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How to Deactivate Your Instagram Account or Delete Instagram: A Quick Guide
If you feel like you need a break from social media, it is okay to deactivate your Instagram account temporarily, or even delete Instagram for good.
We recommend that you download your Instagram data before you deactivate or delete your account.
Follow these steps to deactivate Instagram:
If you want to delete your Instagram account, the process is not very different. Check out the article below for step-by-step instructions.
If you are concerned about your privacy on Instagram, using a VPN can help to safeguard your data. A VPN protects your internet traffic from prying eyes and makes it harder for hackers to breach your privacy. We recommend picking a trusted VPN like NordVPN.
Continue reading the article below for more information about how to deactivate or delete your Instagram account.
Instagram is one of the biggest social media platforms in the world, with over one billion active users every month.
While this translates to a lot of perfectly curated photos and stories to scroll through, it also makes the platform ripe for scams. Cyberattacks and fraud are rife on Instagram. We’ve reported on several Instagram cyberattacks this year, including a phishing attack that bypasses Gmail’s security filters.
Meanwhile, studies indicate that excessive use of social media platforms like Instagram can adversely affect your mental health. In fact, in 2021, Instagram tried to suppress an internal study that showed the negative effects of the app on teenage girls.
Are you concerned about your privacy? Are flashy influencers grinding on your patience? Do you want to spend less time scrolling through Instagram and focus on improving your productivity?
It may be time to deactivate your Instagram account, or perhaps delete Instagram altogether!
In this post, you’ll find detailed instructions on how to deactivate Instagram temporarily or delete your Instagram account permanently.
Instagram doesn’t want you to leave, so deleting your account is not your only recourse. You can also choose to deactivate it.
Here are the key differences between deactivating and deleting Instagram.
| Delete Your Instagram Account Permanently | Deactivate Your Instagram Account Temporarily |
|---|---|
| Deleting your Instagram account is irreversible | If you deactivate your Instagram account, you can reactivate it at any time just by logging in |
| When you delete your Instagram account, all your photos, followers, likes, and comments are permanently removed | If you deactivate your account, your photos, followers, comments, and likes are preserved |
| If you delete your account, you could lose your username if someone else claims it | If you deactivate Instagram, your account is hidden indefinitely, but no one can take your username |
Whether you plan to deactivate or delete your Instagram account, we recommend that you grab a copy of all the things you’ve shared on the Instagram app.
Here’s how to download your Instagram data on your iPhone or Android device:
It can take 48 hours to 14 days to receive your file. You’ll receive an email with the subject line “Your Instagram Data.” Click the link in the email to download your file. The file usually includes your profile information, photos, comments, and other data.
If you’re accessing Instagram on a web browser, here’s how to request your data file:
Within 48 hours, you will receive an email titled “Your Instagram Data.” Click the link in the email to download your file.
Not quite ready to walk away from Instagram? If you feel like a brief separation is all you need, then consider deactivating your Instagram account.
Unfortunately, you can’t deactivate an Instagram account from the iPhone or Android app. You’ll need to use your computer or mobile browser to cut ties with the social media platform.
Here’s how to deactivate your Instagram account on your computer or a mobile browser.
Your Instagram account will be hidden and won’t show up in search results.
Your username, photos, likes, followers, and comments will be preserved.
Note: The moment you log back into your account, it will be reactivated. You can only deactivate your Instagram account once per week.
If you’ve deactivated your Instagram account but want to access it again, follow these steps.
If you change your mind right away after deactivating your account, you may have to wait up to 24 hours before you can reactivate it. Instagram typically takes several hours to complete deactivation requests. Until that process is complete, you won’t be able to reactivate your account.
If privacy and safety are the primary reasons you’re considering deactivating or deleting your Instagram account, there are ways to enhance your privacy on the social media platform.
We recommend using a VPN like NordVPN to encrypt your web traffic and hide your IP address from hackers and other prying eyes.
We have an article on how to tweak your privacy settings on Instagram for improved security. Our article on the most common Instagram scams is also a great resource. If you have kids, check out our guide on how to protect your kids on Instagram.
If you’re ready to completely delete your Instagram account, you’ll need to be on your computer with a web browser. Unfortunately, you cannot delete an Instagram account via the app on iPhone or Android.
Here’s how to delete your Instagram account permanently.
