How to delete your Instagram account

Instagram is currently one of the most popular social media platforms, offering millions of users their daily dose of the internet and a ground for content creators to promote their niche work across an engaging audience. Its easy-to-use and visually-appealing user interface seals the deal for beginners and professionals alike.

Despite the platform’s undeniable advantages, users may sometimes want to delete their account due to certain reasons. The most common motive is to create a fresh account after deleting an old profile. This may help aspiring creators develop a new audience and build fresh traffic for their content.

Sometimes, users may want to take a temporary or permanent break from social media and deleting the account makes it easier to keep their resolutions intact. Meta’s intrusive policy regarding personal data has affected numerous social media users as well, with many opting out of Instagram and Facebook entirely.

Regardless of the reason, this article offers a guide to easily deleting (or deactivating) an Instagram account.

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Here’s how you can delete your Instagram account for good

It should be noted that deleting an account will permanently remove all profile data, including photos, videos, comments, likes, and followers. Users can choose to temporarily disable their profile instead of deleting it entirely.

If you still want to permanently delete your account, you can do so from the Instagram app on your phone or via the website on a browser.

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How to submit an account deletion request in Instagram

Follow these steps:

1. Open the app and tap on the profile icon. [Start from step 2 if you're trying this from the Instagram website]
2. Now, tap on the three horizontal bars and select Settings.
3. Next, tap on Account and then Delete account.
4. A prompt will show up asking the user to deactivate the account instead of deleting it. Select Delete Account and then Continue Deleting Account to move forward with permanent deletion.
5. Next, select the reason from the drop-down menu below Why do you want to delete [account name].
6. Re-enter the account’s password.
7. Select Delete [username].

And that’s it, you have now submitted a request to delete your account permanently.

30 days after submitting this request, your account data will be removed from the platform forever and the deleted information will not be retrievable. Hence, it's always advisable to download your profile data before submitting a request for account deletion.

Follow these steps to download your data:

1. Open your profile on a browser and click on the three horizontal bars in the bottom left.
2. Go to Settings > Privacy and security.
3. Now, scroll down to the Data download section and click on Request download.
4. Enter the email address where the data is to be sent.
5. Select the format (HTML or JSON) in which the data is to be sent.
6. Enter the account password to verify the process and click on Request download.

You’ll then receive an email with a link to your account data. Open the link, click on Download data and follow the instructions to access it.