Deactivating Instagram temporarily and permanently
If you’re only looking to take a break from Instagram or don’t want to decide to delete your account hastily permanently, you can temporarily deactivate your account.
Undoubtedly, Instagram holds a special place among users worldwide, and many people are interested in or even addicted to using it. Being present on this social network can sometimes be exhausting. You may find that minutes turn into hours when you only intend to spend a few minutes on the platform. If we know how to enhance the security of our Instagram account, there’s no need to decide to delete the account for security reasons.
If you don’t want to delete your Instagram account, temporarily deactivating it may help reduce time spent on the app or give you time to decide to delete your account. By deactivating your account, your profile becomes hidden from the view of other users, giving the impression that your account doesn’t exist. There is no way for others to know that you have temporarily deactivated or permanently deleted your profile.
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Furthermore, you can keep your Instagram account deactivated for as long as possible. If you log back into your account after a week, three months, or a year, your account will be the same as when you left it. If you want to close your account permanently, you can read the step-by-step guide to deleting an Instagram account through a computer and a mobile phone.
Deactivating an Instagram account is very simple. We have explained the steps to deactivate an Instagram account using a desktop browser below, and these steps are the same as those you need to perform on a mobile browser.
Temporary deactivation of Instagram with the phone
Is deactivating an Instagram account permanent?
To deactivate your Instagram account on Android, like completely deleting an Instagram account, you need to do it through the web version, which cannot be done through the app. It doesn’t matter if you’re using a mobile browser or a desktop browser; follow the steps below to deactivate your account:
- Go to the Instagram website and log in to your account.
- Click on the profile icon in the top right corner.
- Select “Settings” from the menu.
- Scroll down and click “Temporarily deactivate my account” at the bottom of the page.
- On the next page, click on the conversation box next to the phrase “Why are you disabling your account” and select your reason for deactivating your Instagram account from the provided list.
- If you don’t find your desired reason among the options provided, you can select “Something else.”
- In the next conversation box, re-enter your account password, and finally, click on “Temporarily Disable Account” or “Temporarily deactivating Account.”
With this action, your account will be temporarily deactivated. From now on, you can reactivate your account anytime by logging back in through a browser or the app. It’s important to note that you can only deactivate your account once per week. If you deactivate your account and log in again during the week, you won’t be able to deactivate it again for seven days.
Permanent Instagram Deactivation
When you delete your account, all your information is permanently removed. However, this only happens after the moment of deletion. Instagram provides a grace period of 30 days in case you change your mind and want to recover your account. After this period, your data will be permanently unrecoverable. This grace period is also in place to prevent misuse if someone hacks into your account.
After permanently deleting your account, you can register again with the same username as long as no one else has used it. Alternatively, you can add the username to another account.
Remember that if your account is deleted due to violating Instagram’s Community Guidelines, you may not be able to register again with the same username.
Permanent Instagram deactivation on Android can only be done through a browser. It doesn’t matter if you do it through your phone’s browser or a computer. Either way, you must log in to the Instagram web version once. Then follow these steps:
- Go to the Instagram permanent account deletion page (ensure you’re logged into your account).
- Select the reason for deleting your Instagram account from the dropdown menu.
- To confirm your decision, click or tap on the Delete button.
If you only want to take a break from Instagram for a while, instead of permanent deletion, you should temporarily deactivate your account.
Deactivating Instagram on iPhone
- Open the Instagram app and log into your account.
- Go to the Profile tab. Tap on the three-line icon in the top right corner and select Settings.
- Go to Accounts.
- At the bottom of the page, tap on Delete account.
- To deactivate Instagram on your iPhone and temporarily close your account, select “Deactivate account.” Doing this will redirect you to the Instagram website through the internal browser.
- Select an option from the dropdown menu in the “Why are you deactivating your account” section. You can choose any option.
- Enter your account password in the second box to activate the “Deactivate” button at the bottom of the page.
- Click the “Temporarily Deactivate Account” button and select “Yes” to confirm.
Until you log back into your account, your account will be inaccessible.
Permanent Instagram deactivation on iPhone
To permanently delete Instagram on your iPhone and close your account:
- Log into your Instagram account.
- Go to the Profile tab. Tap on the three-line icon in the top right corner and select Settings.
- Go to Accounts.
- At the bottom of the page, tap on Delete account.
- Select Delete account.
- Select “Continue deleting account.” Doing this will redirect you to the Instagram website through the internal browser.
- Choose a reason for deleting your account from the dropdown menu.
- Enter your account password.
- Click on the “Delete [your username]” button.
Please note that you have a 30-day window to reactivate your account starting when you press the delete button. By logging back into your account, you can reactivate it.
Reactivating a deactivated Instagram account:
If more than 30 days have passed since you requested to delete your Instagram account, you won’t be able to recover it. However, within this timeframe, you can restore your account by following these steps:
- Return to Instagram and log in using your account credentials.
- You will see a message indicating that you requested to delete your account and the date when your data will be permanently removed.
- press the “Keep Account” button to prevent this from happening.
By following these steps, you can restore your deleted Instagram account.
We hope that the article you read was useful for you. If you have any questions or encounter any problems related to disabling Instagram or temporarily closing your Instagram account, share them with us and the Jethashtag community. We also suggest you read the comprehensive article on Instagram tutorial: from 0 to 100 for beginners .