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How to Delete Your Facebook Account: Deletion, Deactivation, and App Removal
Choose between deleting your Facebook account, temporarily deactivating it, or removing the app.
If you want to leave Facebook, first decide what you want to remove. Deleting your account starts a process intended to permanently remove your profile and the content you added. Deactivating your account hides your profile while keeping the option to return. Removing the Facebook app only removes that app from a device; it does not change your account. These choices have different effects on Messenger, other sign-ins, and information you may want to keep. Meta explains the account choices and the effects of deletion.
Choose the action that matches your goal
| If you want to… | Choose… | What to expect |
|---|---|---|
| Stop opening Facebook on one phone or tablet, but keep your profile | Remove the app | Your account remains available through a browser or another device. |
| Take a break and keep a way back | Deactivate the account | Other people generally cannot view your profile, while your photos, posts, and videos remain in the account. Some traces, such as messages you sent, can remain visible. |
| Leave Facebook and give up access to the account and its added content | Delete the account | After the available cancellation period, you cannot reactivate it or retrieve content you added. Some information can remain elsewhere or be retained for limited reasons described by Meta. |
Deactivation is reversible, but it is not an erasure switch. Meta says Messenger can continue to work after Facebook deactivation; your profile picture can remain in conversations, and people may still find you to message you. Facebook Login for other apps can also continue to work. If you want a break from both Facebook and Messenger, check Messenger separately rather than assuming one action closes both. Meta's deletion guide compares the effects.
Deletion has wider effects. Meta says it removes access to Messenger and to Facebook Login for apps and websites where you used that sign-in. If Facebook Login is your only way into another service, set up another supported sign-in method with that service before deleting. If you use Facebook to sign in to Meta Quest, Meta also warns that associated Quest information, including purchases and achievements, can be affected. Review those dependencies before you submit a request you may later be unable to reverse. Meta lists these consequences.
Before you request deletion
Save information you want to keep while you can still access the account. Meta recommends downloading a copy of Facebook information such as photos and posts before deletion. In Accounts Center, look under Your information and permissions for the option to export or download information. Meta says you can choose categories and date ranges; check the resulting file before relying on it. An export is a copy for you to keep, not a promise that every item visible elsewhere on Facebook or in Messenger is included. If you use Facebook sign-in for Meta Quest, check Meta's separate Quest information warning too. Meta's deletion guide; Meta's information-access guide.
Next, list any apps or websites that use Log in with Facebook. Visit each service directly and confirm you have an email, password, passkey, or other sign-in it supports. Meta says you may need to contact a service to recover access after Facebook deletion. Meta's account-deletion guide.
If your Facebook account has additional profiles, stop at the account-selection screen and identify whether you are acting on the whole account or a particular profile. Meta says deleting or deactivating an account can affect all profiles under it and offers separate help for individual profiles. Review any Page or group responsibilities and other connected experiences before confirming, rather than assuming a personal-account choice affects only the profile you currently see. Meta's account/profile distinction; Meta's Accounts Center overview.
How to delete your Facebook account
Meta documents this desktop path. Sign in to Facebook, open your profile picture, then go to Settings & privacy → Settings → Accounts Center → Personal details → Account ownership and control → Deactivation or deletion. Select the Facebook account or profile shown, choose Delete account, then follow the confirmation screens. Read the selected account name and the consequences on the final screen before confirming. Menu wording and placement can differ by device, region, or account; use Meta's current Help instructions if you do not see the same path. Meta's account-deletion steps.
Meta also documents a Facebook-settings route when the Accounts Center option is unavailable: Settings & privacy → Settings → Your Facebook information → Deactivation and deletion. Choose Delete account and follow the prompts, including password confirmation if requested. This is an alternative path for an eligible account, not a second deletion request you need to submit. Meta's alternative steps.
You need account access to use the signed-in deletion flow. If you cannot sign in, resolve access through Facebook's own account-recovery help before trying to delete; do not give a third party your password or verification codes to do it for you. Do not treat uninstalling the app, abandoning the account, or removing a saved login from a device as a deletion request.
How to deactivate instead
In the same Deactivation or deletion area, select the intended Facebook account or profile and choose Deactivate account, then follow the confirmation screens. This is the choice for a temporary break when you may want to use the account again. Meta says you can reactivate by signing in again. Make sure you still control the email address or phone number needed to sign in later. Meta's comparison of deactivation and deletion; Meta's account-deletion guide.
Your content is not deleted by deactivation. Other people generally cannot see or visit your Facebook profile, but messages you sent can remain visible to recipients. Messenger may remain active, so a person seeking a full pause should check its status separately. If you only want fewer notifications or less time in the app, removing the app may be enough without deactivating your account. Meta's deactivation effects.
What happens after a deletion request?
The request is not the same as instant removal of every copy. Meta describes a period in which you may cancel deletion by signing back in and choosing Cancel deletion. Its Help article describes 30 days in its general instructions but expressly says the number of days varies by region. Treat the deadline shown to your account as controlling, and do not assume that a later login will always restore access. If you want to cancel, act promptly through Facebook's own sign-in flow. Meta's cancellation guidance.
Meta says deleting everything you posted may take up to 90 days from the start of the process. It says that content is not accessible to other Facebook users while deletion is in progress, but copies may remain in backup storage beyond that period or be retained for matters such as legal issues, terms violations, or harm prevention. Messages you sent to friends can remain in their inboxes because those copies are held there. For those reasons, do not promise that deletion removes every trace of you from every device, inbox, or Meta system. Meta's account-deletion guide; Meta's comparison.
If all you intended was to remove a shortcut from your phone, use the device's app-removal control instead. You can still use Facebook through a browser or another device if your account remains active. Removing the app does not submit an account-deletion request, end a Messenger session on another device, or change how a separate website uses Facebook Login.
The safest sequence is to decide which of the three outcomes you want, save any information you need, check linked sign-ins and profiles, and only then confirm the matching account action. Return to Meta's current deletion instructions if the screens or deadline you see differ from this guide.