How to Deactivate and Delete Your Facebook Account

Posted March 7, 2011 | Laura Christianson

“Facebook is stupid. Why am I wasting my time with it? I just want to delete my account, forever.”

It’s a complaint I’ve heard more than once.

So, as a public service to those of you who are yanking your hair out and crying, “I just can’t take it anymore!” here is a step-by-step tutorial for how do say “bye-bye” to Facebook.

What does “deactivate” mean?

First, you need to know that deactivating your account is not the same as permanently deleting it. Deactivating is like taking a temporary break from Facebook.

Your profile and all information associated with it are immediately made inaccessible to other Facebook users. But your Facebook friends can can still invite you to events, tag you in photos, or ask you to join groups.

When you deactivate your account, you can opt out of  receiving these email invitations and notifications from your friends.

Facebook saves your profile information (friends, photos, interests, etc.) in hopes that you will decide to reactivate your account. If and when you do reactivate, your account will look just the way it did when you deactivated.

How to de-activate your Facebook account

  1. From your profile, go to Account (upper righthand corner)
  2. From the dropdown menu, select Account Settings.
  3. From the lefthand sidebar, click “Security.”
  4. At the bottom of the box in the center area of your screen, you’ll see a link that says, “Deactivate Account.” Click it. You’ll be taken to a new window that prompts:

“Are you sure you want to deactivate your account?

Deactivating your account will disable your profile and remove your name and picture from anything you’ve shared on Facebook.”

You’ll also see the following menu of options:

4. After you click “Confirm,” you’ll be prompted to enter your Facebook password. Then you will be prompted to do a security check by typing in a series of letters and numbers (CAPTCHA) to prove you’re a real person.

5. You will then be routed back to the Facebook login page, where you’ll see the following confirmation message:

 

How to permanently delete your Facebook account

If you’re really, really sick of Facebook and know you never want to use your account again, here’s how to permanently delete it.

WARNING: If you do this, you will NOT be able to reactivate your account or retrieve any of the content or information you have added.

  1. To permanently delete your account, you must first log in to Facebook. (Even if you’ve already deactivated your account, you have to log in, so save your password!)
  2. If you forgot your password, you’ll need to reset it by clicking the “Forgot your password?” link directly below the field where you’d normally enter your password.
  3. Once you have successfully logged in (whew!), you’ll need to click this link, which will submit a request directly to the powers that be at Facebook.
  4. https://www.facebook.com/help/contact.php?show_form=delete_account
  5. Honestly, I’m not sure what happens once you submit that request, because I’ve never completely deleted an account.

Footnote concerning e-mail addresses

Some people have told me that they’ve deleted their account, then later tried to sign up for Facebook with the same email address that was originally associated with the account. They have been unable to use that address because Facebook notifies them that there is an existing account associated with that address.

My workaround suggestion is to create an email address dedicated solely to your Facebook activities. If you delete your Facebook account, you can delete that email address at the same time.

If you decide to start a new Facebook account, you can create a different email address to use with your new Facebook account.

Also in this series

Thank you to Facebook’s Help Center, which provided most of these instructions.

 

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92 responses to “How to Deactivate and Delete Your Facebook Account”

  1. Steven Tracy says:

    It deactivates your account. People will no longer be able to see your
    profile, you won’t be on the messenger list etc. You’re effectively no
    longer on Facebook. If you choose a certain setting you can reactivate
    your account later by logging in and going through a process. But if you
    click it, you will no longer have an active account.

  2. Steven Tracy says:

    It deactivates your account. People will no longer be able to see your
    profile, you won’t be on the messenger list etc. You’re effectively no
    longer on Facebook. If you choose a certain setting you can reactivate
    your account later by logging in and going through a process. But if you
    click it, you will no longer have an active account.

  3. is it possible to deactivate a facebook account even if i lost the passwords for both my facebook and the email & there is no way to recover the passwords. !! Someone told me that in such a case i can deactivate facebook account by sending an email to support@facebook.com with an attached copy of my govt. ID proof requesting them to deactivate the facebook

  4. is it possible to deactivate a facebook account even if i lost the passwords for both my facebook and the email & there is no way to recover the passwords. !! Someone told me that in such a case i can deactivate facebook account by sending an email to support@facebook.com with an attached copy of my govt. ID proof requesting them to deactivate the facebook

  5. I don’t know of any way to deactivate an account if you don’t have the password, but you can certainly try emailing them. I hope it works! Let us know if it works for you.

