How to Delete a Facebook Account Permanently

This article explains how to permanently delete your entire Facebook account, along with factors to consider before taking this step. It's a different process from deleting a specific page from your account or closing a group you've set up.

How to Permanently Close Your Entire Facebook Account

These instructions apply to Facebook accessed via a web browser on a desktop computer. Need to do this from your phone instead? Here's how to do that on an Android and what to do on an iPhone.

From your browser, follow these steps to finally end your relationship with Facebook:

1. On the Facebook home screen, click the downward arrow in the upper-right corner.

2. In the menu that appears, select Settings & Privacy > Settings. (Note: You might need to select Settings & Privacy first to find Settings.)

3. When the General Account Settings screen appears, click Your Facebook Information on the left navigation bar.

4. In the information that appears on the screen, select View next to Deactivation and Deletion.

5. On the next page, select Delete Account and then click Continue to Account Deletion. (Note: This area previously showed as Permanently Delete Account as shown in the image; Delete Account is the current wording.)

6. A new screen gives you the option to Deactivate Account or to Download Info. If you have not yet downloaded the personal information (pictures, chat histories, posts, etc.) that you want to keep, choose Download Info and wait for the download to complete. Otherwise, click Delete Account.

   Be sure you really want to delete your Facebook account before you do it. After 30 days, you cannot recover a deleted account.

7. Enter your password when prompted and then click Continue.

8. You're prompted again to confirm you want to delete the account. Click Delete Account.

9. Your account will be temporarily deleted, and you are returned to the log-in screen.

What to Consider Before Deleting Facebook

Before you delete your Facebook account, take some time to consider what you might lose by deleting it. For example, do you have pictures that only exist on Facebook? Or what about other accounts (like Instagram or Pinterest) that may be tied to your Facebook log-in information to access?

If you're not sure how entwined Facebook is in your digital world, it might be a better idea to deactivate it first to get a sense of what accounts and passwords you'll need to change before you completely cut the service off.

If you're sure you're ready to delete your account, at the very least you should have a backup of the data you have stored on Facebook. This could be anything from your pictures to chat histories and even friends lists. You'll have the option to choose what data to download once you start the process.

If you change your mind about deleting your account within the 30-day deletion window, you can log back into Facebook and confirm that you want to cancel deleting the page. The page will then be restored. After 30 days, the account and all the data in the account will be permanently deleted.