Meta-owned social media sites and other Meta services have been around for years. In this period, many memories, photos, videos, and history piled up. Your intention to delete Meta-related accounts may be to forget the past and start a new page, maybe because you find it unsafe, perhaps because you are bored or you think it consumes too much of your time. Whatever your intentions, we are here to tell you how to delete your accounts in this article.
First of all, you may want to download your data
If your intention is not to escape your past, we recommend that you download your data before deleting your accounts. This may take a long time, but it can prevent you from losing some precious memories. Here’s how to download your data from your Facebook, Instagram, Whatsapp, Messenger, and Oculus accounts:
- Settings & Privacy
- Settings
- Your Facebook Information
- Download your information
- Request download
- More
- Settings
- Privacy and Security
- Data download
- Request download
- Settings
- Account
- Request account info.
Of note, WhatsApp’s reports don’t include the content of your actual messages. If you want to preserve a copy of your messages, you’ll need to export your chat history on each message thread you wish to hang onto.
Messenger
On Messenger, downloads have to be initiated through the mobile app.
- On both Android and iOS, go to Account Settings (located in the “chats” tab)
- Your Facebook Information
- Download your information.
- You’ll then be able to specify a few aspects of the data, like the media quality, data format, and date range you want the download to cover.
Oculus and Meta Quest
For Oculus and Meta Quest users, you can use the “download your information” tool.
How to delete your Meta accounts
You have made your decision, and you have made the necessary data downloads. You are now ready to permanently delete your accounts. Here is how you can delete your accounts one by one:
How to delete a Facebook account
Before you permanently delete Facebook, a word of caution: deleting your account will also delete third-party accounts where you’ve also used Facebook to log in. However, it is important to remember that even if you hit the delete button at the end, if you regret it, you have 30 days to reactivate your account. So if you log back in within 30 days of deleting your account, your information will be restored. If you do not log in during this period, it will be permanently deleted.
- Settings & Privacy
- Settings
- Your Facebook Information
- Deactivation and Deletion
- Delete Account
- Continue to account deletion
- Delete Account
How to delete an Instagram account
For Instagram, you need to go to the “delete your account” page. From there, you’ll have to select a reason from the drop-down menu and enter your password. As with Facebook, Instagram notes that it can take “up to 90 days from the beginning of the deletion process to delete all the things you’ve posted,” though posts won’t be visible to others on the platform during that time.
How to delete a WhatsApp account
If you regret to delete your Whatsapp account, as with Facebook and Instagram, the company says the full deletion process can take up to 90 days.
- Settings
- Account
- Delete My Account
- The app will then prompt you to enter your phone number
How to delete an Oculus or Meta account
If you used Facebook to log in to your Oculus account, then deleting Facebook will delete it too. If your Oculus login was separate, you need to log in to your account on Oculus’ website from a browser, then navigate to My Profile, then Privacy Center, then you need to tap Delete Your Oculus Account.
