How to Delete Facebook Account Permanently (Phone & PC) 2026

Deleting a Facebook account (sometimes called your FB ID or FB acc) takes less time than most people think, but a few choices along the way really matter. Once the grace period ends, deletion is permanent. It can lock you out of apps you sign into with Facebook, it ends your Messenger access, and it removes Pages that only you manage. This guide covers how to delete or erase your Facebook account for good on a computer, iPhone and Android. It also covers what to save first, when deactivating is the better choice, and what to do if you can't log in, were hacked, or need to close a deceased relative's account.

Quick answer: open Facebook and go to Settings & privacy > Settings > Accounts Center (or Meta Account) > Personal details > Account ownership and control > Deactivation or deletion. Pick the profile, choose Delete account, tap Continue and confirm with your password. You then have 30 days to change your mind (the window can vary by region). After that, the account is gone for good. Don't log in during those 30 days, because logging in cancels the deletion. A faster route is to sign in at accountscenter.facebook.com, open Manage accounts (or Personal details), and follow the same Deactivation or deletion steps.

Every step here follows Meta's Help Center articles on permanently deleting your Facebook profile, deactivating or deleting your account and the difference between deactivating and deleting. I checked them again on November 8, 2026. Meta is gradually moving people from Accounts Center to a newer Meta Account settings area, so you may see either name. Both are covered below.

Delete, deactivate or something else? Pick your path

Find the row that fits your situation, then jump to that section.

Before you delete: download your information

After your profile is permanently deleted, you can't get back anything you added, including photos, posts, videos and comments. Meta recommends exporting your information first. Here's how on a computer:

1. Click your profile picture in the top right, then click Settings & privacy > Settings.
2. Click Accounts Center (or Meta Account), then Your information and permissions.
3. Click Export your information, then Create export.
4. Select the profile you want to export, then choose Export to device (or an external cloud service, if that option appears).
5. Choose the information, date range, format (HTML is easiest to browse, JSON is better if you plan to import it elsewhere), notification email and media quality. Then click Start export.
6. Meta notifies you when the file is ready. Download it from Export your information within 4 days, then store it somewhere safe.

You can start the same export from accountscenter.facebook.com by opening Your information and permissions > Export your information.

Other things to sort out first

• Apps that use Facebook Login. Once you delete, you can't use Facebook Login for other apps such as Spotify or Pinterest, and Meta says you may need to contact those apps to recover the accounts. Open each one now and add an email and password, or switch it to Sign in with Google or Apple.
• Pages you run alone. Pages that only you control get deleted too. If a Page should survive, give someone else full control first.
• Groups you admin. Add another admin so the group isn't left without one.
• Meta Quest. If you log into Meta Quest with Facebook, deleting your profile also deletes your Quest information, including app purchases, achievements and store credit.
• Messenger. You can't keep using Messenger once your Facebook profile is deleted. Save any conversations you need, or ask people for another way to reach you.
• Marketplace, Dating and Gaming. Activity tied to the profile goes with it. Download anything you want to keep and tell buyers or matches how to reach you elsewhere.

Faster path: open Accounts Center directly

If the in-app menus keep moving, skip the hunt and open Meta's Accounts Center in a browser:

1. Go to accountscenter.facebook.com and sign in.
2. Open Manage accounts (or Personal details, depending on which layout you see).
3. If you see Manage next to your Facebook profile, tap or click it.
4. Choose Deactivation or deletion.
5. Select Delete account, then Continue.
6. Follow the prompts, enter your password and confirm.

This works on a computer and in Safari or Chrome on your phone, so it's a reliable fallback when the Facebook app hides a menu.

How to delete Facebook account on a computer

These steps follow Meta's article "Permanently delete your Facebook profile". Your menu depends on which version of the settings Meta has given you.

If you see "Personal details" in Accounts Center or Meta Account

1. Click your profile picture in the top right of Facebook.
2. Select Settings & privacy, then click Settings.
3. Click Accounts Center (or Meta Account) at the top left.
4. Click Personal details.
5. Click Account ownership and control.
6. Click Deactivation or deletion.
7. Choose the profile you want to delete.
8. Select Delete account, then click Continue.
9. Meta may ask why you're leaving and offer deactivation instead. Click Continue again, enter your password and confirm.

If you see "Manage account" in Meta Account

1. Click your profile picture in the top right of Facebook.
2. Select Settings & privacy, then click Settings.
3. Click Meta Account at the top left.
4. Click Manage account, then Manage next to the profile.
5. Click Deactivation or deletion.
6. Choose Delete account, follow the instructions, click Continue and confirm.

