To delete your Facebook account, open Facebook, go to Settings & privacy, then Settings, then Accounts Center. Open Personal details, then Account ownership and control, then Deactivation or deletion. Choose your Facebook profile, select Delete account, tap or click Continue, and confirm with your password. That is the whole route. Facebook hides your profile straight away and holds the deletion for 30 days: log back in during that window, choose Cancel deletion, and the account is restored in full. Stay logged out, and after 30 days the account and everything you added are permanently deleted.
Two warnings before the steps. Deleting the Facebook app from your phone does not delete your account — it only removes the app. And deletion only works if you can log in: Facebook asks for your password to confirm, and it will not delete an account for someone who cannot sign in to it. Forgotten your password? Recover the account first (see below).
Delete or deactivate?
Facebook offers two ways to leave, on the same settings screen — which is why people mix them up.
| Deactivate | Delete | |
|---|---|---|
| What it does | Hides your account temporarily | Removes your account for good |
| Your profile, photos and posts | Hidden, but kept intact | Permanently deleted after the cancellation window |
| Can you undo it? | Yes — just log in again, at any time | Only within the cancellation window (30 days; exact number can vary by region) |
| Messenger | You can keep using it | You can no longer use it |
| Facebook Login for other apps | Still linked | Stops working — you can lose those apps |
| Pages only you control | Deactivated with your account | Deleted with your account |
| Messages you sent | Still visible to recipients | Still visible to recipients |
Deactivation is the reversible option. While deactivated, other people cannot see your timeline or search for you, and your name and photo are removed from most things you have shared — but nothing is erased, and logging back in brings everything back. It also has a Messenger exception: you can deactivate Facebook and keep using Messenger, in which case your profile picture stays visible in conversations and people can still search for your name to message you.
Deletion is final. After the window closes, your profile, photos, videos, posts and everything else you added are permanently deleted, and nothing can be retrieved. Facebook’s own summaries are on its Permanently delete your Facebook account help page and its Deactivate your Facebook account help page.
Before you delete: four checks
1. Download a copy of your information. Once the account is deleted, you cannot ask Facebook for your photos or posts afterwards. Request the download now, and wait until you have the file before you delete:
- Open Facebook and go to Settings & privacy, then Settings, then Accounts Center.
- Open Your information and permissions.
- Choose Download your information (on some versions this now appears as Export your information, then Create export).
- Choose your Facebook profile and what to include. For a full archive, select all available information, the full date range, and a high media quality if your photos matter to you.
- Choose the format (HTML is the readable one; JSON is for tools) and submit the request.
Facebook prepares the file and notifies you when it is ready — from minutes to considerably longer on a large account — and the finished file is only available for a few days before the link expires. Download it, open it, and check your photos and videos are inside. Facebook’s instructions are on its Download your information help page.
2. Fix every “Log in with Facebook” before it breaks. Deleting your account ends Facebook Login: any app or website you signed up to that way — music services, games, shopping sites — loses its sign-in, and some of those accounts become very hard to recover. While you still can, add an email-and-password login in each important app’s settings. Meta Quest owners get the sharper version: deleting a Facebook account used for Quest also deletes your Quest information, including purchases, achievements and store credits.
3. Hand over any Page or group that only you run. A Page that only you control is deleted along with your account; a group you solely administer is left without its admin. If either needs to survive, give another person full control of the Page (or add another group admin) first, and confirm they have accepted. A Page and a profile are different objects with different clocks — deleting a Page by itself has its own shorter 14-day window.
4. Tell people how to reach you, and check your linked accounts. Deleting Facebook ends Messenger for you as well, so anyone who only contacts you there loses that route. Separately, deleting your Facebook profile does not delete a linked Instagram profile — if you want both gone, that is a second job: how to delete your Instagram account walks through the same flow on the Instagram side.
How to delete your Facebook account on a computer
- Go to facebook.com and log in to the account you want to delete. If you have more than one, check the name and photo on your profile first.
- Click your profile picture at the top right.
- Click Settings & privacy, then Settings.
- Click Accounts Center (some accounts now show this renamed as Meta Account — the same hub, with the same options).
- Under Account settings, click Personal details.
- Click Account ownership and control.
- Click Deactivation or deletion.
- Choose your Facebook profile.
- Select Delete account, then click Continue.
- Work through the prompts — Facebook may ask why you are leaving — and re-enter your password when asked, then confirm the deletion.
You are logged out and the 30-day clock starts. There is no separate “delete” website to visit: any guide that sends you to an old standalone deletion link, or leads with Settings → Your Facebook information → Deactivation and deletion, describes how Facebook used to work.
How to delete your Facebook account on your phone
The app route (iPhone and Android) ends at the same screen:
- Open the Facebook app and make sure you are logged in to the right account.
- Tap the menu (your profile picture, or the three lines, depending on your platform).
- Tap Settings & privacy, then Settings.
- Tap Accounts Center — on some versions you tap See more in Accounts Center first.
- Tap Personal details, then Account ownership and control, then Deactivation or deletion.
- Choose your Facebook profile, select Delete account, then tap Continue.
- Follow the prompts, re-enter your password when asked, and confirm.
Menu names can differ slightly between app versions. If a label does not match, follow the chain toward Account ownership and control.
