Closing your account

Closing your account deletes your sign-in methods and account record and signs out every session. It happens as soon as you confirm, and it cannot be undone.

It does not delete secret links you have already shared. Burn those first if you do not want them to remain usable.

Before you start

• The app shows this option to owners and admins only. The Careful Consideration Zone is shown only when your role in the organization you are currently working in is owner or admin. If you have your own workspace, select it with the workspace switcher on your dashboard, then reload the page. An account created by accepting an invitation, or through single sign-on on an organization’s custom domain, has no workspace of its own; contact support to close it.
• Burn any secret you do not want to outlive the account. Open Recent secrets, open the receipt for each link you want gone, and burn it. See Your receipt.
• Copy anything you still need. There is no data export, and after closure you cannot sign in to look anything up.
• Prepare your own workspace. Closure is refused if your workspace has other members, custom domains, or a subscription that has not ended, or if you own any other organization. Remove the other members and custom domains, cancel the subscription and wait for it to end, and ask support to transfer ownership of other organizations; see Ownership and transfer.
• Have your password ready. If your account was created through an identity provider and has no password, set one first from Settings → Security; see Signing in.

Close your account

1. Open the closing screen

Go to Settings → Advanced → Careful Consideration Zone, and find Close Account. The screen repeats that secrets remain active until they expire, and that anything you want removed should be burned first.

2. Confirm with your password

Choose Permanently Delete Account. You are asked “Are you sure you want to permanently delete your account? This action cannot be undone.” and for your current password. A wrong password stops the closure with nothing changed.

3. Confirm the deletion

Choose Delete Account. There is no further confirmation, emailed link or waiting period.

Verify it worked

You are signed out and returned to the home page, and signing in with that address no longer works. No confirmation email is sent.

If the screen shows an error instead, treat the account as still open. Sign in again to check.

What closing deletes

• Your sign-in methods. Your password, two-factor secret and recovery codes, passkeys, Remember me sessions, pending password-reset and verification links, and linked identity providers. See Two-factor authentication and passkeys.
• Your sessions. Every device signed in to the account is signed out. See Sessions and connected identities.
• Your sign-in record and its history. Your email address as a sign-in name, and the record of sign-ins, failed sign-ins, password changes and second-factor changes on the account, with the network address and browser recorded for each.
• Your account record. Your account, its preferences and its API token.
• Your own workspace, with its settings and its Secret Activity record.
• Your memberships in organizations owned by other people.

What closing keeps

• Secret links you already shared. A link stays usable until it is revealed, burned, or expires. After closure your list of secrets is gone, so you cannot look a link up there. If you kept a secret’s receipt link, you can still open it and burn the secret, entering the passphrase if one was set; see Your receipt.
• Activity in other organizations. Events attributed to you in the Secret Activity record of organizations you were a member of stay with those organizations, and are removed only under that record’s own retention.

Using the same address again

After closure, the address can be used for a new account, by signing up with a password or by signing in through an identity provider. The new account starts empty: nothing from the closed account is restored, and links you shared from the closed account do not appear in it.

If you cannot close your account

The option is not in Settings. Your role in the organization you are working in is member. See the first item under Before you start.

“Account deletion was refused because organization data or membership state requires attention.” Nothing was changed. Your workspace still has other members, custom domains or a subscription, or you own another organization. See Before you start. Contact support if you cannot tell what is blocking the closure.

“Please check the password.” Nothing was changed. If you cannot remember the password, reset it first. Completing a reset signs out every session on the account, including yours. See Signing in.

Your account has no password and sign-in is restricted to single sign-on. Password setup uses the reset flow, which is not offered where sign-in is restricted to single sign-on. Contact support, or the operator of the service you use, to close the account.

Related

• Your receipt — burning a secret before anyone reads it, which is what to do before closing.
• Your dashboard and recent secrets — finding the links you still have outstanding.
• Changing your email address — use this instead if you only need a different address.
• Sessions and connected identities — if you only want to sign a device out.
• Signing in — password resets and setting a password.

Questions or need support?

We’re here to help.

• Email: support@onetimesecret.com
• Feedback form: https://onetimesecret.com/feedback