When someone decides to deactivate their Facebook account, one of the first questions that comes to mind is “How long does it take for my account to be deactivated?” The answer is that deactivation happens very quickly – usually within a few minutes after you submit the request.
The deactivation process
Deactivating your Facebook account is simple. You just need to go to your account settings, click on “Manage Account” and then “Deactivate your account.” Facebook will ask you to confirm that you want to deactivate, and to choose a reason from a dropdown menu.
As soon as you click “Deactivate,” your account is scheduled for deactivation. According to Facebook, it can take up to one day for the deactivation process to fully complete. However, in most cases it happens much faster than that.
Here is a general timeline of what happens when you deactivate your Facebook account:
- You click “Deactivate” and confirm your choice.
- Your account is scheduled for deactivation within a few minutes.
- You are immediately logged out of Facebook.
- Your profile and pages are hidden from other users.
- Within a few hours, your account is fully deactivated in Facebook’s system.
So in summary, while the full deactivation can take up to 24 hours, your account is hidden from view and inaccessible within minutes of clicking that “Deactivate” button.
What deactivation does
When your Facebook account is deactivated:
- Your profile, photos, posts, videos, and all other account content is hidden from other users. Other people will no longer be able to search for you or view your timeline.
- You cannot log into Facebook with your account credentials. If you try, you will see a message that the account is deactivated.
- You will stop receiving notifications, messages, and emails from Facebook.
- Your Facebook apps will stop working.
- Your Facebook events will be removed from guest lists.
- You will be removed from Facebook groups.
Essentially, deactivating makes it so your account no longer exists on the “live” Facebook platform. All of your data remains safely stored in Facebook’s system, but the account itself is non-functioning.
What deactivation does NOT do
It’s important to understand a few key things that deactivating your account will NOT do:
- It will not delete or erase your account data. All of your info remains saved in Facebook’s system.
- It will not free up your username. Others users cannot claim your unique Facebook URL.
- It will not stop ads from targeting you if Facebook has your contact info. Advertisers can still potentially reach you.
- It will not delete your Facebook Messenger account and messages. Messenger operates separately.
The main thing deactivation does is remove your account’s visibility and accessibility within the core Facebook platform. But your data remains stored, your username remains reserved, and advertisers can still potentially target you.
How to permanently delete instead
If your goal is to permanently erase your presence on Facebook rather than just deactivating temporarily, you will need to delete your account instead.
Deleting your Facebook account:
- Erases all of your account data, posts, photos, profile info, etc.
- Frees up your username to be claimed by another user
- Removes you from targeting by advertisers
- Deletes your Messenger account and messages
Permanent deletion is a much more extreme action that cannot be reversed. If you wish to delete your Facebook account, you can do so by following these steps:
- Go to your Facebook account settings
- Click “Manage Account”
- Click “Delete Account”
- Enter your password and click “Continue”
- Choose a reason for deleting your account
- Click “Delete Account”
It can take up to 90 days for Facebook to fully process the account deletion. Within a month, your account will typically be erased from view. But data may still exist in Facebook’s systems for the full 90 days before it is purged.
Reactivating a deactivated account
If you change your mind after deactivating your Facebook account, you can easily reactivate it and restore full access:
- Go to Facebook.com and click “Log In”
- Enter your account email and password
- A message will ask if you want to reactivate your account
- Click “Reactivate” and you’re done!
Reactivation is quick and your account will be restored to the exact state it was in before you deactivated it. All of your content and info remains available.
How long until an inactive account is deleted?
Facebook does not automatically delete inactive or deactivated accounts. As long as you do not permanently delete your account yourself, it can remain deactivated indefinitely.
However, Facebook does have an automated process to detect accounts that are clearly abandoned and unrecoverable. Accounts may be slated for deletion if:
- The account has been inactive for over 10 years
- Facebook cannot verify account ownership
- No password resets or account reactivations have been attempted
Even in these cases, Facebook usually makes several attempts to contact the account owner before finally deleting the account. So unless you personally delete your account, it is unlikely to be removed by Facebook without your knowledge.
Conclusion
In summary:
- Deactivating your Facebook account takes effect almost instantly, within a few minutes max.
- Deactivation hides your profile and stops account functionality, but does not delete data.
- You can easily reactivate a deactivated account at any time.
- Permanent deletion erases all account data and cannot be undone.
- Inactive/deactivated accounts are not automatically deleted by Facebook.
Deactivating is ideal if you need a temporary break from Facebook but may want the option to restore your account later. Deleting is better for permanently removing your presence and data from the platform.