Data Retention Policy
Version 1.0 · in effect from September 27, 2026
This page says how long each kind of record is kept. The table below is generated from the policy the nightly deletion job actually runs, so it cannot promise something the software does not do.
Your account and what you post
Your account, your reviews and your photos are kept for as long as you have an account. There is no expiry on them: a review is useful to the next person reading it years later.
When you delete your account — from your settings, confirmed by email — your personal data is erased: the account itself, your reviews and their photos, your votes, your favourites, and any claims or corrections you submitted. Photo files are deleted from storage, not just unlinked. What remains is the audit record that an erasure happened, described below, which does not contain your reviews or your email address.
Everything with a time limit
| Record | Kept for | Then |
|---|---|---|
| Searches you typed | 90 days | Deleted |
| Which profiles were viewed | 90 days | Deleted |
| Copies of data sent to integrations | 30 days | Deleted |
| Operational alerts about the service | 180 days | Deleted |
| Record of administrative actions, bans, takedowns and erasures | 2555 days | Deleted |
| Copy of a duplicate profile that was merged away | 30 days | Contents erased, the record that we fetched it kept |
| Text of public pages we fetched about a practice | 365 days | Contents erased, the record that we fetched it kept |
Uploaded files
Photos are deleted when the review or profile they belong to is deleted. A nightly sweep also removes any file that nothing points at any more — for example a photo replaced by another, or one left behind by an upload that failed halfway. Files touched in the last 24 hours are left alone, so that an upload in progress is never mistaken for an orphan.
Veterinarian and practice listings
Listings are built from public records — state veterinary licensing boards and published practice information — and are kept for as long as the listing is live, because they are a directory rather than a history. If you are listed and something is wrong, use the correction flow on your profile; if you believe something published about you is unlawful, write to legal@ratemyveterinarian.com.
Backups
Backups exist so that the site can be restored after a failure, and they hold whatever the database held when they were taken. They age out on their own schedule, so data you deleted can persist in a backup for a short period after it is gone from the live site. We do not restore individual records out of a backup to bring deleted data back.
Questions
About this policy or the data we hold on you: privacy@ratemyveterinarian.com. See also the Privacy Policy.