Social Media Instagram How to Delete Your Instagram Account (Or Temporarily Deactivate It) Sometimes a break from Instagram is necessary by Elise Moreau Freelance Contributor Elise Moreau is a writer that has covered social media, texting, messaging, and streaming for Lifewire. Her work has appeared on Techvibes, SlashGear, Lifehack and others. our editorial process Facebook Twitter Elise Moreau Updated on December 05, 2020 The Ultimate Guide to Instagram The Ultimate Guide to Instagram Introduction Instagram Basics How to Use Instagram Instagram Tips for Beginners Check Messages on Instagram Add or Change an Instagram Background Search Instagram for Tags and Users Add Music to Instagram Video Use Instagram Video Chat Try Instagram Shopping Get Verified on Instagram Clear Search History on Instagram Posting on Instagram The Best Time to Post Save a Draft of a Post Repost an Instagram Story See Previously Liked Posts Post a GIF to Instagram Add Multiple Photos to Stories Save Instagram Videos How to Quickly Repost Photos Saving Photos Deleting Photos and Videos View Saved Posts With Instagram Collections Working With Followers Mute Someone on Instagram See Who Unfollowed You on Instagram Block Someone On Instagram Unblock Someone on Instagram See Who Viewed You Great Tools to Track Comments Remove Followers on Instagram Tips to Get a Shoutout on Instagram Attract More Instagram Followers Delete 'Suggestions for You' IG Tips & Tricks Instagram Tips and Tricks to Try Add Highlights on Instagram Learn About Instagram Direct Use Instagram's Close Friends Feature How to Delete or Deactivate Your Account Reactivate Your Account Reset Your Password Get Started With Location Tagging How to Repost Shoot Videos with Instagram Video Understanding IG Privacy & Security Hide Your Story on Instagram Does IG Send Screenshot Notifications? Make Your Instagram Account Private See Who Saved Your Instagram Posts Download Everything IG Knows About You Manage Multiple Instagram Accounts Hiding Photos Rather Than Deleting Them How to View Private Instagram Accounts Engaging Users on Instagram Start an Instagram Live Video How to Sell on Instagram Use an Instagram Creator Account Make Money as an Instagram Influencer How to Get More Likes Things You Should Definitely Do Get on the Instagram Explore Page The Best Instagram Apps to Boost Engagement How to Make a Poll Instagram Extras: Captions & More Steal These: The Best Instagram Captions Discover the Best Instagram Filters Have Fun With Instagram Hashtags Use Emoji Hashtags on IG The Easy Way to Track IG Hashtags How to Use the IG Questions Sticker Using Instagram on Other Platforms Can You Get Instagram on Apple Watch? Use Instagram on a PC or Mac Get Instagram for iPad What is the Galaxy S10 Instagram Mode? View Instagram on the Web Online Connect Instagram to Facebook Tools for Posting From the Desktop Tweet Share Email What To Know Open Instagram in a browser, and log in. Open your profile > Edit Profile > Temporarily disable... > pick a reason > Temporarily disable...To delete an account, go to the delete link. Pick a reason, reenter your password, and press Permanently delete my account. This article explains how to temporarily deactivate your Instagram account, or you can delete your Instagram account completely. Instagram doesn't currently let users disable their accounts from within the app, presumably for security purposes. How To Disable Your Instagram Account Open your web browser (Firefox, Chrome, Safari, or other), type Instagram.com into the URL field, and hit Enter or Go. The Instagram homepage will appear, and you should see a button on the page that says Log in. If you're accessing it from a mobile device, it will be at the bottom of your screen. Click or tap it and log in to your Instagram account with your username and password. Whether you're accessing it from the desktop or mobile web, you'll see a profile icon in the bottom menu to the far right, just like within the app. Click or tap it to be taken to your profile. Just beneath your profile details, you should see a big button that says Edit Profile. Click or tap it. Scroll down to the bottom of the next page and look for the blue link that says Temporarily disable my account. Click or tap on it. Instagram will bring you to a page that provides you with a dropdown menu of options to choose why you want to disable your account. Click or tap the drop-down and select the appropriate reason. Some suggested tips will then appear along with a request to re-enter your password if you'd like to keep going. Click or tap the big blue Temporarily Disable Account button to disable the account. Click or tap to confirm it if Instagram gives you a pop-up message (in case you clicked/tapped by accident). Don't freak out if you disable your account but can't get in after trying to reactivate it by logging in again a few minutes later. If you try to log back in via the mobile web browser or app immediately, you might receive a message saying, "We haven't finished disabling your account yet. If you want to reactivate it, try again in a few hours." You can only disable your account once a week. Instagram will bring you to a page to confirm that your account has been temporarily disabled. To reactivate it, you just need to log back in again via Instagram.com. You can restore your account at any time. An additional alternative to disabling or deleting is to simply limit access to your profile by making your Instagram profile private. How to Permanently Delete Your Instagram Account Just like temporarily disabling accounts, Instagram also doesn't let users delete their accounts from within the app. Again, this is presumably for security purposes. Open a web browser, sign in to Instagram, and go to Instagram's delete your account page. The page is only accessible through the direct link. There's no way to get there from your profile. To continue with the deletion process, click or tap the dropdown menu, and select your reason. You'll be asked to re-enter your password. Do so. When you're ready, press Permanently delete my account. Deletion is permanent. You will never be able to restore your account and get all of your photos, videos, likes, comments, or followers back. Even if you decide to delete everything in the end, bear in mind that doing so doesn't mean your photos and videos will be gone from the web forever. Anything and everything you post or upload to Instagram (and social media in general) is still accessible by the social network itself. Was this page helpful? Thanks for letting us know! Get the Latest Tech News Delivered Every Day Email Address Sign up There was an error. Please try again. You're in! Thanks for signing up. There was an error. Please try again. Thank you for signing up. Tell us why! Other Not enough details Hard to understand Submit