When you're done, Facebook logs you out and shows the date the deletion becomes final. Screenshot it or note it down so you know when the 30 days are up — here's how to screenshot on Android if you're on a phone.

How to delete Facebook account on iPhone

You don't need a computer. The Facebook app uses the same Accounts Center or Meta Account settings.

1. Open the Facebook app and tap Menu. That's your profile picture or the three lines in the bottom right.
2. Tap the gear icon, or scroll down and tap Settings & privacy > Settings.
3. Tap Accounts Center (or Meta Account).
4. Tap Personal details, then Account ownership and control.
5. Tap Deactivation or deletion.
6. Select the profile you want to delete and choose Delete account.
7. Tap Continue, follow the prompts and confirm with your password.

If a menu name doesn't match, update the app from the App Store and try again. You can also open Safari, go to accountscenter.facebook.com and use the browser path above.

How to delete Facebook account on Android

The Android path is the same idea, with the menu in a slightly different corner.

1. Open the Facebook app and tap Menu (three lines) in the top right.
2. Tap the gear icon, or scroll down and tap Settings & privacy > Settings.
3. Tap Accounts Center (or Meta Account).
4. Tap Personal details, then Account ownership and control.
5. Tap Deactivation or deletion.
6. Select your profile, choose Delete account and tap Continue.
7. Follow the prompts and confirm with your password.

If you can't find Deactivation or deletion in the app, open Chrome, visit accountscenter.facebook.com, sign in and finish the deletion there. Menu names can differ a little between app versions, but that screen itself is the same on Samsung, Pixel and other Android phones.

Deleting the app is not deleting your account

Removing the Facebook app from your phone only uninstalls it. Your profile, photos and messages stay live, and friends can still find you. Delete the account first, then remove the app. Our guide on how to delete apps on iPhone shows how to uninstall it properly, and how to clear cache on iPhone helps you reclaim any leftover storage.

Deactivate vs delete Facebook: what's the difference?

Deactivate if you want a break. According to Meta's deactivation help page, nobody else can see your profile, but your friends may still see your name in their friends list, and group admins may still see your posts and comments. Nothing is deleted. You can come back any time by logging into Facebook or using Facebook to sign in somewhere else. To do that, you need access to the email or mobile number you log in with.

Delete if you're sure you're done. It's the only option that actually removes your content from Meta's live systems, which is what people mean when they search for how to erase or permanently close a Facebook account.

To deactivate, follow the same path as deletion (Accounts Center > Personal details > Account ownership and control > Deactivation or deletion), but choose Deactivate account instead.

Can I delete Facebook but keep Messenger?

Not if you delete. Deleting your Facebook profile also ends your Messenger access. But if you deactivate Facebook, Meta says Messenger can stay active. You can still chat with friends, your profile picture still shows in conversations, people can still search for you to send a message, and using Messenger doesn't reactivate Facebook. If keeping Messenger matters to you, deactivate rather than delete.

If you later want Messenger gone too, open the Messenger app after Facebook is deactivated, go to Settings > Accounts Center (or Meta Account) > Personal details > Account ownership and control > Deactivation or deletion, and deactivate Messenger from there.

Will deleting Facebook delete Instagram, Threads or WhatsApp?

No. Meta says other profiles in your Meta Account aren't affected when you permanently delete your Facebook profile. A linked Instagram account stays active, and WhatsApp is a separate service. If you want Instagram gone too, delete it separately from its own settings (see how to delete an Instagram account), and remove it from Accounts Center first if you don't want the two linked any more.

What happens after you delete Facebook permanently?

The 30-day cancellation window

Meta says you can cancel the deletion if it's been less than 30 days since you started it, and that the number of days varies by region. After the window closes, your account and all your information are permanently deleted.

To cancel:

1. Log into your Facebook account within the cancellation window.
2. Click Cancel deletion.

Because logging in cancels the request, avoid opening Facebook, and avoid using Continue with Facebook on other apps or websites, until the window has passed. Log out of Facebook in other browsers and on old devices too, so an automatic login doesn't undo your request.

Timeline at a glance

What Facebook keeps

• Meta's Terms of Service say it can take up to 90 days to delete content after deletion begins. During that time, the content isn't visible to other users.
• After that, Meta says it can take up to another 90 days to remove content from backups and disaster recovery systems.
• Meta may keep some information for legal issues, terms violations or harm prevention.
• Messages you sent to friends may still be visible to them, because copies are stored in their inboxes.
• Content you posted as a Page admin, or created together with others (such as photos in shared albums), isn't automatically deleted with your account.
• Search engines can show old cached copies of public posts for a while. These usually drop out once Google recrawls the pages.

