Instagram has provided the options to set your posts private or block people, in case if you don’t want to deactivate your account but want to make changes to adjust your privacy and preferences.
Deactivating temporarily vs Deleting permanently
When you delete your account, your profile, photos, videos, comments, likes and followers will be gone for good − and you won’t be able to resurrect the account or retrieve any of the data within it. What’s more, you won’t be able to sign up again with the same username, or add the same username to another account. Before you do this, you might want to download your Instagram pictures, videos and other account details (instructions further down this page).
When you deactivate your account, your profile, photos, comments and likes will all be hidden, but you can restore all of that information simply by logging in again, and it’ll be as if you never left. This is the right option if you want a temporary respite from the service for whatever reason, but aren’t quite ready to cut ties completely and lose your data for good.
Deactivating an Instagram Account Temporarily
You can’t deactivate Instagram through the app, it has to be done on a web browser on the Instagram website. If you want to take a break from Instagram, you can deactivate your account by taking these steps:
- On the Instagram website, log in to your account and click on the person icon to go to your profile page.
- Select ‘Edit Profile’, scroll to the bottom of the page, and click ‘Temporarily disable my account’.
- You will be asked ‘Why are you disabling your account?’, select a reason from the drop-down menu.
- Re-enter your password and select ‘Temporarily disable account’.
- Your account is now deactivated and it will be hidden from other users until you log in to it once again. NOTE: As per Instagram’s usage policy, you can only deactivate your Instagram account once a week.
If the account has been deactivated, you can reactivate it by simply logging back. Your Instagram profile, photos, comments, and likes will be hidden until you reactivate your account. Furthermore, you can temporarily deactivate your Instagram account only once a week.
Downloading Your Instagram Data Before deleting your account
Once you’ve deleted your Instagram account, all of your data is gone for good – it cannot be retrieved.
Therefore, you may want to download your Instagram data before you delete your account, so you still have all the photos, videos, etc. that you have posted over time. To download a copy of your Instagram data:
- Go to your Instagram profile and select ‘Settings‘ (gear icon).
- Click on the ‘Privacy & Security’ tab and click ‘Request Download’.
- Enter the email address where you would like to receive a link to your Instagram data, followed by your password.
- Within 48 hours you should receive an email with a link to your data, titled ‘Your Instagram Data’. Click ‘Download Data’.
Deleting Instagram account Permanently
- Open your browser on your mobile or computer. You cannot delete an Instagram account from it’s app.
- Now go to the Delete Your Account page. If you’re not logged into Instagram on the browser, you’ll be asked to log in first.
- Now select an your reason from the dropdown menu for Why are you deleting your account? and re-enter your password.
- Now click on Permanently delete my account.
Note :
The option to permanently delete your account will only appear after selecting a reason from the menu.
Now your Instagram Account will be permanently deleted immediately. You can never get it back.
