How to Delete Your Instagram Account for Good

Instagram is, without a doubt, one of the most influential social media platforms around today. Despite all the fun and help it has to offer, though, there are plenty of reasons you may want to leave it. You may find yourself wondering how to delete your Instagram account.

If you’ve decided you don’t want to be one of Instagram’s one billion users, you’re not alone. You’ve probably seen plenty of people leave the app if you’ve been on it long enough. Still, deleting your account may not be as straightforward as you’d expect.

It’ll take more than removing the app to get rid of your profile. Here’s how to delete your Instagram account for good.

Delete vs. Disable

Keep in mind that Instagram has two features that sound similar here. You can either delete or disable your account, which, although they seem the same, are different. The discerning factor here is a matter of permanence.

If you disable your account, you’ll hide everything, but can come back to it. Alternatively, deleting your profile removes everything permanently, so you can’t log in to that account ever again. Before you move forward with anything, decide which option is best for you.

If you just want to take an extended break from Instagram, you should disable instead of deleting. If you’re going to get rid of Instagram forever, deletion is what you’re after. Here’s a guide for both options.

How to Delete Your Instagram Account

Deleting your Instagram account is permanent, so make sure you want to do this before going through with it. Once you decide that this is what you want, head to the Delete Your Account page on your browser. Note that you can’t do this from the app, so you’ll have to use a browser like Safari or Google Chrome.

If you’re not already signed in on that browser, you’ll have to log in to your Instagram account. From there, you’ll have to select something from the “Why are you deleting your account?” dropdown menu. Select your reason and then click “Permanently delete my account.”

Once you’ve done that, your Instagram profile will be gone entirely. If you haven’t already, you can then delete the app off of your phone.

How to Temporarily Disable Your Instagram

Sometimes you want to take a social media break, but want to option to come back. If that’s you, then you should disable your account instead of deleting it. Like with deletion, you first need to open a browser, not the Instagram app.

First, go to the Instagram website and log in if you’re not already signed in. Click your profile picture, then click “Edit Profile” in the menu that appears. Scroll until you see “Temporarily disable my account,” and click it.

Just like in the deletion process, you’ll then have to select a reason why you’re deactivating your account. Once you do that, click “Temporarily Disable Account,” and you’re done. All you have to do to reactivate it is log in with the same username and password again.

Stepping Away from Social Media

Whether you don’t use it anymore or it’s becoming a distraction, it can be helpful to break from social media sometimes. If you need to stop using sites altogether, such as Facebook, you can do that too. Whichever direction you want to go in, you can follow these steps to get what you want from Instagram.