How to Delete Your Facebook Account
I’m old enough to remember when Facebook was the hip and cool new social network, giving you the ability to keep up with all your friends and family, restore long-lost contacts, and share as many party and vacation photos as you liked. It was cleaner and more intuitive than MySpace, and people flocked to it.
It’s the complete opposite of trendy and cool these days. It’s overloaded with artificial intelligence , advertising and clickbait, and has now decided that fact-checking on the platform requires too much effort . Most users are now much more occupied with other apps, and social media sharing has become more private and limited (Whatsapp group chats, anyone?).
If you’ve decided it’s time to break away from Facebook, here’s how to do it—and what to do before you switch off completely. It’s also worth noting that you can deactivate your account but still use Facebook Messenger for chats, which I’ll explain in more detail below.
The instructions here are for Facebook on the web, but you’ll find the same menus and options in the mobile apps.
Before you delete Facebook
There are some homework you should take care of before you erase your Facebook account: not just get any content you want to keep, but also disconnect Facebook from third-party apps and services to prevent mistakes or security issues in the future.
Once you’re logged into Facebook on the web, click your profile picture (top right), then Settings & Privacy . On the next screen, select Settings , then Download Information and Continue : Facebook will guide you through the process of selecting the data you want to download and archiving it.
The information you can upload includes messages, posts, photos and videos, as well as other data such as your connections with friends and everything on your profile. You can also select a date range, so select All Time if you want everything. How long you have to wait depends on what you choose, but you’ll receive a notification to the email address you provided when the download is ready.
After that, it’s worth checking the apps and platforms you’ve connected to Facebook. From your Facebook profile, click on your profile picture (top right), then Settings & Privacy > Settings > Apps & Websites . Here you’ll find all the connections you’ve allowed Facebook to make over the years, from browser extensions to games – click “Delete” next to each one.
Finally, take a look at the places where you are logged into Facebook. Tap your profile picture (top right), then Settings & Privacy > Activity History . On the Where you’re signed in and Recognized devices pages, click the three dots to the right of each entry, then choose Sign Out or Delete . This means that there is no trace of your Facebook activity anywhere else.
How to delete Facebook
Once all the preparations are complete, it’s time to permanently delete your Facebook profile. To begin the process, click your profile picture (top right, then select Settings & Privacy > Settings > Account Center ). Here you will see all the accounts registered in Meta (for example, Instagram and Horizon accounts, as well as Facebook). and they can be managed and deleted separately.
Click Personal Information , then Account Ownership and Control and Deactivate or Delete , then select the Facebook account you want to delete. On the next screen, you can choose between “Delete Account” (everything will be deleted) and “Deactivate Account” (a more temporary measure that will allow you to get your account back later).
Choose the deactivate option if you’re unsure about signing out of Facebook or want to continue communicating using the Facebook Messenger app: Your profile will be hidden, but people will still be able to contact you on Messenger. Your messages, photos and videos will not be deleted if you want to return, and there is no time limit to reactivate your account in the future.
If you’re sure you’ve had enough of Facebook and want everything deleted, select Delete Account and click Continue . You’ll be asked to provide a reason for deletion, given the option to deactivate instead, and asked to download all your Facebook data (a handy safety net if you forget to do this). You’ll eventually be taken to a final confirmation screen, which will begin the deletion process and sign you out of Facebook.
You have 30 days to change your mind: If you sign back into Facebook during this time period, you’ll get the option to get your account back again, even if you chose permanent deletion. Facebook says it can take up to 90 days to remove all traces of your Facebook activity.