Key Takeaways
- API log retention is your backend and the phone — not a cloud SMS archive we sell.
- Match the app-side retention sibling; this spoke is HTTP jobs, webhooks, and gateway ids.
- OTP bodies do not belong in tickets or 90-day debug dumps.
- STOP inbound is personal data. Keep it long enough to honor, not forever as a souvenir.
- Developer Center owns live fields. Counsel owns the legal number of days.
- BYO phone and operator credit. We meter devices and send volume.
Summary
API log retention for an Android SMS gateway is deciding what your servers keep: request ids, MSISDNs, bodies, webhook payloads. The phone also stores threads. Hub C how-to — do not rewrite the product overview. App sibling: log retention policy. Legal: privacy. Live fields: Developer Center.
A support export with last month’s OTP codes is not helpful. It is a retention incident with a filename.
What the API logs
Search intent is GDPR-minded API hygiene. Pair GDPR-minded handling and privacy basics privacy basics. EU framing: GDPR.eu — counsel interprets.
Context
OTP, webhooks, bulk ids. Radio still matters: a dead phone does not erase your Postgres. Security: security.
How to set retention
- Inventory: API access logs, app DB, phone, webhook retries, tickets.
- Redact bodies by default; keep gateway ids.
- TTL per class (OTP shorter than billing ids).
- Delete jobs that actually run — not a wiki number.
- STOP records: long enough to honor, then minimize.
Store table
| Store | Keep | Drop fast |
|---|---|---|
| Your API DB | ids, status | OTP body |
| Webhooks | signed payload meta | full SMS text |
| Tickets | redacted ids | screenshots of threads |
| Handset | ops window | personal profiles / backups |
| CSV drops | none on laptops | everything after import |
Retention is not SMS credit
Paying devices and volume does not buy infinite logs. Free 300 lifetime is a send meter, not an archive SKU.
Operations
Pair setup. Official APK. Disable USB debug in prod. Train support — train support.
Bodies and keys
Keys in env. Webhook signatures. Physical control of OTP phones. Counsel for DPA language — not this how-to.
When to delete
Delete when the TTL hits, when a test MSISDN is done, and when a ticket closes. Keep ids if you still need DLR disputes.
Checklist
- Hub C, not a privacy-policy fork.
- Inventory of stores.
- OTP bodies out of logs.
- TTL jobs running.
- STOP minimized.
- Official APK.
- Developer Center.
- Airtime owner (separate from DPO).
- Counsel named.
- No Unlimited SMS titles.
Next steps
App retention sibling, privacy, API hub.
Deep dive: production hardening
Prove a delete with a test row. Re-check after log shippers get “just add the body field.”
Deep dive: scaling and failure modes
Volume makes forgotten indexes of MSISDNs. Failures: laptop CSVs, phone backups, shared OTP logs.
Deep dive: integration discipline
Persist ids, not poetry. Idempotent deletes. Developer Center owns schemas. You bring the Android phone and operator SMS credit.
Related product pages
Jump to the live product docs for this topic—not another long-form article.
- SMS API documentationLive endpoint reference
- device and SMS volume pricingPlans and allowances
- Android SMS gateway product guideDefinition, product, and how to buy
- download the Android gateway appGet the APK