How to deactivate instead
Same screen, one option up: follow the steps above to Deactivation or deletion, choose your profile, select Deactivate account instead of Delete, then Continue, and confirm with your password. If Facebook asks whether you want to keep using Messenger, choose accordingly — keeping Messenger does not reactivate your profile. To come back, log in again. There is no deadline on a deactivated account, which is why it is the right answer for anyone hesitating.
How to cancel a deletion
Changed your mind inside the window? The fix is simple:
- Log in to Facebook with the account you scheduled for deletion.
- When Facebook tells you the account is scheduled for deletion, click or tap Cancel deletion.
That is the entire mechanism: no form, no support ticket. Cancelling restores the account as it was, because during the window nothing has been erased yet, only hidden. Two cautions. First, Facebook states the window as less than 30 days and notes the exact number can vary by region — do not plan around day 29. Second, anything that logs you in counts: opening the app on a phone that still holds your session can surface the cancellation prompt, which is why deletions sometimes get quietly cancelled by accident. If you are serious about deleting, sign out everywhere and leave the account alone for the full window. Clearing the browser’s saved Facebook session removes one common accidental-login route; how to delete cookies covers that clean-up.
What happens after you request deletion
Immediately: your profile is hidden. Other people can no longer see your timeline, posts or photos, and you are logged out.
Days 1–30 — the cancellation window: the account still exists underneath, intact but invisible. This is your only chance to reverse it.
After 30 days: the account and all of its information are permanently deleted and cannot be retrieved.
Up to 90 days behind the scenes: Facebook says deleting everything you have posted can take up to 90 days from the start of the process. During that time the content is not accessible to other people. Copies may remain in backup storage beyond that point, and Facebook may retain certain information for legal issues, terms violations or harm prevention — that material is not visible and is not a way back in.
Three consequences people ask about most:
- Messenger goes with the account. Once your Facebook account is deleted, you cannot use Messenger. If keeping Messenger matters, deactivate instead.
- Messages you sent stay with the recipients. Copies are stored in your friends’ inboxes, and deleting your account does not pull them back — the same applies to screenshots and anything other people saved.
- Linked Meta accounts are separate. Deleting Facebook does not delete a linked Instagram profile, and vice versa. Deletion is always per-profile.
Special cases
You forgot your password, or you cannot log in. You cannot delete an account you cannot sign in to — the deletion flow lives inside the account and ends with a password confirmation, and Facebook will not delete an account on the say-so of someone who cannot log in to it. Recover access first: use Forgot password? on the login screen and reset the password using the email or phone number on the account. If the account was hacked, secure it first through facebook.com/hacked, then delete. Treat any third-party service claiming it can delete your account without you logging in — for a fee, or by uploading your ID to the service — with suspicion; identity documents, where Facebook asks for them, go to Facebook through its own forms, never to an intermediary. An old account whose email and phone you no longer have is the hardest version: if you cannot recover it, you cannot run the deletion flow.
A deceased person’s account, or a memorialized account. You cannot log in to someone else’s account to delete it, and a memorialized account cannot be logged in to at all. Facebook runs this through separate request processes instead. Anyone can report an account for memorialization with proof of death: “Remembering” appears by the person’s name, the profile stays as a place to share memories, and no one can log in. Removal is stricter — it is available to a verified immediate family member or the estate’s executor, through Facebook’s Special Request for a Deceased Person’s Account, with proof of death (a death certificate is the strongest document) plus proof of your authority. A legacy contact chosen by the person while alive can manage the memorialized profile in limited ways and can request removal, but can never log in or read messages. Background is on Facebook’s memorialized accounts help page. If the family is unsure, memorialize first: removal can follow later, but cannot itself be undone.
A Facebook Page is not your profile. Deleting a Page (from inside the Page’s own settings, under Access and control) leaves your profile untouched, and vice versa — and it runs on a different clock, 14 days, not 30.
Additional profiles under your main profile. If you created extra profiles under your main one, they are not separate accounts. Deleting your main profile deletes every additional profile under it as well. To remove only one extra profile, choose that profile itself on the Deactivation or deletion screen and delete it there — your main profile stays active, and the same 30-day window applies to the extra profile.
Frequently asked questions
How long does it take to delete a Facebook account? Your profile is hidden as soon as you confirm. The cancellation window is 30 days (the exact number can vary by region). After it closes the account is permanently deleted, and removing everything you posted can take up to 90 days.
Can I recover my account after deleting it? Only inside the cancellation window: log in and choose Cancel deletion. After the window, the account is permanently deleted.
Can I delete my Facebook account without my password? Not directly. Deletion requires logging in and confirming with your password. Forgotten it? Reset it through the login screen’s recovery flow first, then delete. There is no official delete-without-login route.
Does deleting Facebook delete Messenger and Instagram too? Messenger, yes. Instagram, no — a linked Instagram profile is separate and survives unless deleted separately.
Will my messages disappear for other people? No. Messages you sent remain visible in the recipients’ inboxes after your account is deleted.
What if I just want a break? Deactivate. It hides your profile, keeps everything intact, lets you keep Messenger if you choose, and is undone by logging back in.
The short version
Download your information first and check the file, fix your Facebook Logins, and hand over any Page only you control. Then: Settings & privacy → Settings → Accounts Center → Personal details → Account ownership and control → Deactivation or deletion → your profile → Delete account → confirm. Your profile hides immediately, you have 30 days to change your mind by logging in and choosing Cancel deletion, and after that it is gone for good. If that is more commitment than you want today, deactivate instead — the same screen, one option up.