How to Delete or Deactivate Your Instagram Account [2024]

If you’ve been on Instagram for a long time, you certainly have felt that you want a break, at some point.

Instagram has become so popular and addictive among people these days that it’s shortening everyone’s attention span, especially students due to IG reels.

Thus, it’s much better to deactivate the Instagram account to get back on track.

But, when you head to permanently delete your Instagram account or deactivate it temporarily, it might confuse you as the options are not easily available in the app.

Well, for your ease, here we have prepared an easy step-by-step guide on how to delete an Instagram account permanently or deactivate it temporarily in 2024. Now, with that said, let’s jump right to the methods.

How to delete Instagram account permanently (2024)

Before deleting your Instagram account permanently, remember that when you delete it, all your Profile and its data such as photos, videos, comments, likes, and followers will be permanently removed.

Now anyway, if you want to delete your Instagram account permanently, follow the steps below:

Step 1: Open the Instagram app on your Android or iOS phone.

Step 2: Go to your Profile and tap on the “hamburger menu (three horizontal bars)” in the top right corner.

Step 3: A popup menu will now appear from the bottom. Tap on the “Settings and privacy” option.

Step 4: Next, navigate to “Accounts Centre>Personal details>Account ownership and control>Deactivation or deletion“.

Step 5: Now, select your Instagram profile that you want to delete.

Step 6: Next, tick the ‘Delete account‘ option and tap on the “Continue” button.

Step 7: Lastly, it will ask you to verify your identity. Finally, enter your Instagram account login password and tap the “Continue” button.

This will now delete your Instagram account permanently straightaway.

Note that once you delete your Instagram account permanently, your profile will stop showing in the search, feed, or anyone’s following and follow list. Also, your photos, videos, stories, and reels will be deleted permanently, even the collaborated ones.

How to deactivate an Instagram account temporarily

If you want to take a break from Instagram without permanently deleting your account and data, you can temporarily deactivate your account. When you deactivate your account, your profile, photos, comments, and likes will be hidden until you reactivate it by logging back in.

Here are the steps to follow to deactivate an Instagram account temporarily without deleting your data:

Step 1: Open the Instagram app on your Android or iOS device or visit Instagram.com from a web browser.

Step 2: Go to your Profile and tap on the “hamburger menu (three horizontal lines)” in the top right corner.

Step 3: Tap on “Settings & privacy” from the menu.

Step 4: Head to “Accounts Centre” and navigate to “Personal details>Account ownership and control>Deactivation or deletion”.

Step 5: Select the Instagram account you want to deactivate temporarily.

Step 6: Now, choose “Deactivate account” and tap the “Continue” button at the bottom of the page.

Step 7: Re-enter your Instagram password and tap on “Continue” to confirm the deactivation.

That’s it. Your Instagram account will now be temporarily deactivated without deleting any data. You can resume at any time you feel to continue by simply re-logging in using the same credentials.

Finally, if you’re unable to delete or deactivate your Instagram account or stuck at any of the above steps, let us know in the comment section below.

FAQs

Ashoka

Ashok Kushwaha is Senior Editor at Digital Bachat with 5 years of experience covering mobile phone and computer technology. He enjoys sharing the most valuable smartphones and laptops.