How to Delete Your Facebook Account (Without Leaving Loose Ends)

To delete your Facebook account, open Facebook’s settings, go to Accounts Center, and choose the option to deactivate or delete under your personal details. Download your information first, and hand over any Pages or groups you run. Meta keeps deletion requests pending for a grace period, and logging back in during that time cancels them. Deleting removes your profile, posts and comments, but messages you sent, photos friends posted of you and copies elsewhere online can remain.

Facebook is often the platform with the longest history, so it deserves more preparation than most. This guide covers the steps, the loose ends people usually forget, and what to do about the content that deletion won’t touch.

Deactivate or delete?

	Deactivate	Delete
Your profile	Hidden from others	Permanently removed after the grace period
Messenger	Can stay active if you choose	Ends with the account
Coming back	Log in to reactivate	Only during the grace period
Facebook Login on other sites	Usually still works	Stops working
Best for	A break, or keeping Messenger	Leaving for good

Many people want Facebook gone from search results but still need Messenger for family chats. Deactivation fits that well. If you just want to hide old content, a privacy review may be enough: Facebook’s activity log lets you archive or trash posts in bulk, as described in our guide to deleting old social media posts.

Before you delete: a checklist

1. Download your information. Accounts Center has a tool to download a copy of your Facebook data, including photos, posts, messages and friend lists. Choose the date range and format you want, and wait for the file to be ready.
2. Hand over Pages and groups. If you’re the only admin of a Facebook Page, it can be affected when your account is deleted. Add another trusted person with full control first. Do the same for groups you run. If you’d rather remove the Page entirely, see how to delete a Facebook Page.
3. Check Facebook Login. Apps, games and websites you signed in to with Facebook will stop working for you. Set a password or another login method on each one first. Facebook’s settings show which apps are connected.
4. Check Meta connections. If Facebook and Instagram are linked in Accounts Center, make sure you’re deleting the right account and understand what happens to the other.
5. Close out Marketplace and payments. Finish open sales and remove saved payment methods.
6. Save evidence if you’re being harassed. Screenshots with dates and profile links make later reports and legal steps much easier.
7. Consider a legacy contact. If you’d rather your account be memorialized than deleted after your death, Facebook has settings for that. If you want it deleted after death, there’s an option for that too.

How to delete your Facebook account

Meta reorganizes its settings fairly often, so the steps below describe the route rather than exact button names. Facebook’s help center has the current version.

1. Open Facebook, go to settings and open Accounts Center.
2. Look under personal details for account ownership and control, then choose to deactivate or delete.
3. Pick the Facebook profile you want to delete.
4. Choose delete, work through the screens that suggest alternatives, and enter your password.
5. Confirm. Facebook tells you when the deletion becomes final.

During the grace period your profile isn’t visible, but the deletion isn’t complete. Logging in, or using Facebook to sign in somewhere else, can cancel it. Meta also says that clearing everything from its systems can take longer than the grace period, and that some data, such as copies in backups or records kept for legal reasons, may be retained for a time.

What deleting Facebook removes, and what it doesn’t

What goes

• Your profile, timeline posts, photos and videos.
• Your comments and reactions on other people’s posts.
• Your friend list and your presence in search on Facebook.

What stays

• Messages you sent. They stay in recipients’ inboxes.
• Photos and posts by other people. Tags no longer link to a profile, but pictures and captions naming you remain.
• Group content. Other members’ posts that mention you, and screenshots of your posts shared in groups, stay up unless removed by the author or an admin.
• Copies elsewhere. Screenshots, news stories, forum threads and web archives that captured your posts are unaffected.
• Search engine results. Your old public profile or posts can appear in Google for a while after deletion. Once the page is gone, results usually drop out after a recrawl. If they don’t, you can ask Google to refresh them, as explained in our guide to removing outdated content from Google.

Dealing with what’s left

Photos and posts by friends and family

Do this before you delete, while you can still untag yourself and message people easily. A short, friendly request usually works.

Hi Aunt Lisa, I’m closing my Facebook account and tidying up what’s online about me. Would you mind removing the photos from the 2015 reunion that I’m tagged in, or making the album friends-only? Thanks so much.

If a post breaks Facebook’s rules, for example it shares private information or intimate images, or it’s harassment, report it. Our guide on removing a Facebook post about you explains the report options and what to do when a post is harmful but within the rules.

Groups and old Pages

If you posted in public groups, those posts are removed with your account, but replies quoting you and screenshots may remain. For a Page you created, decide whether to transfer it, unpublish it or delete it separately before you delete your profile.

If you’re locked out

You’ll need access before you can delete the account. Use Facebook’s official recovery options: the “forgot password” flow, recognized devices, and identity confirmation if Facebook asks for it. Don’t pay anyone who claims to recover accounts; that’s a common scam aimed at people who’ve just been locked out. If it’s an old profile and you no longer have the password or email, our guide on how to delete an old Facebook account covers the options.

If your account was hacked, recover and secure it first. Our Facebook account hacked guide walks through the official recovery steps and what to check once you’re back in. If someone has set up a fake profile using your name and photos, report it as impersonation. Facebook lets you report fake accounts even if you don’t have an account yourself.

A worked example

This scenario is illustrative, not a real client. Desmond has used Facebook since high school. He runs a small landscaping business with a Facebook Page, and he’s tired of old political arguments showing up when people search his name.

1. He downloads his information and keeps a copy.
2. He adds his business partner as a full admin on the landscaping Page, so the Page survives without him.
3. He finds three apps he signed in to with Facebook and switches each one to email and password.
4. He decides he wants to keep Messenger for family, so he deactivates rather than deletes, and chooses to keep Messenger active.
5. After a month, he realizes he doesn’t miss the profile at all. He reactivates briefly, confirms the Page is safe, then deletes the account and leaves it alone during the grace period.
6. A few weeks later, one of his old public posts still appears in Google. He submits it through Google’s outdated content tool and it drops out.

Common mistakes

• Deleting as the only admin of a business Page. Always add another admin first.
• Losing access to other apps. Check Facebook Login connections before you go.
• Logging back in during the grace period. That cancels deletion, sometimes without you noticing.
• Expecting deletion to fix search results. It removes the source, but other sites and screenshots need separate work. Our guide to cleaning up your digital footprint covers the rest.

If what’s hurting you is content about you on pages you don’t control, our content removal service can look at whether removal is realistic and what to do if it isn’t.

Frequently asked questions

Can I reactivate a deleted Facebook account?

Only during the grace period after you request deletion. Logging in during that time cancels the request. After the deletion becomes final, the account and its content can’t be restored.

Can I delete Facebook but keep Messenger?

Messenger is tied to your Facebook account, so deleting Facebook ends your Messenger access too. If you want to keep Messenger, deactivate your Facebook account instead and choose to keep Messenger active.

Will my friends be notified when I delete Facebook?

Facebook doesn’t send friends a notice. They’ll simply find that your profile is no longer visible. Messages you sent them stay in their inboxes.

What happens to my Facebook Page if I delete my account?

If you’re the only admin, the Page may be affected. Add another person with full control before deleting your personal account so the Page stays managed.