Questions & answers

No. When you import a WhatsApp or Messenger chat, the export file is read entirely on your own device, in your browser. The only things saved are counts — how many messages per month, the total from each of you, your names, and the date of your first message. The words you wrote to each other never leave your phone or computer and never touch our servers.

This isn’t a policy we promise to follow — it’s how the feature is built. There is no place in our database that could even hold a message, because we never receive one.

These are different from messages, and we want to be honest about the distinction. Your photos and documents are uploaded — that’s the whole point of a shared vault — so unlike your messages, they aren’t mathematically invisible to us. What protects them:

• They’re stored on encrypted, US-based infrastructure, in a private bucket — never a public web address.
• Database security rules isolate every couple’s vault: only your two accounts can reach your files, enforced at the data layer, not just in the app.
• Files are opened only through short-lived links that expire in minutes.
• We put no analytics and no trackers on the vault, document, or chat pages. Nobody is watching what you upload.

We don’t browse your evidence in the normal course of running Archivow, and we never share it. But if mathematical certainty matters to you, the honest answer is that your most sensitive raw content — your actual conversations — is the part we designed never to reach us in the first place.

No. Archivow is an independent tool with no affiliation to USCIS or any government agency. We don’t transmit your vault, your statement, or your packet to anyone. Your evidence packet is a PDF you download and file yourself — we’re the workshop, not a party to your case.

Yes. Payments run through Stripe, a certified payment processor. Your card number is entered on Stripe’s page and we never see it, store it, or have access to it. Your partner’s payment details and yours are kept entirely separate.

Phone photos often carry GPS coordinates. We show you when a photo has location data and let you decide whether your evidence report uses it — it’s off unless you turn it on. The original photo keeps its own data in your private vault; that choice only controls what appears in the generated packet.

Archivow is a shared vault — your partner sees everything you add. If you’re in an unsafe relationship, or filing on your own because of abuse (like a VAWA self-petition), that openness can put you at risk, and Archivow isn’t the right tool for you right now. Please read our safety page for confidential help, including the National Domestic Violence Hotline.

Nothing disappears. We will never delete your evidence because you stopped paying — ever. The free vault holds up to 250 items; if you’re on Plus and downgrade, your vault stays fully readable and everything is one click to export. You just can’t add new items beyond the free limit until you’re on Plus again. The only circumstance in which we’d ever remove a vault is if it sits completely unused for years — and we’d always warn you well in advance, with a simple way to keep it. Never because a subscription lapsed.

Yes — yourself, instantly. In Settings → Delete vault, you can permanently erase your entire shared vault from our servers: every photo, document, message statistic, trip, financial entry, your relationship statement, and every report. You type DELETE to confirm, and it’s gone — no email, no waiting, no “we’ll get to it.”

Two honest notes: it’s irreversible, so export your report first if you want a copy; and because the vault is shared, deleting it removes everything for both you and your partner. If you’d also like your login removed, email hello@archivow.com.

1. Open the chat with your partner.
2. Tap the menu (⋮ on Android, the contact’s name on iPhone) → More → Export chat.
3. Choose Without media — you only need the text; it’s faster and smaller.
4. Save or email yourself the .txt file, then import it here.

Messages from before your chat became end-to-end encrypted come from Facebook’s data download:

1. On a computer, go to facebook.com/dyi.
2. Click Download or transfer information → Specific types of information → Messages.
3. Under “Format,” change HTML to JSON, then request the download.
4. When it’s ready, unzip it and import the message_1.json file (and message_2.json, message_3.json, … if your conversation is long — you can select them all at once).

Messenger encrypts chats end-to-end, so recent messages aren’t in the regular download — they live in secure storage and export separately.

1. Turn on secure storage first, if you haven’t. In Messenger: profile photo → Privacy & safety → End-to-end encrypted chats → Message storage (sometimes labeled “Secure storage”) → turn it on. It saves your history so it can be downloaded — turn it on as early as you can.
2. On a computer, go to messenger.com and click your profile photo.
3. Privacy & safety → End-to-end encrypted chats → Message storage → Download secure storage data → Download file, and enter your Facebook password.
4. You’ll get a ZIP containing a JSON file for every conversation in your account. Unzip it and import just the file(s) named for your partner — if your chat is split across a few, select them all. (If you import the whole folder, we’ll ask you to pick your partner’s conversation rather than mixing everyone in.)

Note: the encrypted-chat download is only available on a computer (not the phone app), and you can only download what secure storage has saved — so the sooner it’s on, the more of your history you keep.

That’s usually the day your conversation switched to end-to-end encryption. The regular Facebook download only contains messages from before that point — everything after lives in secure storage and exports separately (see above). Your messages aren’t gone; they’re just in the other export.

A shared vault and report builder for couples filing a US fiancé or spouse visa — the K-1 and the marriage-based pathway (I-130/CR-1/IR-1), through adjustment of status, removing conditions (I-751), and naturalization. You and your partner collect your relationship evidence — photos, trips, chats, financial support — as it happens, and when it’s time to file, Archivow assembles it into a clean, indexed PDF packet an officer can actually read.

Yes — that’s the point. You each have your own login, and everything either of you adds shows up in the same shared vault. No password sharing, and you can both add evidence from opposite sides of the world.

No, and we’re careful about this. Archivow helps you assemble and organize your evidence — it never scores your case, judges your relationship, or predicts an outcome. The “packet progress” meter measures how much of your packet is put together, nothing more. What to include and whether to file is always your decision.

No. Archivow is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice. It’s an organizational and document-preparation tool based on publicly available USCIS instructions. You review and sign your own statements. For advice about your specific case, please consult a licensed immigration attorney.