You might have been using Facebook for many years, and you may or may not know that some apps collect data from your Facebook account. After it was recently revealed that Cambridge Analytica obtained misappropriated personal information from 50 million Facebook users, which makes you be fed up with Facebook? And here we tell you how to delete your Facebook account.
Step 1. Disconnect other apps with your Facebook account.
You’ve probably used Facebook to log into other apps and services dozens of times. On the one hand, it makes signing up for new things super fast. But the problem is those logins inadvertently burrowed you deeper into Facebook’s grasp. Here’s how to undo it.
- Make a list of all the apps you log into using Facebook. One way to figure this out is to go to Facebook (desktop) > Settings > Apps. Scroll through this list and make note of the apps and websites you still use.
- One by one, log into those apps. Visit the Settings page and find the option to disconnect from Facebook. This process varies quite a bit, so you might want to Google “disconnect Facebook from [insert app here]” to speed things up.
- It was once nearly impossible to disconnect Facebook from Spotify, but the company recently made it much easier. In Spotify, go to Settings and choose the option to disconnect from Facebook. Now log off. In the login window, hit “Reset Password.”
Step 2: Keep a copy for all your memories and files
You probably want to keep all your photos, posts, friends and all the other data you accumulated on Facebook. Luckily, saving all that data is really easy.
Go to Facebook (desktop) and head to Settings. In that first window, hit “Download a copy of your Facebook data.” Follow the instructions and wait while Facebook emails you a downloadable file.
Step 3: Delete and deactivate your Facebook account.
There are two options here that you can choose:
- Deactivate your account. This option is for people who know that, eventually, they’ll succumb to their addiction. Deactivating essentially puts your account on hold, so you can restore it to the same state it was in when you left it. This also lets you continue using Facebook Messenger. To deactivate your account, go here.
- Permanently delete your account. This is irreversible — all your data will be removed, your profile will disappear and you’ll need to sign up for Facebook again if you want back in. To permanently delete your account, go to this page.