How to delete your Facebook account
Facebook is the world's largest social network with around 3 billion monthly users. Meta stores everything you've posted, liked, commented on, searched for, and messaged on Facebook — plus your face-recognition vectors (in regions where enabled), your phone contacts (if synced), location history, device identifiers, and the activity third-party sites and apps share with Meta. Account deletion has a 30-day grace period and Meta retains backups for up to 90 days afterward.
Delete your Facebook account, step by step
- 1Open Facebook and click your profile picture > 'Settings & privacy' > 'Settings'
- 2Click 'Accounts Center' in the sidebar
- 3Under 'Account settings', click 'Personal details'
- 4Click 'Account ownership and control' > 'Deactivation or deletion'
- 5Select your Facebook account, then 'Delete account'
- 6Pick a reason and click 'Continue to account deletion'
- 7Re-enter your password and click 'Delete account'
- 8Account is disabled for 30 days, then permanently deleted
What actually happens when you delete
Gets removed
- ✓Your profile, name, photos, videos, posts, and timeline
- ✓Friends list, followers, groups, and pages you only admin
- ✓Messenger chats from your side (recipients keep their copy)
- ✓Memories, saved items, marketplace listings, and check-ins
- ✓Connected third-party app permissions and Login-with-Facebook tokens
Stays behind
- ✗Messenger conversations stay in the other person's inbox
- ✗Pages you co-admin transfer ownership to remaining admins
- ✗Comments and tags on other people's posts (re-attributed to 'Facebook User')
- ✗Backups Meta retains for up to 90 days for technical recovery
- ✗Data Meta keeps for fraud, safety, billing, and legal compliance
- ✗Your Instagram, WhatsApp, and Threads accounts (unless deleted separately)
Before you delete
Deleting Facebook does NOT delete Instagram, WhatsApp, or Messenger — they are separate accounts under Meta's Accounts Center. Cancel any Meta Verified, paid groups, or Marketplace subscriptions before you delete. Download your data archive first; Meta takes up to 90 days to fully purge backups so don't expect immediate disappearance from every Meta system.
Download your data from Facebook first
Most platforms only honor a data-export request while the account is still active. Do this before you delete.
- 1Open Accounts Center > 'Your information and permissions' > 'Download your information'
- 2Choose 'Some of your information' or 'All available information'
- 3Pick HTML (browsable) or JSON (machine-readable)
- 4Choose a date range and quality level for photos/videos
- 5Click 'Submit request'
- 6Download arrives by email and in Accounts Center, typically within hours to a couple of days
Want to take a break instead? Deactivate
Deactivation hides your profile without permanently destroying it. Logging back in restores everything.
- 1Go to Accounts Center > 'Personal details' > 'Account ownership and control' > 'Deactivation or deletion'
- 2Select your Facebook account, choose 'Deactivate account'
- 3Re-enter your password
- 4Your timeline is hidden but you keep Messenger access and can reactivate any time by logging in
If deletion fails — or you live in the EU, UK, or California
You have a legal right to request erasure of your personal data under GDPR (EU/UK) and CCPA (California). Use these official channels if the self-service flow doesn't work.
Facebook deletion FAQs
How long does it take Facebook to delete my account?+
Your account is invisible immediately and the permanent deletion process starts after a 30-day grace period (during which logging in cancels deletion). Meta keeps backups for up to 90 more days for technical recovery, so worst case the data is fully purged about 120 days after the request.
Will deleting Facebook delete my Instagram and WhatsApp accounts?+
No. They live in the same Accounts Center but are separate accounts. You must delete each one through its own flow.
What happens to my Messenger conversations?+
Messages disappear from your side of the conversation but remain in every other participant's inbox — Meta cannot retract them. If a conversation is sensitive, ask the other person to delete it first.
Can I download my data after I delete my Facebook account?+
No. Once deletion completes, you lose access to the data export tools. Always run 'Download Your Information' BEFORE submitting the deletion request.
What's the difference between deactivating and deleting Facebook?+
Deactivation hides your profile but keeps Messenger working and lets you reactivate instantly. Deletion permanently destroys the account after the 30-day grace window. Deactivation is reversible at any time; deletion is not.
I admin a Facebook Page — what happens to it?+
If you're the only admin, you must either assign another admin first or the Page will be deleted with your account. Co-admin pages transfer to the remaining admins automatically.
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