Deactivating vs Deleting: What You Need to Know
You can both deactivate and permanently delete your Instagram account, depending on your preference.
Deactivating your account is temporary, but whilst it is
deactivated How to Delete Instagram
Account, your account, along with your profile, followers, photos,
like, and comments will be hidden from other users. To restore all of this
information and start using Instagram normally again, simply log back into your
account.
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| How to Delete Instagram Account |
Deleting your Instagram account cannot be undone - a deleted account
cannot be restored. When you delete your Instagram account, all of your data, including photos, followers, likes, etc. will be
deleted for good. In the future, if you choose to sign up to Instagram again,
you won’t be able to use the same username again, nor will anyone else.
Deactivating an Instagram Account
You can’t deactivate
Instagram through the app, it has to be done on a web browser on the Instagram
website. If you want to take a break from Instagram, you can deactivate your
account by taking these steps:
1. On the Instagram
website, log in to your account and click on the person icon to
go to your profile
page.
2.
Select ‘Edit Profile’, scroll to the bottom of the page,
and click ‘Temporarily
disable my account’.
3.
You will be asked ‘Why are you disabling your
account?’, select a reason from the drop-down menu.
4.
Re-enter your password and select ‘Temporarily disable account’.
5.
Your account is now deactivated and it will be
hidden from other users until you log in to it once again. NOTE: As
per Instagram’s usage policy, you can only deactivate your Instagram account
once a week.
Downloading Your Instagram Data
Once you've deleted your
Instagram account, all of your data is gone for good - it cannot be retrieved.
Therefore, you may want
to download your Instagram data before you delete your account, so you still have all
the photos, videos, etc. that you have posted over time. To download a copy of
your Instagram data:
1.
Go to your Instagram profile and select 'Settings'
(gear icon).
2.
Click on the ‘Privacy & Security’ tab and click ‘Request
Download’.
3.
Enter the email address where you would like to receive
a link to your Instagram data, followed by your password.
4.
Within 48 hours you should receive an email with a link to your
data, titled ‘Your
Instagram Data’. Click ‘Download Data’.
Step-By-Step Guide: How to Delete Your Instagram Account
Like with deactivating,
an Instagram account can only be deleted through a web browser. To permanently delete
your Instagram account, follow these simple steps:
1.
Log in to your account on the Instagram website.
2.
Go to Instagram’s ‘Delete Your Account’ page. Select from the
drop-down menu your reason for leaving.
3.
Enter your password and click ‘Permanently delete my account’.
4.
Your Instagram account is now deleted.
5.
Other Ways to Keep Your Data Private
Many of us use a Cloud Storage Service to back up our
important data and/or to store files. If you use one of these storage
services, choose one that automatically encrypts your files. However, as the cloud
provider holds the key to your encryption, they may be able to access your data and even share it with government
authorities at their request.
You can get around this
problem by manually encrypting your files yourself before uploading
them to the cloud. Therefore, you will be the only one
holding the key to your data. Your cloud provider will have no access, as long as you don't
also upload the encryption keys to the cloud.
There are a number of free encryption programs out there that are
easy to use, even if you have no prior experience of manually encrypting your
data.
Choose encryption
software that is compatible with your computer and mobile operating systems,
and with your cloud storage provider. Your encryption program should also have end-to-end encryption, and should never store
your password.
Conclusion and Further Reading
These days, it's
important to do whatever you can to stay safe on social media and avoid
becoming the victim of cybercriminals.
If you are interested in
learning more ways in which you can protect your privacy online, check out our detailed guide.
Or, if you also want to
delete your profile on Facebook, take a look at our step-by-step instructions.

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