How do I delete an online account properly?

Services make deletion hard on purpose, and often offer deactivation instead, which just hides the account. Genuine deletion is usually available but rarely prominent, and it is worth doing rather than simply walking away.

What you'll need

• Account login
• Somewhere to save exported data (optional)

Step by step

1. Download your data before deleting anything.Most services offer a data export. Once the account is deleted, everything in it is gone — photos, messages, purchase history.
2. Check what else depends on the account.'Sign in with' logins are the big one — deleting a Google or Facebook account can lock you out of everything you used it to sign into.
3. Cancel any subscription attached to it first.Deleting an account does not always cancel billing, and chasing a payment for a deleted account is unpleasant.
4. Find the delete option in account or privacy settings.It is deliberately buried. Searching the service name plus 'delete account' usually finds the direct link faster than navigating.
5. Distinguish deactivation from deletion.Deactivation hides the account and it can be restored. Only deletion removes the data. Services push deactivation heavily.
6. Complete any confirmation steps.There is often a grace period of days or weeks before deletion completes, and logging in during it can cancel the deletion.
7. Note that some data may be retained.Legal and financial records are often kept regardless. The privacy policy states what and for how long.
8. Remove saved passwords afterwards.Clear the entry from your password manager so you are not left with credentials for something that no longer exists.

Tips

• Do this periodically for accounts you no longer use. Every dormant account is data sitting somewhere that can be breached.
• In some jurisdictions you have a legal right to erasure and can request deletion directly if no option is provided.
• Before deleting an email account, check what uses it for password recovery. That is the most common way people lock themselves out permanently.

Common mistakes

• Deactivating instead of deleting — The account and its data still exist and can still be breached. Deactivation is a pause, not a removal.
• Deleting an account used to sign into other services — You lose access to everything that used it as a login, and recovering those is considerably harder.
• Not exporting data first — Photos, messages and records are gone permanently once deletion completes.

Questions people ask