Facebook is one of the most popular social media platforms in the world, with over 2.8 billion monthly active users as of December 2020. However, there may be times when you want to take a break from Facebook, or you simply don’t want to use it anymore. In that case, you have two options: you can either deactivate your account temporarily, or you can delete your account permanently.
Deactivating your account means that you can still reactivate it whenever you want, but people won’t be able to see your profile or search for you. Some information, such as messages you sent to friends, may still be visible to others. Deleting your account means that you can’t regain access once it’s deleted, and some information, such as messaging history, may still be accessible to others. Copies of some material, such as log records, may remain in Facebook’s database but are disassociated from personal identifiers.
In this blog post, we will show you how to deactivate your Facebook account step by step, and what happens to your profile, messages, posts, and Pages when you do so. We will also explain how to cancel your account deletion if you change your mind.
How to Deactivate Your Facebook Account
There are two ways to deactivate your Facebook account, depending on whether you have access to the new Pages experience or not. The new Pages experience is a redesigned version of Facebook Pages that makes it easier for public figures and creators to build community and achieve their goals. If you have access to the new Pages experience, you will see a notification at the top of your Page. If you don’t have access to the new Pages experience, you will see the classic Pages layout.
If you have access to the new Pages experience, follow these steps to deactivate your account:
- Click your profile picture in the top right of Facebook.
- Select Settings & Privacy, then click Settings.
- Click Accounts Center at the top left of your screen.
- Click Personal details, under Account Settings.
- Click Account ownership and control.
- Click Deactivation or deletion.
- Choose the account or profile you want to deactivate.
- Select Deactivate account.
- Click Continue then follow the instructions to confirm.
If you don’t have access to the new Pages experience, follow these steps to deactivate your account:
- Click your profile picture in the top right of Facebook.
- Select Settings & Privacy, then click Settings.
- Click Privacy, then click Your Facebook Information.
- Click Deactivation and Deletion.
- Choose Deactivate Account, then click Continue to Account Deactivation and follow the instructions to confirm.
What Happens When You Deactivate Your Facebook Account
When you deactivate your Facebook account, your profile and all the information associated with it are immediately made inaccessible to other Facebook users. This means that:
- No one else can see your profile.
- Some information, like messages you sent to friends, may still be visible to them.
- Your friends may still see your name in their friends list. This is only visible to your friends, and only from their friends list.
- Group admins may still be able to see your posts and comments, along with your name.
- You will not be able to use your Facebook account to access Meta Quest Products or your Meta Quest information.
However, deactivating your account does not delete it permanently. You can reactivate your account at any time by logging back into Facebook or by using your Facebook account to log in somewhere else. When you reactivate your account, your profile will be restored in its entirety (friends, photos, interests, etc.).
How to Cancel Your Account Deletion
If you decide that you want to delete your Facebook account permanently, you can follow the same steps as above, but choose Delete Account instead of Deactivate Account. You will have to enter your password and confirm that you want to delete your account. Once you do that, your account will be marked for deletion and you will have 30 days to cancel the process.
If you change your mind within 30 days, you can cancel your account deletion by logging into your account and clicking Cancel Deletion. If you don’t log in within 30 days, your account and all your information will be permanently deleted, and you won’t be able to retrieve it.
Conclusion
Facebook is a great way to stay connected with your friends and family, but sometimes you may want to take a break from it or quit it altogether. In this blog post, we showed you how to deactivate your Facebook account temporarily, and what happens to your profile, messages, posts, and Pages when you do so. We also explained how to delete your account permanently, and how to cancel your account deletion if you change your mind.
We hope this blog post was helpful and informative. If you have any questions or feedback, please leave a comment below. Thank you for reading!