How to Deactivate Instagram - Everything You Need To Know

Instagram took the world by storm, but suddenly, more and more people are taking down their profiles. Is it because of its toxic influence on young people? Or maybe because of the flood of negative news?

Regardless of the reason, nowadays, more and more people wonder how to deactivate their Instagram account.

How to Deactivate Instagram? 

Wanting to Deactivate your Instagram account doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re totally done with the app. You probably intend to come back at some point. So, it’s always a good idea to download all your data first. You can easily do that within the app settings, but we’ll get back to that later.

First things first:

• Open up the web browser either on your phone or computer and go to Instagram’s web page. Unfortunately, you can’t complete the process using the mobile app.

• Log into your account and go to the screen showing your profile picture in the upper right corner. 
• Click and choose “Edit Profile.” 

• Scroll down until you spot the option “Temporarily disable my Instagram account” in blue at the bottom right of the screen. 

• Afterward, you need to choose a reason for your decision from the drop-down menu. 

• Enter your password again. 
• Choose “Temporarily disable account.” 

If you want to re-activate your profile again, you can do it right away using your mobile application to log back in.
But you need to have your data.
Follow these steps:

• Go to the “Edit Profile” menu and select “Privacy and Security.”

• Scroll down till the very end of the page, where you’ll see the “Download Data” option.

• Click on the link “Request Download.” 

Your data is kept for a month in the app’s archives. Nevertheless, the control you’ll have over your deactivated Instagram account will be zero. Hence, it’s highly advisable to download everything.

Choosing to take a break from the social platform would mean that all your photos, followers, likes, and comments will be hidden.

For How Long Can You Disable Your Insta Account? 

Unlike most other social media channels, Instagram hasn’t set a particular period of time for this. What does this mean for you? 

Well, you can disable your Instagram account for as long as you wish. Whether this will be a day or a year–it’s totally up to you. 

You still have to pay serious attention to how often you deactivate your Instagram account. The application has set strict rules when it comes to privacy and security. As a result, you’re limited to suspending your profile to a maximum of once a week.

If you paused it, then reactivated it, but suddenly decided that you made a mistake, you won’t be able to deactivate it again. For that reason, you have to be extremely careful how many times you perform this action. No wonder so many users’ access to the platform has been permanently banned. 

Deactivated vs. Deleted Instagram Account - What’s the Difference?

So, are disabling your profile and deleting it the same thing? Definitely not.

When you delete your account on Ig, you automatically and permanently lose all your profile data. 

This is to say, your username, profile picture, followers, messages, likes, archives, photos, videos, and comments are gone forever. If that’s not enough, your username becomes available for anyone. 

In contrast, when deactivated, the username is still held for you if you decide to keep using the app. According to Instagram regulations, after 30 days, your data will be erased. During this period, your account isn’t accessible, nor is your information visible. 

So, are you sure you want to delete your profile?

How to Delete Your Instagram Account

As with the deactivation process, you won’t be able to delete your Instagram account on the app itself. You’ll have to use your web browser either on a phone or a computer. 

Then do the following:

• You can reach the Instagram Deletion Page in two ways. Firstly, through the Help Center by clicking on the “Manage Your Account” page. After which, choose “Delete Your Account” followed by “How do I delete my Instagram account?”. Check out this link for the second way.
• A page asking why you want to remove Instagram will appear.
• Choose an option from the drop-down menu in the center of the screen.
• After you have selected your reason, re-enter your password.
• The final and irreversible step is to click “Delete (your username).”

Wrap Up 

Instagram is indisputably the greatest app for sharing your experiences, useful information, or simply your everyday life. Instagram is undeniably first place for the top social connector. 

It’s a fact that with over 1 billion users worldwide, the platform can be highly addictive. This is the reason why sometimes you need to take a so-called ‘social-media detox.’ 

The offline break could either be temporary or for good. Whichever you decide, we hope this guide has shown both how to deactivate Instagram for some time as well as delete it forever.