Your account will be deleted immediately, including all the photos, likes, followers, and comments associated with your account. You should see a message confirming this that reads, “Your account has been removed. We’re sorry to see you go!”
For all intents and purposes, your Instagram account has now been deleted.
However, Instagram says it may take up to three months for your account data to be completely removed from its servers. Instagram’s Data Policy also points out that some information may be retained on its servers beyond this 90-day window for legal purposes.
Instagram can be fun, but it poses a potential risk to your privacy and—in some cases—mental health. There are different opinions about the right way to use social media, but it is clear that taking a break is necessary sometimes.
It is perfectly fine to deactivate or permanently delete your Instagram account. Instagram and all other social media will be there when you are ready to use them again.
If you’re looking to do a social media cleanse, we have articles on how to delete your Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Reddit, and Telegram accounts.
How to Deactivate Your Instagram Account or Delete Instagram: Frequently Asked Questions
Check out the FAQ section below for answers to specific questions about how to deactivate or delete your Instagram account.
Since Instagram doesn’t let you delete your account within the app itself, you’ll need to log on to Instagram via a web browser. Once you do, follow these steps to delete your Instagram account permanently.
For more instructions, read our article “How to Delete Your Instagram Account.”
When you delete your Instagram account, all your photos, followers, likes, and comments are gone forever.
Your username is also up for grabs. However, when you deactivate your Instagram account, your data is preserved, and you can reactivate your account at any time.
You can only deactivate your Instagram account by logging in via a browser.
Follow the steps below to deactivate your account.
To reactivate your Instagram account, all you have to do is log in via the app or a browser, and it’s done automatically. If you’ve just deactivated your account, you’ll have to wait for 24 hours before you can reactivate it.
Liz Wegerer Author
Tech journalist
Liz is a professional writer with a special interest in online privacy and cybersecurity. As a US expat who travels and works in diverse locations around the world, keeping up with the latest internet safety best practices remains her priority.
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By Mitchell Clark
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Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
If you’ve made the decision to delete Instagram, whether because you’ve outgrown the need for a certain finsta or because its parent company Meta is courting controversy again, doing so isn’t as quick or easy as it should be. Up until recently, it couldn’t even be done from within the Instagram app.
Go ahead and take a moment to make an obligatory “I’m deleting Instagram” post if you’d like. After that, you have two ways you can go about it.
The easiest way for iPhone users to delete Instagram is by using the app. To do so, go to your profile, tap the hamburger menu in the top right, and select Settings. Then go to Account, and scroll down to the bottom of the menu. There will be a Delete Account button under the Branded Content button.
If you have it, tapping on it will bring up a menu asking if you want to delete or deactivate your account — you can read more about those other options in the “Temporarily suspending your Instagram account” section of this how-to. Pressing the Delete account button will bring up a message saying that you can stop the deletion process by a certain date if you log back in.
Tap the red Continue deleting account button, and the app will open a webpage. Here, you can complete the deletion process after you answer a question about why you’re deleting your account, and enter your password to confirm.
Apple’s rules mean that Instagram’s iOS app has to let you delete your account. In our testing, the option hasn’t always been available on the Android version of the app. You can check for the Delete Account option by following the instructions for iOS above, but if you don’t have it, you’ll have to do it using the web.
If you can’t use the app to delete your account, you’ll have to follow these steps to ditch your account — they can be followed using either a computer or phone, as long as you’re using a browser.
If you’re not logged into Instagram for the web (most people won’t be), you’ll have to enter your credentials. In fact, it’s very likely you’ll have to put in your password twice throughout the deletion process, so now’s probably a good time to make sure you know what it is.Instagram will clearly show you what account you’re about to delete, and ask you why.
Tapping the delete button after entering your password will give you one last confirmation pop-up.
As Instagram says a few times on the account deletion page, your data won’t be immediately erased — Meta will keep it around for 30 days. But your profile and posts will be hidden on the site.
If you’re completely breaking up with Instagram, don’t forget to remove the app from your phone as well. Doing so will save you a little space and will also put a little bit of friction between you and signing back up for the service.
Be aware that you won’t be able to bring your account back if it’s been over 30 days since you asked Instagram to delete it. You’ll have to recreate your account (your username will be freed up after your account’s deleted, but it’s possible someone could’ve taken it).
You can restore your account within 30 days by logging back in.
