How to Delete Your Instagram Account

Tired of the mindless scrolling? Feeling like Instagram is becoming semi-Tiktok because of the Reels feature? Whatever your reason is, there’s a way to give yourself a break from Instagram and use your time for more important things to start and end the day productively —deactivate or disable your Instagram account.

Deactivating vs Deleting: What’s the Difference?

Instagram gives you the option to either just deactivate or delete your account. Deleting means that you have decided to delete your Instagram for good and you don’t want anything to do with it anymore. All your data — personal information, posted pictures, activities you did in the app (likes, comments, shares) — will be removed permanently. For 30 days, Instagram will keep an archive of your details and activities (if ever you change your mind to return to the app), and after the 30 days lapse, it will permanently remove it from all its records. There’s no way to get it back.

Instagram allows a user to temporarily disable their account if a user just want to take a break for some time but still want to return and use Instagram. Deactivating an Instagram account means that one's personal details, photos, videos, comments, and other activities are only hidden for a period of time until one logs back in and uses the app again.

Back up your account before deleting

Download a backup of your files.

You may want to get yourself a copy of all the data that you provided, saved, and used. This may take some time, as Instagram will have to collect and organize all the data you have in their system and send it to you within the next 48 hours. This can be done either through the mobile app or through a web browser.

To do this, you can go to Accounts Center > Your information and permissions.

Then, select Export your information and tap Export information.

You may have to wait until this process is completed and you are sent the backup file before you can proceed to delete your Instagram account for good.

To proceed with deleting your Instagram account, follow these steps:

1. Open the Instagram app.

2. Go to your profile. Tap the three horizontal lines in the upper-right corner.

3. Tap Accounts Center.

4. Go to Personal details and tap Account ownership and control.

5. Tap Deactivation or deletion. If you have other Meta accounts or profiles linked to one another or are registered in the Accounts Center, all of those accounts will be listed under this section. Select the account or profile you want to delete.

6. You will be presented with two options: Deactivate account or Delete account. Choose Delete account.

7. If you decide to delete your Instagram account for good, note that you will also lose your Threads account associated with it once you proceed with deletion. If you are okay with this, tap Continue.

8. You will then be asked why you want to delete your account. Choose one from the pre-supplied reasons.

9. You will be advised that deletion of your Instagram account is irreversible. There will also be an option for you to export and back up your information before you delete the entire account. If you have not created a backup of your information yet, tap Export info to initiate this before proceeding to delete your Instagram account. Otherwise, scroll to the bottom and tap Continue.

10. Key in your password to confirm that you approve of the deletion of your Instagram account.

11. You will be informed that your account will be deleted from the Instagram system after 30 days, provided that you don't log in again within 30 days from initiating the deletion request. If you are okay with this, tap Delete account. The display will return to the log-in page.

Clean Out Your Data Before Uninstalling the Instagram App

If you don’t want to use Instagram ever again, you may also want to clean the cache and data stored on your smartphone for the Instagram app. And then uninstall the app altogether.