Deactivate or delete your Instagram account

Instagram's Help Center, read on 14 October 2026, describes two different actions.

Deactivating hides your photos, comments and likes until you reactivate by logging back in. Instagram says you can deactivate a profile once a week.

Deleting permanently removes your profile, photos, videos, comments, likes and followers. It starts a 30-day countdown, and that countdown is the one stretch in which you can still change your mind.

If you only want to change who sees you, Instagram's deactivation article points to setting your posts to private or blocking people instead.

Do these three things while you can still log in. The first matters most: Instagram says that once the profile is deleted you no longer have access to its Export your information tool.

Download your information. On a phone, Instagram's Help Center (14 October 2026) says to tap your profile picture, tap Menu, tap Meta Account (some screens still say Accounts Center), then Your information and permissions, then Export your information, then Create export. Pick the profile, choose Export to device, set what to include and tap Start export. On a computer, start from More in the bottom left, then Settings. Instagram says a finished export stays available to download for 4 days, and that an email link can take up to 30 days to arrive.

Disconnect apps and websites. As of 14 October 2026 the Help Center path is Menu, then Website permissions below Your app and media, then Apps and websites, then Active, then tap Remove next to each app you no longer use. Instagram says a removed app can reach only your public information, and that it may keep what it stored while it was connected. If an app asked for your password instead of using Instagram's own login screen, is it safe to connect your Instagram explains the difference.

Export your contacts from inDM. If you use inDM, open Contacts and choose Export CSV. The file holds whatever the list is showing, so clear the search box first. Do this before you disconnect Instagram inside inDM or remove inDM under Apps and websites: our data deletion page says either action deletes the contacts your automations created.

As of 14 October 2026, Instagram's Help Center gives two layouts, depending on what sits at the bottom of your Accounts Center. Instagram also says it is gradually moving people to Meta Accounts, so you may see either name.

If Accounts Center shows Manage accounts at the bottom: on a phone, tap your profile picture, then Menu, then Accounts Center, then open your profile and personal details section. Instagram's deactivation article calls it Manage account and its deletion article calls it Profiles and personal details. Tap Manage next to the profile, then Deactivation or deletion, then choose the profile.

If it shows Accounts at the bottom: tap Accounts Center, then Personal details under Account settings, then Account ownership and control, then Deactivation or deletion, then the profile.

On a computer the route is the same, starting with More in the bottom left, then Settings.

On the next screen choose Deactivate account, then Continue, and follow the prompts. Read the button before you tap: Instagram's deactivation article uses the word delete in one set of its own steps, so check the screen says Deactivate. To bring the account back, log in again. Instagram describes deactivation as hidden until you do, and names no automatic return date.

Follow the same Accounts Center route as above, but choose Delete account instead. In the first layout the path is Accounts Center, then Profiles and personal details, then Manage next to the account type, then Deactivation or deletion, then the account, then Delete account and Continue. In the second layout it is Accounts Center, Personal details, Account ownership and control, Deactivation or deletion, the profile, Delete account, then Continue and the confirmation steps. If you use the Instagram app on Android, Instagram says to do this at instagram.com in a computer or mobile browser.

Here is what Instagram says happens next:

• After 30 days your profile and all your information are permanently deleted, and you cannot retrieve them. During those 30 days the content stays under Instagram's Terms of Use and Privacy Policy and is not accessible to other people on Instagram.
• The number of days in which you can cancel varies by region.
• Finishing the deletion can take up to 90 days. Copies can remain in backup storage, and Instagram may keep information for legal issues, terms violations or harm prevention.
• You can sign up again with the same username as long as nobody new has taken it. If a profile was removed for breaking Community Standards, you may not be able to.

Log back in to the account before the 30 days are up. Instagram's Help Center says you can cancel your Instagram account deletion request before the 30-day deadline by logging back in. That sentence appears in its article on deleting Edits, a part of Instagram, and Instagram's main deletion article does not repeat it.

Neither article describes a cancel screen for Instagram. Its article for Threads says to log in and tap a confirm prompt, but we did not find that screen described for Instagram. Follow whatever prompt your app shows after you log in.

Instagram says the number of days you can cancel varies by region, so do not count on day 30 exactly. Once the window closes, Instagram says you will not be able to retrieve your information.

Nothing here is from our own test. Every path comes from Instagram's Help Center as read on 14 October 2026. Menu names are changing as Accounts Center becomes Meta Account, so follow what your screen shows.

Deletion cannot be reversed after the window. Instagram says deleted information cannot be retrieved, and that a deleted account cannot be restored.

Some things are not covered. The deactivation and deletion articles we read do not mention paid subscriptions or ad accounts. Check each of them before you delete.

You must be able to log in. Instagram cannot delete a profile for you. If you cannot get in and no disabled message appears, Instagram points to a login problem, someone else holding the account, or a deletion. Our page on whether Instagram has restricted your account covers disabled accounts.

Removing an app is not the same as deleting its data. Instagram says a removed app may keep what it stored. Ask each service you used to delete its own copy, as our data deletion page describes for inDM.