How long deletion actually takes on each platform

How long do you have to cancel deleting an account?

It is not 30 days everywhere, despite what most guides say. Pinterest gives 7 days, LinkedIn and Udemy 14, Discord 15, and Microsoft lets you pick 30 or 60. Reddit, Telegram, PayPal, Medium, GitHub, Strava and ChatGPT give you nothing at all — deletion is immediate and irreversible.

Nearly every deletion guide on the internet says you get 30 days to change your mind. We checked each platform against its own help documentation, and the number was different almost every time — when there was a number at all.

The table below is built directly from the individual guides on this site, so a figure here and the figure on the platform's own page cannot disagree. Every row links to the guide it came from, and the date that guide was last checked is at the top of it. Platforms appear here once their guide has been verified against the platform's own documentation, which is why the list is shorter than the full set of guides.

Your window to change your mind

How long each platform lets you change your mind Reddit and WhatsApp give no window at all. Pinterest gives 7 days, LinkedIn 14, Discord 15, Bumble 28, Instagram 30. Snapchat stays reversible for 30 days but takes 60 to complete. Twitch takes up to 90 days and logging in cancels it. 0306090days you can change your mindRedditnoneWhatsAppnonePinterest7 daysLinkedIn14 daysDiscord15 daysBumble28 daysInstagram30 daysSnapchat30, then 60Twitch90 days
Nine platforms, nine different answers. The dots marked "none" have no way back at all — no grace period, no undo.
PlatformReversible forFully gone after
AirbnbNothing — a deleted account cannot be reactivated. Deactivation is the reversible option, and undoing it needs a phone callImmediate once the request is processed, apart from data Airbnb is legally required to retain
BinanceNothing — Binance states account closure is irreversibleAccess ends immediately; personal data is kept for as long as anti-money-laundering law requires
ChatGPTNothingData within 30 days; account cannot be reactivated
CoinbaseNothing — Coinbase states closing your account is permanent and irreversibleAccess ends immediately; Coinbase keeps some personal information for at least five years
DropboxNothingImmediate — Dropbox states content is non-recoverable as soon as the account is deleted
EtsyNothing for permanent deletion — Etsy states it cannot be undone. Closing the account instead is reversible and reopens from an emailed linkImmediate on permanent deletion
GitHubNothingImmediate; username released after 90 days
GrindrNothingImmediate, no recovery
MediumNothingImmediate and permanent
PayPalNothingImmediate; cannot be reopened
RedditNothingImmediate, no restoration
StravaNothingImmediate; public segments and routes stay forever
TelegramNothingImmediate
WhatsAppNothingImmediate; up to 90 days to purge
YouTubeNothingImmediate (hiding is the reversible option)
ZoomNothing — Zoom states the account is permanently deletedImmediate. Paid plans must be cancelled and the billing cycle finished before the account can be terminated at all
Duolingo7 days, via a cancel link in the confirmation emailUp to 30 days to complete
Pinterest7 days7 days
Spotify7 days, via an emailed reactivation linkDeletion begins after 7 days; the same email is reusable after 14
eBay14 days while closure is processing, by asking eBay to reopen itGenerally 14 days, up to 60 if you had transactions, payments or disputes in the previous 30
Epic Games14 days30 days by Epic’s own article, though access ends at 14
LinkedIn14 days14 days
Udemy14 days, by notifying Udemy14 days
Discord15 days15 days
Facebook30 days, varies by regionUp to 90 days
Instagram~30 days, varies by regionUp to 90 days
Microsoft account30 or 60 days — you chooseEnd of the window you picked
Nintendo30 days30 days
PlayStation30 days, via Support only30 days
Snapchat30 days60 days (India: 210)
Steam30 days, cancelled from the red notification banner in your account30 days — game licences, wallet funds and inventory are unrecoverable
Threads~30 daysUp to 90 days, plus a 90-day wait before you may rejoin
TikTok~30 days~30 days
Uber30 days — sign back in at Uber.com to restore it30 days; unused credits, promotions and rewards go with it
X (Twitter)30 days30 days
Apple IDNot stated publicly — the window is shown only inside the privacy.apple.com flowNot stated
Cash AppNot stated — the closure article names no windowNot stated; Cash App says it keeps transaction records for legal compliance and fraud prevention
Google accountNot stated — Google says only "a certain amount of time"Not stated
RobinhoodReversible for individual accounts onlyJoint and managed accounts cannot be reactivated
SlackReversible — an owner or admin can reactivate youProfile deletion is a separate request to the primary owner
UpworkReversible — log in and request a reactivation link by email; no deadline is statedNo fixed window; after five years inactive you must contact support
WiseReversible — log back in to reactivateNo fixed window; regulated data retained

Three traps in that table

What survives after you are gone

Deleting an account is not the same as deleting what you wrote. On several platforms your content stays up permanently.

PlatformYour posts and messagesYour username
RedditStay up under [deleted]Retired, nobody gets it
DiscordStay up under Deleted UserFreed
TelegramRecipients keep their copiesTied to your number
WhatsAppRecipients keep their copiesTied to your number
X (Twitter)Removed, but mentions of you stayReleased to anyone
InstagramRemoved; sent DMs stay with recipientsReleased to anyone
PinterestRemoved; repins stay on other boardsReleased
TikTok *Removed; duets of your videos stayReleased
SnapchatRemoved; saved chats stay with friendsRetired, nobody gets it
YouTubeRemoved, including your commentsFreed
LinkedInRemoved; recommendations you wrote vanishFreed

If your goal is removing what you wrote, deletion alone will not do it. On Reddit and Discord especially, you must delete the content by hand before closing the account — afterwards you can never log back in to reach it.

What keeps charging you after deletion

Subscriptions bought through the App Store or Google Play are billed by Apple or Google, not the platform. Deleting the account does not stop them.

Which is hardest to leave?

By friction rather than by clock:

  1. Facebook — not the wait, but the "Log in with Facebook" accounts it can lock you out of permanently.
  2. Discord — blocks deletion entirely until you hand over every server you own.
  3. YouTube — one wrong click deletes the entire Google account, Gmail included.
  4. Snapchat — Memories are unrecoverable and the export window closes early.

How these numbers were checked

Each figure comes from that platform's own help documentation, not from other guides — which is precisely why they disagree with the "30 days everywhere" answer you will find elsewhere. Each guide on this site records the date its steps were last checked.

* TikTok is the one guide not yet checked against its own documentation — its help centre blocks automated access, and the 30-day figure widely quoted elsewhere refers to how long deleted posts persist, not accounts. Treat that row as less certain than the rest of this table. We would rather mark it than quietly present it as verified.

Common questions

Do all platforms give you 30 days to change your mind?

No, and this is the most repeated error in deletion guides. Pinterest gives 7 days, LinkedIn 14, Discord 15, and Reddit, WhatsApp and Telegram give none at all. Meta also states its window varies by region.

Which platform is fastest to delete permanently?

Reddit, WhatsApp and Telegram are effectively instant with no restoration period. Pinterest is the fastest of those that offer a grace period, at 7 days.

Does deleting my account delete everything I posted?

Not always. Reddit and Discord keep your messages online under a deleted username, and on Telegram and WhatsApp recipients keep their copies. Delete content manually first if that matters.