Eliminating Digital Footprints: Erasing Facebook Entirely

If you want to unfriend Mark Zuckerberg forever, you’ve come to the right place. You can permanently delete your Facebook account, uncover any apps that rely on your Facebook credentials, and ensure you don’t get cut off from your family and friends in the process.

Here’s all you need to know about deleting or deactivating your Facebook account.

What It Means to Delete a Facebook Account

If you delete your Facebook account, all of your information will be gone for good. There is no way to retrieve the data, and there is no way to reactivate your account at a later date. If you decide you want to rejoin the social network, you’ll need to make a new account.

Facebook will wipe almost all your data from its servers. Once again, messages you’ve sent to other people will live on in their inboxes, and data such as log records will stay in Facebook’s database. However, all personal identifiers will be removed.

If you used your Facebook account to sign up for other apps or websites (like Spotify or Pinterest), you might also lose access to those accounts. You should reach out to the admins of those services and see how you might retrieve your account.

Deleting your Facebook account also deletes all your Meta Quest information.

When you delete your account, Facebook gives you a cooling-off period. You can log in to your account within 30 days to retrieve your account data or reactivate it. It means if you’re determined to permanently delete Facebook, you’ll need to stay off it for a month.

Once the cooling-off period passes, Facebook promises to remove all traces of your profile from its servers within 90 days. But don’t worry; during the 90 days, your data is unavailable to other Facebook users.

Before You Delete Your Facebook Account

Before you remove your Facebook account forever, there are a few steps you need to take to ensure that the process runs smoothly and you don’t have a burning feeling of regret later on.

1. Download Your Facebook Data

Just because you’ve decided Facebook is no longer fit for purpose today, it doesn’t mean you should disregard all the content you have amassed there over the years.

For many of the photos, messages, and videos on your account, Facebook is probably the only copy of the file available. Buried in those memes and cat videos are images of unforgettable trips, family moments, and great times with friends.

So, before you reach for the delete button, you need to make sure you have a copy of it all.

Todownload all your personal data from Facebook , log into your account, click your profile picture, go to Settings & privacy > Settings > Your Facebook information , clickView in theDownload your information row, and clickRequest a download .

You can choose to download it all at once or select from the list of data. It ranges from the obvious items (like photos and posts) to the obscure (such as your ads information).

When you have made your selection, click onSubmit Request . Depending on the amount of data you want to download, it could be several hours until the file is ready.

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2. Check Your Third-Party Facebook Apps

Many apps and services give you the option to sign in using your Facebook credentials, also known as Facebook Login.

We don’t advise anyone to use Facebook Login. It’s not good for privacy and you could run into problems accessing your data if you delete your Facebook account.

If you’ve used your Facebook login credentials for apps like Spotify, you need to change your login details with them before you delete Facebook permanently. Failure to do so could leave you locked out of your account.

You can see which apps have access to your Facebook account by clicking your profile picture and going to Settings & privacy > Settings > Apps and Websites .

You may need to approach the third-party app developer directly; you cannot make the necessary changes through Facebook.

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3. Tell People You’re Leaving Facebook

You need to give family and friends you’re connected to plenty of warning that you’re leaving Facebook. Vanishing without a trace will worry people.

Clearly, you can’t post the same “I’m leaving” message day after day, so why notchange your Facebook profile picture to an image of your username on Instagram, Snapchat, or any other network you plan to keep using?

By doing so, you won’t be pestering people with spam, but they’ll learn that you’re planning to delete your Facebook account every time you pop up on their news feed. You can even crop your friends list back before posting your new details to prevent them from spreading too widely.

How to Delete a Facebook Account

Here’s what to do if you would like to get rid of your Facebook account forever:

1. Click on your profile picture in the top-right and go toSettings & privacy > Settings.
2. Open the Accounts Center by clickingSee more in Accounts Center on the left side panel.
3. Now you’re in theAccounts Center , clickPersonal details in the left menu.
4. ChooseAccount ownership and control .
   
5. On the next screen, selectDeactivation or deletion and choose the profile you want to delete.
6. Confirm you want to delete your account by choosing theDelete account toggle on the next screen.

You will be asked to enter your password and confirm your decision. Once you do that, your account will be deleted.

But if you want a less permanent solution, you can choose to deactivate your account instead.

How to Deactivate a Facebook Account

Deactivating your Facebook account hides (almost) all of your data. It’s akin to a temporary deletion. If someone were trying to find you on the network, they would not be able to tell that you have—or ever had—a Facebook account. In our dedicated guide, you can learn more aboutwhat happens when you deactivate your Facebook .

You can reactivate your account in an instant and get back where you left off. All of your friends, statuses, photos, videos, and timeline content will immediately be available again.

Here’s how to deactivate your Facebook account:

1. Click onyour profile icon, then go toSettings & privacy >Settings .
2. From the Settings menu, chooseSee more in Account Center in the panel on the left-hand side of the screen.
3. Next, clickPersonal details and chooseAccount ownership and control .
4. Select the Facebook account you want to deactivate and choose theDeactivate account toggle.
5. On the next screen, enter your password and follow the instructions.

You will be asked to confirm your decision. Once you do that, your account will be deactivated.

You can toggle the option to continue using Messenger even though your Facebook account is disabled.

How to Reactivate a Facebook Account

If you change your mind and want to return to Facebook, just head back to the social network’s login page and enter your old credentials. The reactivation process takes a matter of seconds.

Your account will also be reactivated if you use your Facebook credentials to log into a third-party app or service.

Should You Delete Facebook?

Deleting your Facebook account is a big decision. It’s not something you should do lightly. Make sure you really want to delete your account before committing. Remember, the process is irreversible after a month. Make absolutely sure it’s a decision you won’t regret first.