How to delete Threads without deleting Instagram

By Otabek Mamadaliev · Sources last reviewed 24 August 2026 · What this means

This changed, and most guides are still wrong. At launch, deleting Threads required deleting Instagram as well — a widely criticised design. Meta separated them, and a standalone Threads deletion has been available since. If a guide tells you the accounts are inseparable, it predates the change.

You cannot rejoin for 90 days. Meta states that after a Threads account is deleted you must wait 90 days before signing up again with the same Instagram account. Deactivating has no such penalty — if there is any chance you will come back, deactivate.

Delete your Threads profile

Threads in Accounts Center is not available everywhere yet, so there are two paths. Try the first; if you do not see Threads in Accounts Center, use the second.

If you have Threads in Accounts Center

1. Open the Threads app and tap Profile (bottom right).
2. Tap the ☰ menu (top right).
3. Tap Accounts Center, then Personal details.
4. Tap Account ownership and control, then Deactivation or deletion.
5. Tap the account you want to delete permanently.
6. Tap Delete account.
7. Select a reason, then tap Continue.

If you do not

1. Tap Profile (bottom right), then the ☰ menu.
2. Tap Account settings, then Personal details.
3. Tap Deactivation or deletion.
4. Tap the account you want to remove.
5. Tap Delete profile at the bottom, then follow the prompts.

Meta cannot delete a Threads account on your behalf — you have to be logged in to request it.

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.

How to cancel the deletion

Log back into your Threads profile before the deadline and tap Log in to confirm the cancellation. Your profile and its content become visible again. Unlike most platforms, simply logging in is not enough on its own — you have to confirm at the prompt.

Deactivate instead

Deactivating hides your Threads profile, posts, replies and likes while leaving Instagram untouched, and it is instantly reversible. Unlike Instagram's once-a-week limit, you can toggle Threads deactivation freely — which makes it a genuinely good option if you are unsure.

Things to know

• Neither your Instagram nor your Facebook account is touched by either action, provided you use the Threads app's own settings rather than Accounts Center.
• Your Threads posts are removed after the grace period.
• Fediverse copies: if you turned on fediverse sharing, Meta turns that off and asks the other servers to delete your account and content — but says plainly that it cannot guarantee they will, and that your posts may stay publicly visible on Mastodon and elsewhere regardless. A request is all Meta has; those servers are not theirs.
• Deleting Instagram does still remove Threads along with it — the independence runs one way only.
• Banned accounts may be locked out for good. If Threads removed your account for breaking Community Standards, Meta says you may never be able to sign up again with that same Instagram or Facebook account — not just for 90 days.

The 90-day lockout is the whole decision

Every other consideration on this page is secondary to one asymmetry: deactivating costs you nothing and is instantly reversible, while deleting locks you out of rejoining with the same Instagram account for three months.

That matters more than it sounds, because Threads identity is not portable. Your handle comes from Instagram, so you cannot simply start a new Threads account under the same name during the wait — the account that owns the name is the one serving the sentence. Coming back after 90 days also means coming back to nothing: the posts, the replies and the followers do not return.

Unless you specifically want your Threads posts off Meta's servers, deactivate. It hides the profile, the posts, the replies and the likes completely, leaves Instagram untouched, and you can toggle it as often as you like. Deletion buys you erasure and charges you three months plus your entire audience for it.

What survives you

• Replies you left on other people's threads disappear with your profile, taking part of those conversations with them — which is why long threads sometimes read oddly after someone leaves.
• Quotes and reposts of your posts by other accounts lose their source but the surrounding commentary stays.
• Screenshots are, as ever, outside all of this.
• Fediverse copies are the genuine gap: Meta can only ask other servers to delete, and says outright it cannot guarantee they will.

Download your information from Accounts Center before you start if the posts matter to you. It is the same export mechanism as Instagram and Facebook, and it is the only copy you will get.

Steps checked against Meta's “Delete your Threads account” article.