How to delete your Iskra account

Last updated 11 October 2026

You can delete your Iskra account and its data yourself, from the app, on every server at once. It takes a minute.

Delete your account in the app

1. Open Iskra: the desktop app, app.iskra.foo, or the app on your phone.
2. Go to My settings → Account.
3. Choose Delete my account….
4. Choose whether to also delete all your messages on your servers. If you don't, your messages stay, without your profile.
5. Confirm by typing DELETE and pressing the delete button.
6. Done. Iskra removes your account from every server it can reach, then wipes this device and starts fresh.

If you own a server

A server can't be left without an owner. Before you delete your account, either:

• hand it over: open the new owner's menu (right-click their name, or press and hold it on a phone) and choose Transfer ownership, or pick them right in the Delete account dialog; or
• shut it down: stop the server and delete its folder (in the desktop app, servers live in Documents\Iskra\Servers, or ~/Library/Application Support/Iskra/Servers on a Mac). Make a backup first in Settings → Backup & move if you might want it later.

What is deleted

• Your profile on every server you're in: name, avatar (and any picture you set for one server), bio, pronouns, profile page, nickname, roles, your settings there, and moderators' private notes about you.
• If you chose it, all your messages on those servers, with their files and reactions.
• The server copies of your end-to-end encrypted DMs and group chats.
• Your devices are revoked, and your push notification subscriptions removed.
• This device is wiped: your keys, messages and settings.

What isn't deleted

• Copies on other people's devices. Messages already delivered to someone, such as the DMs you sent them, stay on their devices. Nobody can reach into someone else's phone or computer.
• Reports and the moderation log. A server's moderators may keep reports, its audit log and its "people who left" list for safety, with your name removed. Audit log entries are deleted after 90 days, and resolved reports 90 days after they're resolved.
• Backups. A server's daily backups (kept for 7 days by default) may still hold your data until they're replaced.
• Servers that are offline at the time can't be reached. If you're signed in on other devices, they finish the job when they next connect to that server. Otherwise, ask that server's owner to remove you.

Delete some of your data, keep your account

You don't have to delete your account to remove things. In the app:

• A message: open its menu (right-click it, or press and hold on a phone) and choose Delete message. Its files and reactions go with it.
• Your profile: in My settings → Profile, change or clear your name, avatar, bio, pronouns, status and profile page.
• A device: in My settings → Devices, remove a phone or computer you no longer use.
• A whole server: open the server's menu and choose Leave server. Your messages there stay unless you delete them first.
• Everything on this device: My settings → Account → Sign out of this device removes your keys, messages and settings from that device only; your account stays on your other devices.

To see what a server keeps about you first, use Download my data in My settings → Privacy & data. Deleted data is gone from the server right away; the server's daily backups can hold it until they're replaced (7 days by default). For servers we run (such as chat.iskra.foo), you can also email spark@iskra.foo.

If you can't open the app anymore

Deleting your account needs one of your devices or your recovery key, because only they can prove the account is yours. Nobody else, including us, can sign in as you.

• You have your recovery key: open Iskra on any device, choose I already use Iskra on another device, then Use my recovery key, and paste the key. Then follow the steps above.
• You've lost all your devices and your recovery key: ask the owner of each server you were on to remove you and your data from their server. The server's owner is responsible for it, and we can't do it for them.
• Servers we run (such as chat.iskra.foo): email spark@iskra.foo with the subject "Delete my account", your display name and the server's address. Because there's no password, we may ask you to prove the account is yours (for example by describing your account or recent activity) before deleting anything.

More

The privacy policy explains what Iskra stores and where. Questions? Email spark@iskra.foo.

See also: Terms of Use · Help & support