How to tell the deletion request went through

Right after you confirm, Facebook should log you out and show the date the deletion becomes final. If you try to log in again during the window, you should see an option to Cancel deletion rather than your normal News Feed. That's the sign the request is active. If you land on your regular profile instead, something logged you back in and cancelled it — start the deletion again, then stay signed out.

Starting a new account later

Once the cancellation window ends and the account is deleted, the old profile is gone. A new Facebook account starts empty: none of your old friends, photos or messages come back. If sign-up says your email or phone number is still taken, wait until that window has passed and try again. Don't create a second account during the 30 days just to "replace" the old one, because logging into anything tied to the old login can cancel the deletion.

How to delete a Facebook account without a password or login

You can't delete an account you can't sign into. Meta needs you to confirm deletion from inside the account, so the fix is to recover access first:

1. Forgot your password? On the login screen, tap Forgot password? and reset it with the email or phone number on the account.
2. No access to that email or phone? Go to facebook.com/login/identify, find your account and choose No longer have access to these? Then follow the identity check. Meta's recovery guide also suggests trying other email addresses or numbers you might have added in the past.
3. Think you were hacked? Visit facebook.com/hacked, ideally on a phone or computer you've used for Facebook before. Meta's hacked account guide walks you through securing it. Meta's Account Recovery Hub covers Facebook, Instagram and Threads in one place.
4. Once you're back in, change your password, turn on two-factor authentication, export anything you want to keep, and then delete the account using the steps above.

If you truly can't recover an old account, Meta says it may disable or delete accounts that look hacked when it can't confirm ownership after a year, and accounts that stay unused for a long time. That's not something you can speed up, though.

How to delete an old or second Facebook account

• An extra profile on the same login: Meta lets you have additional profiles under one account. Go to Deactivation or deletion, pick just that profile and delete it. Your main profile is unaffected.
• An old account with a different email: log into it (use the password reset steps above if needed), then delete it the normal way.
• A fake account pretending to be you: you can't delete it yourself. Open the profile, tap the three dots > Report profile, and choose the option saying it's pretending to be you. Meta then reviews it.

You also can't delete "any" Facebook account that isn't yours. Meta only lets you delete profiles you can sign into, or request removal of a deceased person's account with proof (covered below).

How to delete a Facebook Page

A Page isn't the same as your personal account. Deleting your profile deletes Pages that only you control, but you can also delete a Page on its own. According to Meta's Pages help, you need full control of the Page:

1. Click your profile photo in the top right, then See all profiles, and switch into the Page.
2. Click the Page photo in the top right, then Settings & privacy > Settings.
3. Click Access and control in the left menu.
4. Under Deactivation or deletion, choose Delete Page and follow the prompts.

Facebook deactivates the Page right away, but it isn't permanently deleted until 14 days have passed. If you only want to hide it, you can deactivate or unpublish it instead.

How to delete the Facebook account of someone who died

Nobody gets the login details for another person's account. Instead, Meta offers two routes:

• Memorialization. The profile shows "Remembering" next to the person's name and stays up as a place for memories. If the person chose a legacy contact, that person can manage parts of it. See what happens to your Facebook profile if you pass away.
• Removal. An immediate family member or executor can request removal using Meta's special request form. A scan or photo of the death certificate is the fastest proof. Without one, you'll need proof of authority (such as a power of attorney, will or estate letter) plus proof of death (such as an obituary).

To plan ahead for your own account, choose a legacy contact, or ask for your account to be deleted after you pass away, in your memorialization settings. In Accounts Center that path is usually Manage accounts > Manage next to your profile > Memorialization.

Troubleshooting common problems

If you're cleaning up other accounts too, see how to delete Instagram account, how to delete TikTok account, how to delete your Twitter (X) account and how to delete Gmail account for the same step-by-step treatment.

FAQ

Final thoughts

The safest way to delete a Facebook account is to download your information first, move any apps off Facebook Login, hand over Pages and groups you want to survive, and then delete from Account ownership and control > Deactivation or deletion. After that, stay logged out for 30 days. If you're not sure you want to leave forever, deactivate instead. It hides your profile, keeps your memories and can leave Messenger running, and you can still delete later.