How To Delete Your Instagram Account
Social media has taken the world by storm since it was first introduced. It is popular the world over and it allows people to communicate with each other and even strike up friendships. There are numerous social media apps available, and Instagram is one of the most popular.
Despite all of its positives, however, social media is not without its drawbacks. It can all get a bit too much for some people, while it can also be very distracting, encouraging some people to delete their accounts. If you wish to delete your Instagram account, you should follow this basic guide.
1. Are You Sure?
If you do delete your Instagram account then you will not be able to recover it again. You will lose all of the images in the account and all of the followers you have gained. There is no option of reversing the decision, so you should first ask yourself if you are sure you want to delete it.
You might be feeling upset or angry over another person’s behavior and these feelings may pass in just a day or two, potentially leaving you to regret your decision if you do choose to delete the account. Leave it for a day or two and, if you still feel as though you want to delete it, it is probably a good idea that you do so.
2. Tell Friends
It is important to repeat again that your Instagram account will be gone permanently should you choose to delete it. This means that all of the contact details associated with the account will be gone forever. This might also mean that you lose the ability to get in touch with people if you don’t have alternative contact details for them.
Before deleting your account, make sure that you get in touch with important people for who you have no alternative contact details. You should try to give yourself a few days notice for this because a lot of people won’t be online to answer immediately.
3. Log In
When you are ready to go ahead and delete your Instagram account, you will first need to log in. If you are using a device that you share with other people then make sure it is definitely your account. Friends and family will probably not be happy if you delete their account by mistake.
Bear in mind that an Instagram account cannot be deleted when using the app, so you will need to do it through their website. Before you actually close the account, remember to download any images from Instagram onto your device so they don’t disappear with the account. The same goes for any other important information that you might need.
4. How to Download Your Details?
As mentioned, you should first download any images or anything else of importance before deleting your account. If you don’t then these will be lost forever if you don’t have them stored elsewhere. To do this, you will need to go to the “privacy and security” section under “edit profile.”
From here, you can hit the “request download” button and this will download all the details for you. This can take up to 48 hours so you should prepare for this in advance. If you only want to save a few pictures then you might instead want to open the images and then save them individually.
5. Delete Your Account
Once you have logged into your Instagram account on Instagrams website, you will need to make your way to your account screen. From here, go to the “delete your account” page. Next go to “why are you deleting your account?” where you will find a box with a list of reasons why you want to delete the account.
You can select any of the reasons given, although it is best to be honest to help make the platform better for future users. When you have selected a reason, you will be asked to enter your password again. You will then be given the option to permanently delete your account. Click this option and your account will be gone forever.
6. Temporary Deactivation
There are numerous reasons why somebody would want to take a break from Instagram and social media in general, but it is all too easy to log in and lose yourself. If you don’t want to take a break but you don’t want to go as far as deleting your account forever there is another option available to you.
Instagram also gives you the option of deactivating your account temporarily. This means that your account will be hidden from other users, including your followers, until you choose to log back in and reactivate it. You can only choose this option once a week.
7. Note Your Password
Are you sure that you can remember your password? It is common for us to set our browsers and apps to log us in automatically meaning that we rarely need to actually enter a password to gain access. For this reason, it is easy for us to forget what our passwords even are.
Make sure that you know what the password is before doing anything, changing it to something easier to remember if necessary. You might have changed to another device by the time you want to log in again, and the new device will not be able to log you in automatically.
8. Temporarily Disabling Your Account
In order to temporarily disable your Instagram account, you will need to log in first. As with permanently deactivating your account, disabling it will also require you to log in through Instagrams website. Remember also to make sure that it is definitely your account you are disabling.
As is the case when deleting your account permanently, make sure that you let friends and family know first. Some people might be concerned if you go offline without warning, especially if they are unable to contact you. Once you are logged in, you can follow the steps to disable your account for as long as you wish.
9. Go to Your Profile Page
In order to disable your Instagram account, first go to your profile page. Click on “edit profile” next to where your Instagram handle is and a new page will pop up. On the bottom right-hand side of this screen you will see an option that says “temporarily disable my account.”
Click on this and you will be asked to enter your password again along with a box asking you the reason why you are disabling your account. Then select “temporarily disable account” at the bottom and your account will be disabled, essentially hidden from view until you choose to log back in and reactivate it.
10. Change Privacy Settings
If you don’t want to delete or disable your account but you do want to limit who can see it, a more suitable option for you might be to change your privacy settings. In order to do this, you will also need to be logged into Instagrams website as opposed to simply logging in to the app.
Go to your profile and then go to settings, which you will see as a gear icon. Go to the account section and here you can select the option of setting your account to private. This will allow you to choose which follower requests to accept and only accepted followers can see your account.
