How to delete your Facebook account

Deleting your Facebook account used to be a long and tedious process but not anymore. Whatever your reason for deleting Facebook it will take some time and patience.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN DELETING YOUR FACEBOOK ACCOUNT AND DEACTIVATING IT

It’s important to note that there is a difference between deleting your Facebook account and deactivating it. This also deletes Facebook Messenger, the social platforms chat app. If you want to also delete Instagram and WhatsApp, which are Facebook properties, you will need to do that individually.

Deactivating your Facebook account temporarily freezes it but does nothing to stop the company from tracking your online activity.

HOW TO DELETE YOUR FACEBOOK ACCOUNT: EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW

Delete the Facebook app from your phone

The first step is to delete the app from your phone or tablet. Remember that deleting the Facebook app doesn’t delete your account as you can still access it from the browser and other apps might still use Facebook as a login.

Consider your social platform and messaging alternatives

When you delete your Facebook account your access to Messenger goes with it. You will need to reach out to those you frequently talk to on Messenger and figure out another app or service to stay in touch. Take the same approach with your Facebook friends in general.

Don’t lose access to apps and services you use Facebook to log into

Third party developers, such as Spotify and DoorDash, have long offered to use your Facebook account as a means to sign up log into their services. You will need to address those outside accounts that rely on your Facebook information by logging into each account and disconnecting it from your Facebook account.

How to find a list of apps linked to your Facebook account

• Sign into Facebook
• Go to Settings > Apps and websites.
• If you’re having trouble figuring out how to unlink your Facebook account from a service contact the company’s customer service department for help.

Download all of your Facebook data before doing anything else

Once that’s done request and download a copy of all your Facebook data by following these steps:

• Log into Facebook on your computer
• Go to Settings > Your Facebook Information
• Click View next to Download Your Information
• Leave all of the boxes checked under the Your Information section
• Leave the date range to All of my data
• Leave the format set to HTML as doing so puts your data in an easy to navigate format
• In order to save high-resolution copies of photos and videos you’ve posted to Facebook, change the Media Quality drop
down from Medium to High

Finally, click Create File. Facebook will then gather all of your information and send you an email when it’s ready to be downloaded. It can take some time for this to happen as it’s not an instant process.

Read through Facebook’s final advice before deleting your account

The final step is to delete your account. To do so visit Facebook.com and sign in.

Facebook will give you a list of tasks and things to consider before deleting your account. For example, you’ll be advised to download all of your information, or if you’re the sole admin of a Facebook Page, you’ll be asked to grant another account admin privileges, otherwise, the page will be deleted alongside your account.
Click Delete Account, enter your password and click Continue. Finally, click Delete Account again and you’re done.

You have 30 days to change your mind

Facebook will take up to 90 days to delete all of your account data from its servers. For the first 30 days you can still sign in and cancel your deletion request. Your account will be restored and it will be like you never left.

To cancel your deletion request visit Facebook.com, log into your account and click the Cancel Deletion button.

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