How to Deactivate Facebook on Android

Temporarily disable your Facebook account

By
Molly McLaughlin
Molly McLaughlin
Molly McLaughlin
Senior Editor & Content Strategist
Molly K. McLaughlin has been a technology editor and writer for over a dozen years. She runs product reviews for Lifewire, overseeing the process from hands-on testing to publishing.
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Updated on October 15, 2021
Reviewed by
Jon Fisher
Jon Fisher headshot
Reviewed by Jon Fisher
  • Wichita Technical Institute
Jonathan Fisher is a CompTIA certified technologist with more than 6 years' experience writing for publications like TechNorms and Help Desk Geek.
lifewire's editorial guidelines

What to Know

  • Go to Menu > Settings & Privacy > Settings > Personal and Account Information > Account Ownership and Control.
  • Select Deactivation and Deletion > Continue to Account Deactivation. Review the options and tap Deactivate My Account.
  • Deactivating your Facebook account is temporary. You can reactivate it anytime. Deleting Facebook is permanent.

This article explains how to temporarily deactivate your Facebook account on Android. Additional information covers what happens to your account when you deactivate it.

Deactivate Facebook in the Android App

It takes only a few steps to deactivate your account, and you can reactivate it even faster. You can also have Facebook automatically reactivate your profile after one to seven days. To reactivate Facebook, all you have to do is log in to the app, so make sure you remember your credentials.

  1. In the Facebook app, tap Menu (the three horizontal lines).

  2. Scroll down and tap Settings & Privacy.

  3. Tap Settings.

    Menu, Settings & Privacy, and Settings highlighted in Facebook

  4. Tap Personal and Account Information.

  5. Tap Account Ownership and Control.

  6. Tap Deactivation and deletion.

    Personal and Account Information, Account Ownership and Control, and Deactivation and deletion on Facebook app

  7. Enter your password and tap Continue.

  8. Choose Deactivate account and tap Continue to account deactivation.

  9. Select a reason from the list, then tap Continue.

  10. Facebook will offer alternatives to deactivating your account and the opportunity to save posts in your archive. You can also choose to automatically reactivate your account after a set number of days.

    Deactivate account, Continue, and 7 days highlighted in the automatically reactivate account menu on the Facebook app

  11. Select a number (1 to 7) or Don't reactivate automatically, then scroll down and tap Continue.

  12. You'll then have the option to keep using Messenger and opt out of future notifications from Facebook while your account is deactivated. Make your selections, then tap Deactivate My Account.

    Don't reactivate automatically and Deactivate my account on the Facebook app

  13. You'll land on the login page, which will display a confirmation message.

Deactivate Facebook Account in a Mobile Browser

You can also disable your account in any mobile browser. Although the interface looks a little different, the process is exactly the same, so follow the steps above to deactivate Facebook.

What Happens When You Deactivate Facebook?

Deactivating your account disables your profile and removes your name and profile image from most of the things you've posted on Facebook. Your friends will still see you on their friend list and on messages you've sent them. Reactivating the account restores everything to how it was.

When you deactivate your Facebook account, you can still use Messenger (see above instructions). Friends can also invite you to events, ask you to join groups, and tag you in photos. Facebook will continue sending you notifications unless you disable them.

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