Instagram gives you a freehand in taking a temporary leave or going off permanently, depends on what you need. In actual, when you decide to stop using a social media site anymore, you better leave it deactivated. In this wise, you can get back to your account and social site friends whenever you want.
However, if you change your mind, follow your instincts accordingly and delete your account permanently you can`t login back.
Delete or Deactivate Instagram account- What to do?
With its incredible visuals and highly impressive features, Instagram is one of the most famous social media platforms around the world. But there are times when people need a small break and prefer to go off. In such scenarios, Instagram allows its users to deactivate their Instagram account and delete their profiles permanently or temporarily. Wanna know how? Read up on this guide to find answers.
By deactivating your Instagram account, all your activities and content, including your profile, posts, comments, photos, likes or even followers will no longer be visible and searchable online.
This saves your data or profile from risks like being used by others or getting hacked without informing you.
Deactivating your account allows you to recover it later. But deletion won’t permit you to do the same because it’s permanent. So, it’s better if you first disable your Instagram account temporarily actually to cope with whatever position you’re in. Once known, you can then act accordingly. And in the meantime, your profile will remain safe and sound!
Quick Note: Being an Instagramer, you can deactivate or delete your account using a desktop web browser or smartphone browser. But, you can’t do it from within the Instagram app. Deleting an account permanently, Instagram takes 90 days. And, it starts counting the time from the date you submitted a request.
Wondering how to delete and deactivate your Instagram account? Here’s a guide on how to do both.
How to Deactivate Instagram Account?
If you think you’d want to deactivate your Instagram account after a while, then you should deactivate it temporarily instead of going for a permanent solution. All your Insta account data, including posts, comments, likes, profile etc., will remain hidden until reactivation.
Furthermore, Instagram has given you several other satisfactory options to choose from besides account deactivation. For instance, you can set private your posts, block people, turn off commenting and many more just in case if you want to adjust your preferences and change account privacy. But still, if you need a break, make sure you have the right log-in information and just go off!
So, for making your Instagram handle temporarily hidden, follow these steps.
Steps to Deactivate Instagram Account?
1. ”Log in” to your Instagram account from a PC browser or mobile browser by visiting ”this link”.
(Note: You can’t deactivate your Instagram account from within the Instagram mobile application)
2. Click on your ”Profile Picture” in the top right corner.
3. Now, select “Profile” from the menu.
4. Tap on “Edit Profile”, an option right after your Username on the screen.
5. Now scroll the drop-down menu and select the “Temporarily disable my account” option.
6. Next, choose a suitable option for “Why are you disabling your account?” You will find an extended list of reasons that reads too busy, too distracting, privacy concerns, need a break, too many ads, want to remove something and many more. Just give a reason shortly. However, if you can’t help yourself in specifying your subject, then just select the option “Something else” for deactivating your account temporarily.
7. Enter your password again.
8. Now, click the “Temporarily Disable Account” option.
Note: The option “Disable Account” will only be available once you’ve selected a reason from the given options and give a password.
However, if you might ever want to reactivate your account in the future, you simply log back into your Instagram account by entering the same old Username and Password. Congrats! You’re now back on Insta.
Instagram- A Quick Overview
Launched in October 2010, Instagram was popular among celebs first. But now, as the world has modernized and communication has reached the next level, using Instagram is getting famous day by day among all individuals.
Now, billions of people across the globe actively use Instagram.
Only Insta “Story Feature” is used by over 500 million people every day. By sharing pictures and short videos, Instagramers now use this platform to highlight issues concerned to the public.
Like Twitter and Facebook, now we see hashtags trending on Instagram to raise voices against anything inhuman. This is how Instagram is becoming an important site to spread news, information, and community help. This Facebook-owned application has provided its users with some valuable options to avoid any disturbance or offence.
It rolled out the “Restrict” option to help its users stop those people who post abusive comments or offensive content and bully them. In addition, the “Caption Warning” option allows people to identify objectionable captions.
Since Instagram has become a famous public sphere, it has also announced its collaboration with fact-checkers worldwide to fight against misinformation and bogus content. With that said, it also brought new safety measures by introducing age-restricted product features. These Insta features make users feel sort of intact in this cyber world.
Still, do you want to take a leave or go off-grid altogether? Then, continue your read.
For how long you can deactivate your account?
You can remain deactivated as long as you want. And at any time, when you make up your mind to start using Instagram again, just simply log back in. But, keep this restriction in mind that you can only deactivate your Instagram account once a week.
So, if you deactivate your account and then log back in the other day, you will have to wait a week to disable your account again.
Do you lose your followers if you deactivate your Instagram account?
No, you won’t. When you go for temporarily disabling your account, Instagram stores and keeps intact all your account data to the state it was in.
Also, deactivation or deletion makes your account unsearchable. So, your followers won’t be able to unfollow you while your account is disabled because they can’t see you anywhere.
How to Delete Instagram Account? Permanently
Steps to Delete Instagram Account? Permaneltly
For deleting your account permanently, you need to directly and simply visit ”the Account Deletion Page” of Insta on the web browser, not the application. This way, you will submit a request for account deletion to Instagram.
But remember, once your Insta account is deleted, you can’t log back in because it’s irreversible. Moreover, you can’t sign up again using the same Username you used before, or you can’t add up your old username to your new account. So be sure before doing that.
Follow these steps provided below to get a guide on how to delete an Instagram account.
- Visit the Instagram official website ‘‘from the browser” and log in to your account.
- After logging in, visit “Account Deletion Page”.
- You’ll see a dropdown menu on your screen. Select a reason explaining why you want to delete your account. And if you don’t find one matching your motive, click the “Something Else” option as a reason.
- Enter password after giving a reason.
- Hit the “Delete [account name]” option, and here you are! Permanently disappeared from Instagram.
Note: It will take 90 days to fully and finally erase your data for Instagram. Until then, consider your account just deactivated, hidden from public reach.
Once, you tap the option “Permanently delete my account”, your data and profile become unrecoverable. However, you can also switch from the Account Deletion Page to Temporarily Account Deactivation Page when you change your mind. But again, it can only be possible when you’re using the web browser for doing this.
Unfortunately, the Instagram app doesn’t provide you with these options to go for. According to its terms and conditions, Instagram deletes your data right after 30 days of your submitted account deletion request, and you can’t retrieve any of your information from it after that.
However, Insta may take up to 90 days to delete all your activities so that other people can’t access you through anything. Also, Instagram can save copies of your account information even after 90 days in its backup storage. The purpose behind this is to make an account backup ready in case anything goes wrong, like a software error, data loss, or efforts to prevent any sort of harm, violation of terms, or legal issues.
What happens when you deactivate or delete your Instagram?
If you think this social media platform is too much for you, you first have to decide. Either do you want to deactivate your Instagram, or you want to delete it altogether?
Deactivation is much different from deletion. When you deactivate your account, it means you’re leaving Instagram temporarily, and you can get back to it any moment you want. So your profile will be hidden but not gone forever.
But deletion is permanent. It means all your photos, videos, archives, followers and messages are removed permanently as they never existed. So, it’s wise to think before doing so because Instagram can’t help you reactivate a deleted account.
However, if you want to come back to Instagram, you’re welcome but with a new account and username. We hope this guide made it a little easier for you to decide how to remove your Instagram.
