Deleting Your Facebook Account vs. Deactivation: What is the Difference?
Facebook offers two ways to eliminate access to your account if you want to stop using it: deactivate the account and delete the account. Deactivation is a temporary process that lets you hide your account from others. You will have to reactivate the account to use it. Deactivation comes in handy when you want to take a break from Facebook without deleting the account. Deletion, on the other hand, is a permanent process where your Facebook account is completely removed. You will have to create a new Facebook account if you decide to use Facebook again. Now that you know how the two differ, it’s better to deactivate the account if you want to take a break from it or no longer like using Facebook. However, if you have decided that you no longer want to be in any relationship with Facebook, you can delete it.
What Happens When You Deactivate or Delete Your Facebook Account
Let’s see how various things change when you delete or deactivate your Facebook account.
Can People Search for Your Profile?
Your profile will disappear from other people’s view in both cases. However, it might still be visible in certain places like Messenger, old posts, etc., when you deactivate your account. Yet, nobody can click on your profile, as only your name will be visible. Deleting the account completely vanishes your profile without leaving any trace.
Does Deleting or Deactivating Facebook Delete Everything?
Your existing posts (photos, videos, etc.) will remain safe on Facebook when you deactivate the account. You can reactivate the account to access them at anytime. However, the same can’t be said about deleting the account, as everything related to your account gets deleted unless you download the data including chats as shown below.
How to Download Your Facebook Information
- Log in to your Facebook account before deleting or deactivating it.
- Click on the small down arrow at the top. Go to “Settings & privacy → Settings” from the menu.
- Click on “Your Facebook information” from the left sidebar and hit the View button next to “Download your information.”
- On the next screen, select the type of data, quality, and time period of the data you want to download. Hit the “Create file” button.
Can You Use Messenger If You Deactivate or Delete Facebook?
Deactivating Facebook doesn’t deactivate Messenger. You can chat with others, and people can search for you on Messenger. You will have to manually deactivate Messenger if you want to. On the other hand, you cannot access or keep your Messenger account when you delete your Facebook account.
Can You Access Old Messages?
Deactivating or deleting the account doesn’t have any impact on messages that you have sent to other accounts. Such messages will still remain visible in another person’s inbox and in your inbox as well in the case of deactivating the account.
Can You Log in to Other Websites?
Deactivating the account doesn’t stop you from using Facebook login on some sites, such as Pinterest, Spotify, etc. However, you cannot use your Facebook login on other websites after deleting the account. You will have to contact the websites to recover your account.
What Happens to Oculus Information?
When you deactivate the account, you cannot access Oculus products or information, such as purchases and achievements, associated with your Facebook account. The same thing happens when you delete your account.
Can You Use Facebook Pages?
The pages associated with your Facebook account also bear the brunt of deactivating or deleting the account if you are the lone admin. The pages you own will be deactivated or deleted when you deactivate or delete the account respectively. You can reactivate the pages when you reactivate your account. However, you cannot regain the deleted pages later if you are the only admin. If you don’t want to lose your pages while deactivating or deleting your account, you can make someone else the admin of your pages. That way your pages will remain safe.
How Long Does It Take to Delete or Deactivate the Account?
Deactivation is a quick process and will happen immediately. On the other hand, Facebook gives you a grace period of 30 days after you submit the request to delete the page. During that period, you or others cannot view the Facebook account. After 30 days, your account and the associated information will be permanently deleted.
Can You Cancel Account Deactivation or Deletion
You can cancel the deactivation by simply logging in to your Facebook account at anytime.
Similarly, you need to log in to your Facebook account within 30 days of submitting the request if you want to stop Facebook from permanently deleting your account.
Now, let’s examine how to delete or deactivate your Facebook account.
How to Deactivate or Delete Your Facebook Account on Desktop
- Open the Facebook website and log in to your account.
- Click on the small down arrow at the top. Select “Settings & privacy” -> Settings.”
- Click on “Your Facebook information” in the left sidebar.
- Click on View next to “Deactivation and deletion.”
- Select the Deactivate or Delete option you desire and hit the blue button at the bottom to continue.
How to Deactivate or Delete Your Facebook Account on iPhone
On the iPhone Facebook app, you can only deactivate the account. Deleting it is not an option. You will have to use the Facebook mobile website (as shown below) or a PC to delete your Facebook account.
- Open the Facebook app on your iPhone.
- Tap on the three-bar icon and go to “Settings & privacy → Settings.”
- Tap on “Personal information → Manage account.”
- Tap on the “Deactivate” option next to Account.
How to Deactivate or Delete Facebook Account on Android, Facebook Lite, and Mobile Website
- Open the Facebook app, Facebook Lite, or m.facebook.com from a browser on your phone. Log in to your account.
- Tap on the three-bar icon at the top. Scroll down and tap on “Settings & privacy → Settings on Android.” On Facebook Lite and the website on a mobile device, tap on “Settings.”
- Tap on “Personal and account information” followed by “Account ownership and control.”
- Tap on “Deactivation and deletion” and choose the Delete or Deactivate option on the next screen, then hit the blue button at the bottom to continue.
How to Deactivate Facebook Messenger
Once you have deactivated your Facebook account, follow these steps to deactivate Messenger.
- Open the Facebook Messenger app on your Android, iPhone, or iPad.
- Tap on the profile icon at the top. Scroll down and select “Legal and policies” on the next screen.
- Tap on “Deactivate Messenger.” If you don’t see the option, make sure you have deactivated the Facebook account first.
- Restart your phone if needed. Whenever you want to reactivate Messenger, just log in to Messenger.
1. How long can I keep my account deactivated?
You can keep your Facebook account deactivated as long as you want. There is no restriction on that.
2. Will a deactivated account get deleted after a set period?
No. Facebook does not automatically delete deactivated accounts. Your Facebook account will be deleted only when you do it yourself.
3. How do I reactivate a Facebook account?
Just log in to the account, and you will have your account back with all the photos and videos.
4. Can I hide my account instead of deactivating it?
There is no option to hide the account. However, you can use various privacy features offered by Facebook, such as controlling who can see your posts, who can search you, muting or snoozing people, and more. Find out more about how to make Facebook private.
Try Facebook Alternatives
If you have the willpower, you can simply log out of Facebook to avoid using it. But if you have decided to say goodbye to Facebook, do check out five Facebook alternatives that will protect your privacy.
