Facebook has suffered from a series of data leaks and breaches, on top of multiple privacy scandals. No one would blame you if you’ve decided to delete your Facebook account, here’s how to do it from a browser or iPhone.
Facebook has suffered from a series of data leaks and breaches, on top of multiple privacy scandals. … [+] No one would blame you if you’ve decided to delete your Facebook account.
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No one could blame you if you have had enough of Facebook. The company has been caught not looking after user data, it has been hacked multiple times, and involved in privacy scandals.
For many people, the latest Facebook data leak of 500 million users’ details was the last straw. Facebook isn’t known for looking after its users’ data, or for apologising when things go wrong.
Facebook is also about to be outed further by Apple’s new feature coming soon in iOS 14.5, which helps you stop the tech giant from tracking you on your iPhone across apps and services. Maybe you’ve already deleted Facebook on your iPhone; I did so a long time ago.
So how do you delete your account permanently?
Delete Facebook using a browser
Deleting Facebook using your browser is easy. First, think about whether you’d like to keep the data from your Facebook account such as photos, or save the details if you use Facebook to log into your Oculus.
Facebook has actually published a handy guide detailing how you can get your data before deleting your account.
Once you’ve downloaded your data and you’re ready to delete your Facebook account, go to Settings & Privacy > Settings > Your Facebook Information > Deactivation and Deletion > Permanently Delete Account > Delete Account.
There is a 30 day “cooling off” period, so you can change your mind if you want.
And voila. Bye bye Facebook.
Delete Facebook from your iPhone
If you’d rather use your iPhone to delete Facebook, that’s simple too. Just go to Settings and Privacy > Settings > Account Ownership and Control > Deactivation and Deletion > Delete Account.
You’ll need to, of course, delete the Facebook app from your iPhone and revoke all app permissions. You’ll also need to reset the user name and password on any apps you use Facebook to log into.
To delete or not to delete Facebook
It’s a difficult decision, as deleting Facebook is very much permanent and you will of course get rid of Messenger too. And Facebook owned app Instagram collects a lot of your data as well, so ideally you’d need to get rid of it.
And that’s without considering WhatsApp—which is also owned by Facebook but is not the same data-machine as Facebook and Instagram—at least yet.
If you are a little hesitant but want to try life without Facebook, you can of course, temporarily deactivate your account. But note: Facebook will encourage you to do this rather than delete, and this does not delete your account or data from Facebook.
On the other hand, it’s certainly a way to try before you buy. If you do choose to deactivate, and find life without Facebook is as you suspected better, you can then go back and delete your account when you are ready.