  6. I don’t know of any way to deactivate an account if you don’t have the password, but you can certainly try emailing them. I hope it works! Let us know if it works for you.

  7. John Smith says:

    hi laura, we’ve a local band at my place and so we own a fan page on fb for the band. but i found that there is one more page for our band with 97 likes. i want to delete that page. how can i do that

  8. John Smith says:

    hi laura, we’ve a local band at my place and so we own a fan page on fb for the band. but i found that there is one more page for our band with 97 likes. i want to delete that page. how can i do that

  9. John – Check to see whether this additional page with 97 likes is listed as a “Community Page.” If it is, I don’t think you can either access it or delete it — it’s a page created automatically by Facebook that functions much like Wikipedia. The only thing I might recommend is see if you can contact FB’s customer service and ask them to remove it.

  10. John – Check to see whether this additional page with 97 likes is listed as a “Community Page.” If it is, I don’t think you can either access it or delete it — it’s a page created automatically by Facebook that functions much like Wikipedia. The only thing I might recommend is see if you can contact FB’s customer service and ask them to remove it.

  11. John Smith says:

    Thanks Laura that’s a great help, how can i contact FB’s customer service ??

  12. John Smith says:

    Thanks Laura that’s a great help, how can i contact FB’s customer service ??

  13. John – Try http://kikolani.com/how-to-contact-facebook-linkedin-twitter-google-plus.html – This article contains a huge list of contact links for Facebook.

  14. John – Try http://kikolani.com/how-to-contact-facebook-linkedin-twitter-google-plus.html – This article contains a huge list of contact links for Facebook.

  15. herbladyisin@ahoo.com says:

    I converted to a business account from a personal one. The page is messed up with no ability to search on it, no ability to see any of my childrens accounts, It is really messed up. If I delete it will I be able to start over with a new account. I am so frustrated with FB.

  16. herbladyisin@ahoo.com says:

    I converted to a business account from a personal one. The page is messed up with no ability to search on it, no ability to see any of my childrens accounts, It is really messed up. If I delete it will I be able to start over with a new account. I am so frustrated with FB.

  17. You can always start over with a new account, but keep in mind that you will want to use a different email address for the new account and a different username. I’m not sure how long Facebook hangs on to usernames that have been deleted before they release it for re-use.

  18. You can always start over with a new account, but keep in mind that you will want to use a different email address for the new account and a different username. I’m not sure how long Facebook hangs on to usernames that have been deleted before they release it for re-use.

  19. Tammy says:

    Hi i want to set up a new facebook but want to use the same e-mail
    Address how do i do this all replys will be helpful.

  20. Tammy says:

    Hi i want to set up a new facebook but want to use the same e-mail
    Address how do i do this all replys will be helpful.

  21. Tammy, Facebook allows one account per email address. You might consider setting up a gmail or Hotmail address dedicated solely to your new Facebook account. I often do that, particularly when I’m creating new fan pages for clients. That way, the business page can “travel” with whoever administers it, along as they have access to that email address and the account’s password.

  22. Tammy, Facebook allows one account per email address. You might consider setting up a gmail or Hotmail address dedicated solely to your new Facebook account. I often do that, particularly when I’m creating new fan pages for clients. That way, the business page can “travel” with whoever administers it, along as they have access to that email address and the account’s password.

  23. danielle says:

    okay i had my grandma who accidently deleted my fb account i had been sick and had to sched sugury on my kidneys it is a long 2 month procedure and recovery. i cannot log in because its past the 14day deactivation mark im rather upset as my only pics of my friends and service dog company pics ive taken as well as my husbands pic who passed in the war. please anyone help the only pics i have are on fb i posted them becuase if my comp breaks or my cell phone i had FB. i REALLY NEED TO REACTIVE A COMPELTY DELETED ACCOUNT.

