How to remove your personal info from Apollo.io

What is Apollo.io?

Apollo.io is a B2B sales-intelligence platform operated by Zenleads, Inc. (Covina, California). It maintains a database of over 275 million professional contacts, including work emails, direct phone numbers, job titles, company affiliations, and LinkedIn profiles, and sells access to sales teams for cold outreach. If you receive unsolicited cold emails from sales reps, Apollo.io is frequently the source of the contact data. It reported 18,610 consumer deletion requests in its 2024 California data-broker registry disclosure.

Why your professional data appears on Apollo.io

Apollo scrapes publicly available professional data from LinkedIn, company websites, press releases, conference attendee lists, and GitHub. It also crowdsources data through its browser extension: users who install the extension inadvertently sync their email contacts to Apollo's database. Your email and job title were likely added via one of these channels without your direct knowledge.

Step-by-step: How to remove yourself from Apollo.io

1. Step 1: Search for your record on Apollo. Go to app.apollo.io and search your name. Note that you may need to create a free account to view your own record in full, this is optional; you can also submit a blind deletion request without viewing your profile.
2. Step 2: Submit a deletion request via Apollo's privacy page. Navigate to apollo.io/privacy-policy and scroll to "Your Privacy Choices." Click the "Do Not Sell My Personal Information" or "Submit a Data Subject Request" link. Alternatively, email privacy@apollo.io directly.

   💡 Tip: Email requests to privacy@apollo.io with "CCPA Deletion Request" in the subject line are often processed faster than the web form.

3. Step 3: Specify what you want deleted. In your request, state: "I am exercising my right to deletion under CCPA (California Civil Code § 1798.105) / GDPR Article 17. Please delete all personal information you hold about me, including my email address, phone numbers, job history, and any contact data associated with [your email address]." Include your full name, work email, and personal email if different.
4. Step 4: Request suppression (opt-out from future adds). In the same request, ask to be added to Apollo's suppression list. This prevents your contact from being re-added by Apollo's crowdsource contributors in the future.
5. Step 5: Wait and confirm. Apollo typically processes deletion requests within 5–7 business days for CCPA-cited requests. Verify by searching your name on Apollo after 10 days.

How long Apollo.io removal takes

What to do if Apollo.io removal fails

If your record persists after 2 weeks: (1) Follow up with a second email to privacy@apollo.io citing your original request date and the applicable statute. (2) California residents are entitled to a 45-day response under CCPA. (3) File a complaint with the California AG at oag.ca.gov or with the FTC at reportfraud.ftc.gov for persistent non-compliance.