing the app from the phone leaves all of them in place. Request deletion first, then uninstall.
I never gave an email. How can I delete an account that has no email?
From inside the app, on the phone that created it, because the phone's own key is what identifies the account. If that phone is gone, the data-deletion page explains what to send by email so the request can be matched.
Does deleting my VPN account cancel my subscription?
No. A subscription bought through Google Play is managed by Play and keeps billing until you cancel it there, under Payments & subscriptions in the Play Store.