How to Quit Facebook

Make arrangements before deleting Facebook

Tell your friends to stop using Facebook. Post a status to inform your friends that you're about to delete your Facebook account. This step will give them time to exchange contact information with you (if necessary).

This is also your opportunity to share your contact information if you want others to be able to contact you outside of Facebook.

If you want to leave Facebook quietly, just skip this step.

Decide whether you want to keep Messenger or not. Facebook Messenger is a separate app that you can continue to use even after you delete your Facebook account. If you decide to delete your Messenger account, you will follow the steps below after deleting your Facebook account:

Open Facebook Messenger .

Tap on the personal icon in the top left corner of the screen.

Scroll down and select Privacy & Terms .

Select Deactivate Messenger (Disable Messenger)

Enter your password and select Continue .

Select Deactivate when asked.

Delete the Messenger app on iPhone or Android.

Change your login information for any service that uses your Facebook account. Apps like Spotify and Uber give you the option to log in with your Facebook account instead of using your email address. If you chose this option when registering for the service, remember to switch to using your email address or phone number to log in.

Most of these services allow you to log in with your phone number; Therefore, if you have entered your phone number, you will log in normally.

Delete posts that you do not want posted online. Although deleting your Facebook account will erase all of your information online, you should still delete sensitive or personal posts if you don't want Google (or another search engine) to save them.

Archived posts can still be found after you deactivate your account and will take several weeks to disappear from search engines.

Delete the Facebook app on your phone or tablet. Since the steps in the next two sections can't be performed on the Facebook mobile app, you can delete the app on your phone or tablet.

You can delete apps on both iPhone and Android phones.

Save Facebook data

Open the Facebook page. Visit https://www.facebook.com/ to open your News Feed if you're logged in.

If you're not logged in, type in your email address (or phone number) and password, then click Log In .

Click the icon to the right of the blue menu bar above the Facebook window.

Click Settings . It's near the bottom of the list of options.

Click General . It's in the top left corner of the page.

Click the blue Download a copy text below the General page.

Click the green Start my Archive button in the middle of the page.

Enter your password when requested. This is the password you use to log into Facebook.

Click the blue Submit button at the bottom of the password window.

Click the blue Start my Archive button in the window that appears. Facebook will start collecting your information after this operation.

Click OK when asked.

Go to the email address registered with Facebook. Open the inbox of the email address you use to log in to Facebook.

If you're not logged into your email account, you'll need to enter your email address and password before continuing.

Open the email with the subject line "Your Facebook download is ready" sent from "Facebook".

It will take a few minutes before you receive the email; Please wait patiently if you don't see the email the first time you check.

You may need to open a specific tab in your inbox (for example, Gmail users will need to click the Social tab ).

Click on the download link. You'll find the link near the bottom of the email, just above the words "This message was sent to [email address]".

Click the green Download Archive button at the top of the page.

Enter your password when prompted, then click Submit to download your Facebook information to your computer.

Downloaded data includes your contact information and photos.

Delete Facebook account

Go to the Facebook deletion page. Visit https://www.facebook.com/help/delete_account/. Note that you can't do this on the Facebook mobile app.

If asked, you'll enter your email address in the "Email" field, enter your Facebook password in the "Password" field, and click Log In .

Click Delete My Account . This option is below the warning information in the middle of the page. After clicking, the screen will display an additional window.

Enter your password. Type your password into the "Password" field at the top of the window.

Enter the captcha code. The code appears in the middle of the page with mixed letters and numbers; you'll retype that code and the field below.

If you can't read the code, you can click the Try another text or an audio captcha link below to request a new code.

Click OK to send the code. If you entered it correctly, another window will display.

If you enter an incorrect password or captcha code, you will be asked to try again.

Click OK at the bottom of the window to delete the account. This disables your account for 14 days, after which it will be deleted.

Jessica Tanner

Update 11 November 2023