  24. danielle says:

    okay i had my grandma who accidently deleted my fb account i had been sick and had to sched sugury on my kidneys it is a long 2 month procedure and recovery. i cannot log in because its past the 14day deactivation mark im rather upset as my only pics of my friends and service dog company pics ive taken as well as my husbands pic who passed in the war. please anyone help the only pics i have are on fb i posted them becuase if my comp breaks or my cell phone i had FB. i REALLY NEED TO REACTIVE A COMPELTY DELETED ACCOUNT.

  25. Danielle – You will need to attempt to reach Facebook’s customer service to see if they can help you re-activate your account. I wish you the best.

  26. Danielle – You will need to attempt to reach Facebook’s customer service to see if they can help you re-activate your account. I wish you the best.

  27. karen says:

    i was on facebook awhile back and somebody hacked my account and started sending out stuff to my friends saying that i had won money and to click on this click on this link and they could win money too, they were posing as me but i was not on facebook anymore, i was getting phone calls all the the time, i had deactivated my account and everything but somehow they got into my account and contacted my friends , i sent a note to facebook privacy and nobody got back to me to take this person off and now i want to get back on facebook , how do i do it without getting hacked again?
    This person is still posing as my account because one of my friends asked me if i was on facebook again and i said no but i want to go back on, do you know what i can do?
    my name is karen

  28. karen says:

    i was on facebook awhile back and somebody hacked my account and started sending out stuff to my friends saying that i had won money and to click on this click on this link and they could win money too, they were posing as me but i was not on facebook anymore, i was getting phone calls all the the time, i had deactivated my account and everything but somehow they got into my account and contacted my friends , i sent a note to facebook privacy and nobody got back to me to take this person off and now i want to get back on facebook , how do i do it without getting hacked again?
    This person is still posing as my account because one of my friends asked me if i was on facebook again and i said no but i want to go back on, do you know what i can do?
    my name is karen

  29. Sounds dangerous to try to re-activate a deactivated account, Karen. Can you live without it? If you start a new one, I suggest creating an email address dedicated just to that Facebook account, and using a hard-to-hack password and don’t share that password with anyone. Keep trying to contact Facebook so they can help you with this issue.

  30. Sounds dangerous to try to re-activate a deactivated account, Karen. Can you live without it? If you start a new one, I suggest creating an email address dedicated just to that Facebook account, and using a hard-to-hack password and don’t share that password with anyone. Keep trying to contact Facebook so they can help you with this issue.

  31. Anon says:

    Is it possible to deactivate facebook through your email. Like: by sending an email?

  32. Anon says:

    Is it possible to deactivate facebook through your email. Like: by sending an email?

  33. clemo says:

    Hi someone has made up a facebook account in my sons name using his photo without his permission. we do not the email address they used and it is not on his “profile” so I can access it and delete the facebook account. Do you know a way around this please

  34. clemo says:

    Hi someone has made up a facebook account in my sons name using his photo without his permission. we do not the email address they used and it is not on his “profile” so I can access it and delete the facebook account. Do you know a way around this please

  35. You could check out this article. Perhaps there’s a way you can contact Facebook to get assistance with this https://bloggingbistro.com/150-ways-to-contact-facebook-customer-service-linkedin-twitter-google-youtube-pinterest-instagram/

  36. You could check out this article. Perhaps there’s a way you can contact Facebook to get assistance with this https://bloggingbistro.com/150-ways-to-contact-facebook-customer-service-linkedin-twitter-google-youtube-pinterest-instagram/

  37. Warren says:

    Is there a way to deactivate my account, but keep a particular posting on another person’s page (that I posted to their page), while my account is deactivated?

  38. Warren says:

    Is there a way to deactivate my account, but keep a particular posting on another person’s page (that I posted to their page), while my account is deactivated?

  39. Warren, I’m pretty sure (but not positive) that any comments, likes, and so on you post on someone else’s page stay live, even if you deactivate your account.

  40. Warren, I’m pretty sure (but not positive) that any comments, likes, and so on you post on someone else’s page stay live, even if you deactivate your account.

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