What happens to my data if I cancel a subscription?
The short answer depends on the app, but a well-designed app never deletes your data just because a subscription expires. The key difference is between "read-only" and "deleted" — and it's a difference you should know before you say yes to a subscription, not after.
Short answer: in a properly built app, you do not lose your data when you cancel a subscription — you lose the ability to use every feature to the full. The typical pattern is that you can still view and export what you've already made, but you can no longer edit or add more if you're over the free tier's limit. That's called "read-only", and it's a different thing from deletion. Always ask an app about that exact word before you subscribe.
Two very different things: losing access and losing data
There's a crucial difference between a file disappearing and you simply no longer being able to edit it. An app is fully entitled to limit what you can do with your data without a subscription — but most serious apps never delete anything you created yourself, just because a payment stops. Data you created yourself — a drawing, a scan, a budget — is typically treated as yours, regardless of subscription. What the subscription pays for is the ability to keep working on it, and the ongoing operation behind that (syncing, sharing, storage).
Why "read-only" is the honest solution
The best practice, which several serious apps follow, is to make your data read-only once you're over the free tier's limit — you can view it, export it, show it off, but not change it or add anything new, until you either upgrade again or tidy up so you're back under the limit. It's a fair model: the app protects its own business (features cost money to run), while still respecting that the data is yours, not the app's.
What you should ask an app before you subscribe
- Is anything deleted automatically? That should be stated explicitly in the description or the terms — not something you have to guess.
- Can I still export if I cancel? A PDF or a file you can save locally is your lifeline, whatever happens to the subscription.
- Which of my projects keeps editing rights, if I have more than the free tier allows? That should be predictable — for example always the oldest — not random.
- Is the data stored locally, in the cloud, or both? Data that only lives in the cloud disappears if the provider shuts down. Data that also lives locally on your device survives the app's eventual death.
What typically happens if you have more projects than the tier allows
If you've created five homes under a subscription that allows five, and then cancel it, you typically drop to the free tier's limit — often one. Most serious apps then automatically pick one project you keep full access to, and make the rest read-only. Which project gets picked should be transparent — for example the one you created first, or last edited — not random, and not buried in a setting you have to go hunting for.
Cloud storage and local storage — why it matters here
An app that stores your data exclusively in the provider's cloud gives the provider full control over whether you can see it again. An app that also keeps a copy locally on your phone or tablet gives you a kind of safety net: even if the cloud disappears, or the subscription stops, the file still sits on your device. It's worth checking whether an app works that way before you pour all your work into it — especially if the data is something you'll later need for something important, like selling a home or getting a contractor's quote.
What about exporting while the subscription is still running?
Whatever an app promises about data after cancellation, the safest strategy is to export the most important things while you still have full access: a PDF of the drawing, a file with the measurements, a screenshot of the 3D model. It costs nothing and removes all doubt. Treat the export as your own backup, independent of whatever the company behind the app decides in future — even if that company one day shuts down entirely.
A worked example: five homes, a cancelled subscription
Imagine you've used a subscription for five homes — your own house plus four you've helped family or friends measure up. If you cancel the subscription, and the free tier only allows one, you lose editing rights to the other four, but not the ability to see them. If you've already exported the drawings as PDFs along the way, you effectively lose nothing of value — only the ability to change them without subscribing again. If you haven't exported anything, you're left with data you can see but can't take out of the app, until you either upgrade or find out whether the app allows exporting in read-only mode.
What HouseSense does
In HouseSense, nothing is deleted if you have more homes than your tier allows — only your oldest house stays fully editable, while the rest can still be viewed but not changed. That applies whether you've never subscribed, or have cancelled a subscription you once had. The data is yours, and the only thing a subscription unlocks besides the number of homes is sharing with a buyer via a web link.
How to protect yourself, whichever app you use
- Read what it says about cancellation before you subscribe — not afterwards, once you're actually in the situation.
- Export as you go — a PDF or file you save yourself is independent of the app's future.
- Keep track of how many projects you have against your tier's limit, so a cancellation doesn't catch you off guard.
- Choose apps that are honest about the word "read-only" rather than ones that stay silent about what happens when you stop.
The one thing you should never accept
However reasonable a subscription model looks, you should never accept an app that reserves the right to delete your own data just because a subscription expires. Data you created yourself, through hours of work on a scan or a drawing, should always be yours to see and export — the payment is for the ability to keep working on it, not a ransom for keeping what you've already made.
What if the provider shuts down entirely?
That's a different scenario from a cancelled subscription, and it deserves its own thought. If the company behind an app closes, it doesn't matter how good their read-only terms were — if the data only lives in their cloud, it's gone. That's yet another argument for exporting as you go: a PDF saved in your own files, or a local copy on the device, survives whatever happens to the company behind the app. Ask yourself how many of your most important projects you can only reach through one particular app's server — the answer shouldn't be "all of them".
A fair objection: isn't read-only just a gentler lockout?
It's fair to ask whether "you can see it but not change it" is really much better than being shut out entirely. The difference is bigger than it sounds: if you can view and export, you can always move forward — print the drawing, send it to a contractor, save a PDF as documentation for a sale. If you're locked out entirely, on the other hand, the data is effectively unreachable until you pay again. Read-only is a limit on what you can add, not on what you've already achieved. That difference is the whole point of demanding that word from any app you're considering subscribing to.