How to delete your Facebook account permanently
By Otabek Mamadaliev · Sources last reviewed · What this means
How do I permanently delete my Facebook account?
Open Accounts Center, go to Account ownership and control, then Deactivation or deletion. Pick your Facebook profile, choose Delete account and follow the confirmation prompts. Check what you sign into with Facebook Login first.
After you confirm
Reversible: 30 days, varies by region. Fully gone: Up to 90 days.
Checked against facebook.com
Read this first: the linked-login trap
Deleting Facebook kills every "Continue with Facebook" login you have ever used. Spotify, Airbnb, delivery apps, games with years of progress — if Facebook was the only sign-in method, you can be permanently locked out, and support often cannot help because they have no other way to verify you.
Do this before deleting: open Settings & privacy → Settings → Apps and websites to see the full list. For each service you still care about, log into it and add an email-and-password sign-in or a different provider. Then come back here.
Two things Meta deletes with you that most guides never mention.
- Your Meta Quest library. If you use Facebook to sign in to Quest, deleting the profile deletes your Quest information with it — app purchases and achievements included. Meta adds that you will no longer be able to return any apps, and that existing store credits are lost.
- Any Page only you control. Facebook Pages with no other full-control admin are deleted along with your profile. If a business, band or community Page runs off your personal account, give someone else full control first; you can then delete your profile and the Page survives.
Other profiles in your Meta Account are not affected — deleting one does not take the rest.
Download your data first. Once the grace period expires, your photos, videos, messages and contact list are gone with no recovery path. Our data rescue checklist walks through it in about 10 minutes.
Delete Facebook on desktop
Ignore guides pointing at facebook.com/help/delete_account. That URL now returns an error. Deletion moved into Accounts Center, shared with Instagram.
- Go to Accounts Center → Account ownership and control and sign in.
- Click Deactivation or deletion.
- Select your Facebook profile — not the Instagram one, if both are listed.
- Choose Delete account, then Continue, and follow the confirmation prompts. Expect to re-enter your password.
The long way round, and which of the two menus you have
If that link ever moves, Meta documents two different paths, because it is mid-rollout between layouts. Both start the same way — your profile photo → Settings & privacy → Settings → Meta Account — and then diverge. Look at the bottom of that screen to tell which one you are on:
- You see Manage account: click Manage account → Manage → Deactivation or deletion.
- You see Accounts under Accounts Centre: click Personal details → Account ownership and control → Deactivation or deletion.
Both end on the same screen, so if you land on Deactivation or deletion you are in the right place either way.
How to cancel it — logging in is not enough
You must actively click Cancel deletion. Facebook is unusual here: on most platforms simply logging back in aborts the deletion, but Facebook expects you to log in and then click Cancel deletion. People who log in during the 30 days, see their account apparently working and close the tab can still lose it.
Delete Facebook in the mobile app
- Tap the ☰ menu (bottom right on iPhone, top right on Android).
- Tap Settings & privacy, then Settings.
- Open Accounts Center → Personal details.
- Tap Account ownership and control → Deactivation or deletion.
- Select your Facebook profile, choose Delete account, then follow the confirmation prompts.
You have around 30 days to change your mind. The account is hidden immediately but not erased — log back in during that window and it is restored in full. Meta notes the exact cancellation window varies by region, and that fully completing deletion can take up to 90 days after it begins, with copies persisting in backup storage beyond that.
What you lose that people forget about
- Messenger: goes with the account. You cannot keep Messenger while deleting Facebook.
- Pages you solely admin: deleted too. Add another admin first if a page should survive.
- Group ownership: groups you alone administer are left without an admin.
- Marketplace history and reviews: removed.
- Oculus / Meta Quest: check your headset account status before deleting.
Deactivate instead
Deactivation hides your profile but keeps Messenger working — the one case where the middle option is genuinely useful. Same menu path, choose Deactivate account rather than delete.
Common questions
Can I delete Facebook but keep Messenger?
No. Deleting the Facebook account removes Messenger with it. If you need Messenger, deactivate instead of deleting — deactivation explicitly leaves Messenger functional.
What happens to pages I manage?
A page you are the sole admin of is deleted along with your account. Promote another person to admin before you delete if the page needs to survive.
Does deleting Facebook delete Instagram too?
Not unless you select both in Accounts Center. They share the deletion screen, so check exactly which profiles are ticked before confirming.