Ready to Leave Facebook? Delete Your Account (and Keep All Your Stuff)
2025 was the year of social media detox as millions of users decide they are completely done with Facebook, or Meta. In addition to deciding to change their social media habits, users were worried or concerned about the removal of fact checkingnew reports on hidden dangers for children and even the overreach of Meta AI that looks at their whole film. If you’re ready to delete your Facebook account, you need to do it right.
With years of photos and a trove of personal information, many users wonder how to collect their data before deleting their account. If you’re one of these people, read on to learn how to get rid of your Facebook account for good, while getting all your information back on the way out.
For anyone who is completely done with Facebook, deleting your account is the only way to completely separate yourself from the platform. If you’re not sure, deactivating your account can allow you to try life outside of Facebook without risking deletion. Downloading your data and deleting Facebook takes some time, but we have all the details for you on what to expect and how to back everything up before deleting your account completely.
Before deleting your account, find and delete your third-party Facebook connections
For years, third-party developers like Spotify and DoorDash have allowed you to log in using your Facebook account. This allows you to log in without needing to remember another password, but if you plan to delete Facebook, you will need to update your login settings. This is because if you delete your account first, you will no longer have a Facebook account through which you can log in.
Fortunately, there’s an easy way to find out which of your sites and apps are linked to Facebook and disconnect them before deleting your account.
To find and disconnect online services linked to your Facebook account:
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Log in to Facebook.
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Go to Settings & Privacy > Settings > Apps & Websites. (Apps and Websites are on the left, but you’ll need to scroll down a bit. They’re nested under Your Activity.)
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Select Withdraw next to the associated app to remove the third-party connection.
Don’t lose access to the apps and services you use Facebook to sign in to.
After you log out of other sites and apps from Facebook, you’ll need to adjust how you log in to them in the future. Go to these specific apps and sites to set new passwords or access keys, or sign in using another single-service authentication option, like Google.
What is the difference between deactivating and deleting your Facebook account?
If you’re trying to opt out of Facebook, you have two options. You can delete your account entirely or deactivate it.
Deactivating your Facebook account is temporary and can be helpful if you’re trying to spend less time on the app or need a break from social media. Alternatively, completely deleting your account means that you will no longer exist on the social network.
Whether you deactivate or delete your account, some things will remain the same. Your profile, posts, photos, and timeline will be inaccessible to other users. If someone searches for your account, you will not appear in the results.
Likewise, any photos you’ve posted will disappear, including photos in which other people have been tagged. Any third-party logins, like Spotify or Pinterest, will no longer work either, so you’ll need to change how you log in to these accounts before deleting Facebook, unless you want to get them back later.
Deactivating your account does not delete your data and you can reactivate it whenever you want. The important thing to remember is that deactivating your account means that Facebook can still track your online activity, especially if you use third-party logins.
Deactivating your account means you can return to it, but once the 30-day period of deleting an account ends, that account is gone forever. If you’re not ready to completely delete Facebook, deactivating is the way to go. When you deactivate your account, you will still be able to send messages and third-party connections will still work, although Facebook-related features will be disabled.
What will deleting your Facebook account do (and not do)?
Deleting your Facebook account will remove your visible presence on the social network, but it won’t remove everything you’ve touched on the platform. Deleting Facebook also breaks ties with Facebook Messenger, but your messages to your friends will still be accessible to them.
If you use your Facebook information to log into MetaQuest, all information on MetaQuest will also be deleted. This includes your app purchases and achievements. This also means that you will not be able to return to any apps through MetaQuest and any remaining store credits will disappear. Other Meta platforms, like Instagram and WhatsApp, will not be affected by a Facebook removal. If you want to leave these platforms, you will need to delete these accounts independently.
Next, download all your personal data from Facebook
Many people have used Facebook for years to stay in touch with friends and family, or to easily collect photos. If you want to save data on Facebook before deleting your account, here’s how to recover it.
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Log in to Facebook.
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Go to Settings & Privacy > Settings > Account Center.
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Select Your information and authorizations.
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Select Upload your information.
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Select Download or transfer information.
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Select the profiles from which you want to download information.
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Select Following.
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When asked how much information you want, click Information available. Note that this includes everything except data logs, which are records of details that may be associated with you. If you want them, click Specific types of information and make sure Data Logs is selected at the bottom of the list.
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Select Download to device.
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In the Create files to upload options, click Date range and set it to All the time.
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Let him format set to HTML — this places your data in an easy-to-navigate format.
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To save high-resolution copies of photos and videos you’ve posted to Facebook, change the Media quality Medium to High option.
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Finally, click Create files. Facebook will then gather all your information and send you an email when it’s ready to download. It may take some time for this to happen – it is not an instantaneous process.
Make sure to retrieve any personal data you want to keep before deleting your account.
Finally, delete your Facebook account
Once you have downloaded the data you don’t want to lose from Facebook, the last step is to delete your account.
Facebook will give you a list of things to consider before deleting your account. It includes information about uploading your information and a reminder that if you are the sole administrator of a Facebook page, it will be deleted unless you grant administrator privileges to another account.
Once you’re ready, here’s how to delete your Facebook once and for all.
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Log in to Facebook.
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Go to Settings & Privacy > Settings > Account Center.
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Select Personal data below Account settings.
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Select Account ownership and control.
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Select Deactivation or deletion.
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Choose it account or profile you want to delete.
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Select Delete account then select Continue.
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Click Continue then follow the instructions to confirm.
What to do if you change your mind and don’t want to delete Facebook?
Although deleting your Facebook profile is a permanent decision, it doesn’t happen instantly. It takes 30 days for an account deletion to complete in the system, which means you have time to cancel the process if you decide to keep your account. All you need to do is log back into your account before reaching that 30 day time limit.