However, if you’re within that 30-day time period, you can get your account back, along with its posts and DMs. To do so, simply go back to Instagram and log in with your credentials.
You’ll see a message saying that you requested your account be deleted, along with the date your data will be gone. To keep that from happening, just press the “Keep Account” button.
If you want to remove your account from public view, but don’t want to permanently delete all your photos and messages, you can suspend your account instead.
The screen to suspend your account is relatively easy to access, but you’ll have to do it through a web browser.
Again, Meta makes you use the web version of Instagram, instead of the app, but at least you won’t have to get a link from a help article.
As with deleting your account, you’ll have to select a reason why you’re suspending your account, and put in your password. Instagram’s “Temporarily disable account” screen.
To re-enable your account, simply log back in using the app or the website. You’ll only be able to suspend your account once a week, so if you accidentally log back in your profile, your posts will be back online and visible to followers, at least for a little while.
Update July 2nd, 2022, 8:32AM ET: This article was originally published on November 17th, 2021. Updated to add instructions for deleting your account through the app.
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Someone actively promotes their profile, and someone wants to close their Instagram account from prying eyes. You can do this in a couple of clicks, you just need to find the desired item in the settings.
Now Instagram has updated the “Settings” section. We are posting screenshots of how to close your Instagram account after the 2022 update.
update Below you will find instructions on how to close your Instagram profile so that posts and stories are only visible to followers. Even on anonymous browsing sites, your Stories will not be viewable.
If you want to temporarily hide your account from everyone, you can block it. And if only from a specific person, then block his profile.
When someone wants to follow you, you will need to go to notifications and confirm or decline the subscription.
In order for one of the already approved subscribers to no longer see your posts, he must be removed from the subscribers. Open the list of your subscribers, find the right one. Click the three dots on the right, select "Delete". Your subscriber will not know about this until he goes to your profile (he will no longer be able to see the posts and will understand that he was removed from the subscribers).
To make the account open again, repeat all the same steps (screenshots above). Open the settings, find "Privacy and security", after - "Account privacy".
"Closed Account" Drag the slider to the left. "Make the account public?" Click OK.
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None. If you have an account with connected statistics (business account), then you can make it closed only by transferring it back to your personal account. Business accounts were invented to make promotion on Instagram more efficient. Accordingly, such an account should be open in order to attract a maximum of subscribers. Still want to close your profile? Switch to a personal account without statistics and then close it according to the instructions above.
How to switch back to a personal account is in the article: How to make a business account on Instagram.
In 2020, after the update, only the interface has changed, while all the advantages and disadvantages of a closed account have remained the same.
Sometimes bloggers close their Instagram account on purpose. Reasons:
If you are just starting to maintain an account, it is better not to close it.
We continue the series of articles “Instagram for a teapot”. Simple instructions on how to properly use the functionality and much more. Next topic: “How to close an Instagram account”.
Content
If you want to share photos only with a narrow circle of people, you will need to know how to close an Instagram account .
This is a built-in feature in the social network, so no special skills are needed.
Instagram for Android and iPhone differs minimally, you can close your profile on both operating systems with one instruction:
1) Go to your account on your page and click on the three horizontal lines in the upper right corner
2) Go to settings
3) Select Privacy
4) Scroll down the page and click Account Privacy:
5) Now you can click on the switch so that it becomes colored, confirm your action and now - the account is already closed!
If you have a private account, only users approved by you can see your photos, the rest are waiting for approval. To add subscribers, you need to go to Actions (heart icon) in the lower right corner. Click there and you will see a list of those who want to follow you.
To add a person, click Confirm:
To remove a person from subscribers, go to your list of subscribers:
Click delete and confirm the action:
To open a page to the public, follow the same path as to close it:
Business accounts on Instagram are used by companies and bloggers. In such an account, you can see the statistics of subscribers, visits, launch targeted advertising.
When you move your personal account to a company page, Instagram automatically offers to make the page public, even if you have a private profile. In this case, you can only agree, it will not work to transfer the acc back to the closed format, only if you return back to the personal page format.
Before closing an account, you need to understand the difference between open and closed profiles. Perhaps you did not take into account some disadvantages of privacy.
The first reason for closing is elementary and understandable - privacy. On Instagram, although it is easy to promote yourself, show your photos to complete strangers, some users still prefer that only close people see their content.
