Welcome to TNW Basics, a collection of tips, guides, and advice on how to easily get the most out of your gadgets, apps, and other stuff.
Tired of Facebook too? We’ve got a guide for that.
Social platforms like Instagram walk a fine line between being handy and consuming your whole life. Whether your screen time notification says you’ve spent a horrendous amount of time on your phone today, or you just don’t feel the need to share every inch of your life on an app anymore — it might be time to finally pull the plug on your online life and delete your account temporarily… or forever.
If you think now’s the time to cure your Instagram addiction, you can decide to deactivate your account or delete it off the face of the earth permanently.
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But if you’re still on the fence about deleting your Insta for good, you have the option to simply deactivate your account. If you decide to go with this temporary measure, your profile, photos, comments, and likes will be entirely hidden — but if you log back on, your activity will be restored.
If you decide to delete your account forever, your profile, photos, videos, comments, likes, and followers will vanish as though they were never there. And be warned: it’s impossible to reactivate a deleted account.
Also, the chances are, that if you decide to one day re-register on the platform, you may not be able to have the same username as another account could’ve taken it — so be ready to wave good-bye to AwesomeRippedDude69.
I just want to deactivate my Instagram, but where do I begin?
To temporarily delete your Instagram account and its content, here’s how you do it:
- On your desktop, visit the Instagram website and log into your account.
- Navigate to your profile page and click ‘Edit Profile.’
- Select ‘Temporarily disable my account’ at the bottom of the page.
- Open the drop-down menu next to ‘Why are you disabling your account?’ and select the option most relevant to you.
- When prompted, re-enter your Instagram password.
- Finally, select ‘Temporarily disable account.’
If you decide you want to take more permanent steps, consider downloading your Instagram content beforehand, which includes a copy of everything you’ve ever uploaded to the platform including photos, videos, comments, and your profile information.
To download your Instagram activity, follow this link, enter your password, and select the ‘Request Download’ button. According to Instagram, it can take up to 48 hours to receive your data which is sent to your chosen email address.
I want to permanently delete my Instagram account
Big decisive action, good on you! Similarly to permanently deleting your Facebook account, make sure this is what you want to do since it’s an irreversible step. But if you’re sure you don’t need Instagram to get through the day, follow these steps:
- On your desktop, visit the Instagram website and log into your account.
- Follow this link, which takes you to the ‘Delete Your Account’ page.
- Open the drop-down menu next to ‘Why are you deleting your account?’ and choose the option most relevant to you.
- When prompted, re-enter your Instagram password.
- Finally, select ‘Permanently delete my account.’
And you’re done. Goodbye Instagram… forever.
There’s a deep pool of social networking sites out there, but most don’t make it as tricky to delete your account for good. If you’re wondering how to delete you account on other social sites, head to their FAQs page or search on Google for an easy guide.
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