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This guide will help you learn how to delete your Facebook account. Before proceeding, it's recommended that you back up your Facebook data, such as images and your friends' contact information. Once you've saved your data, you can move forward with deleting your account.
Steps
Prepare Before Deleting Facebook
Inform Your Friends About Your Facebook Departure. Post a status to let your friends know that you are about to delete your Facebook account. This step will give them time to exchange contact details with you (if necessary).
- This is also an opportunity for you to share your contact info in case you want others to reach you outside of Facebook.
- If you'd prefer to leave Facebook quietly, feel free to skip this step.
Decide whether you want to keep Messenger. Facebook Messenger is a separate app that you can continue using even after deleting your Facebook account. If you choose to delete your Messenger account as well, follow the steps below after you’ve deleted your Facebook account:
- Open Facebook Messenger.
- Tap the profile icon in the top-left corner of the screen.
- Scroll down and select Privacy & Terms.
- Choose Deactivate Messenger.
- Enter your password and tap Continue.
- Select Deactivate when prompted.
- Delete the Messenger app from your iPhone or Android device.
Update login information for any services using your Facebook account. Services like Spotify and Uber offer the option to log in with your Facebook account instead of using an email address. If you’ve used this option to sign up for these services, make sure to switch to using an email address or phone number for login.
- Most of these services allow you to log in with your phone number, so if you’ve provided one, you can continue logging in as usual.
Delete posts you don't want to stay online. While deleting your Facebook account will remove all your information from the platform, it’s still a good idea to delete any sensitive or personal posts if you don’t want Google (or other search engines) to store them.
- Posts that have been archived can still be found after you deactivate your account, and it may take several weeks for them to disappear from search engines.
Uninstall the Facebook app from your phone or tablet. Since you can’t complete the following steps through the mobile version of the Facebook app, you may want to delete the app from your phone or tablet.
- You can delete the app from both iPhone and Android devices.
Back up Your Facebook Data
Open Facebook. Visit https://www.facebook.com/ to access your News Feed if you're already logged in.
- If you aren't logged in yet, enter your email address (or phone number) and password, then click Log In.
Click on Settings near the bottom of the options list.
Click on General at the top-left corner of the page.
Click on the Download a copy link in blue at the bottom of the General page.
Click on the Start my Archive green button in the center of the page.
Enter your password when prompted. This is the password you use to log into Facebook.
Click the Submit (Continue) button in blue at the bottom of the password window.
Click the Start my Archive button in blue in the newly opened window. Facebook will begin collecting your data after this step.
Click OK when prompted.
Go to the email address registered with Facebook. Open the inbox of the email address you used to log into Facebook.
- If you're not logged into your email account, you'll need to enter your email address and password before proceeding.
Open the email with the subject "Your Facebook download is ready" sent from "Facebook".
- It may take a few minutes before you receive the email; please be patient if you don't see it in your first check.
- You might need to open a specific tab in your inbox (for example, Gmail users will need to click on the Social tab).
Click the download link. You will find the link near the bottom of the email, just above the line that reads "This message was sent to [email address]".
Click the Download Archive (Download your archive) button in green at the top of the page.
Enter your password when prompted, then click Submit (Continue) to download your Facebook data to your computer.
- The downloaded data includes your contacts and photos.
Delete Facebook account
Go to the Facebook account deletion page. Visit https://www.facebook.com/help/delete_account/. Please note that this action cannot be completed through the mobile Facebook app.
- If prompted, enter your email address in the "Email" field, type your Facebook password in the "Password" field, and click Log In.
Click on the Delete My Account button. This option is located below the warning information in the center of the page. Once clicked, an additional window will appear.
Enter your password. Type your password in the "Password" field located at the top of the window.
Enter the captcha code. The code, consisting of a mix of letters and numbers, will be displayed in the center of the page; you need to retype this code in the field below.
- If you're unable to read the code, you can click on the Try another text or an audio captcha link just below to request a new code.
Click OK to submit the code. If entered correctly, a new window will appear.
- If the password or captcha code is entered incorrectly, you will be prompted to try again.
Click OK beneath the window to delete your account. This will deactivate your account for 14 days, after which it will be permanently deleted.
Advice
- Once you choose to delete your Facebook account, you have 14 days to reconsider. If you change your mind, simply log in with your email address (or phone number) and password, then select Cancel Deletion to stop the account deletion process.
Warning
- Once your Facebook account is deleted, it cannot be recovered.
