With over 2 billion monthly active users, Facebook has become one of the most widely used social media platforms. While it allows us to stay connected with friends and family, share life events, and find communities, many users are concerned about their privacy on the platform.
One way to gain more control over your privacy is to delete your Facebook activity history. This removes things like your past searches, reactions, comments, and other actions you’ve taken on Facebook. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to delete your Facebook activity history.
Should You Delete Your Facebook Activity History?
Before diving into how to delete your activity history, let’s discuss the pros and cons of doing so:
Pros
- Increases privacy by removing your digital footprint
- Prevents others from seeing your past interactions and searches
- Can help limit Facebook’s data collection on you
Cons
- Makes it harder to find past posts, photos, etc. that you’ve shared
- Removes your own ability to look back on your Facebook memories and activity
- Does not completely erase the data Facebook has collected on you
Overall, deleting your activity history gives you more control over your privacy. But it also takes away your own ability to look back on your Facebook history. Consider your personal priorities regarding privacy vs convenience when deciding if clearing your history is right for you.
How to Delete Facebook Activity History
If you decide to delete your Facebook activity history, here is a step-by-step guide on how to do it:
Step 1: Download your Facebook data
Before deleting your activity history, it can be helpful to download a copy of your Facebook data for your own records. Here’s how:
- Click on the down arrow in the top right and select “Settings & Privacy”
- On the left menu, click “Settings”
- Click “Your Facebook Information” in the tabs at the top
- Click “Download Your Information” and select the data types you want to download
- Click “Create File” to request your download archive
Facebook will assemble your downloadable archive and notify you via email when it’s ready, which may take up to a few hours.
Step 2: Delete your activity history
Once you’ve downloaded your Facebook data, here’s how to delete your activity history:
- Click on the down arrow in the top right and select “Settings & Privacy”
- On the left menu, click “Settings”
- Click “Your Facebook Information” in the tabs at the top
- Click “View Your Activity History”
- Toggle the slider to the “Off” position
- Click “Manage Future Activity” and select “Limit Past Posts”
- Select the option to limit past posts you’ve shared to others
It may take up to 48 hours for your activity history to be completely cleared from Facebook.
Step 3: Adjust privacy settings
For additional privacy, you can adjust who can see your future posts and profile information:
- Go to “Settings” then “Privacy”
- Click “Privacy Checkup” and select “Limit Old Posts”
- Select friends or only you for “Who can see your future posts?”
- Review and limit who can see your profile info, contacts, and other info
What Types of Activity Can Be Deleted?
Deleting your activity history gets rid of a wide range of actions you’ve taken on Facebook, including:
- Posts and comments you’ve made
- Reactions to posts and pages
- Searches performed
- Articles and links you’ve viewed
- Advertisers whose ads you’ve clicked
- Pages and people you’ve followed
Essentially all of your engagement on Facebook is erased when you delete your activity history. However, deleting your history does not get rid of:
- Posts or information others have shared about you
- Your Facebook messages and conversations
- Photos and videos you’ve been tagged in
To remove this kind of content, you’ll need to either untag yourself or request removal from the person who shared it.
How Far Back Does Deleted Activity Go?
When you delete your Facebook activity history, it removes everything you’ve posted, reacted to, searched, and clicked on for as long as you’ve had your account.
So if you’ve been on Facebook for 5 years, deleting your activity history will erase the last 5 years of actions. There is no limit to how far back your deleted history can go.
However, there are a few exceptions:
- Your Messenger conversations will only be deleted up to the past year
- Searches are only erased back to 3 months ago
- Information others have posted about you will not be deleted
In summary, your own engagement and digital footprint on Facebook will be deleted as far back as the inception of your account when you clear your activity history.
Does Deleted Activity Disappear from Facebook’s Servers?
A common question around deleting Facebook activity history is whether it fully disappears from Facebook’s servers after being erased.
The short answer is – no, it does not get deleted from their servers. According to Facebook, they keep the data for “backup, analysis, and other internal processes.” However, they claim the data becomes inaccessible to others.
Some key points on what happens behind the scenes when you delete activity:
- Data is disassociated from your account and becomes anonymous
- Activity can no longer be attributed to you by name
- Data is only retained on backend servers and cannot be accessed publicly
So in essence, your activity history is anonymized when erased. The data still exists in Facebook’s system, but is de-identified from you. Many experts recommend downloading your data before deleting for true peace of mind.
Should You Deactivate Instead of Deleting Activity?
Related to deleting your activity history is deactivating your Facebook account altogether. Some people choose to temporarily deactivate their account for a break from the platform.
Deactivating your account hides your profile and removes some data from view, but does not delete any of your history. Your information remains stored on Facebook’s servers.
Meanwhile, deleting your activity history reduces your data footprint while still letting you access Facebook. So unless you want to take a full break from the platform, deleting your history is likely the better option over deactivation for privacy.
How to Recover Deleted Facebook Activity
If you change your mind later and want to recover deleted activity, here are your options:
1. Restore posts you’ve deleted
For any individual posts you’ve deleted in the last 30 days, you can restore them:
- Go to your Activity Log and filter by “Your posts”
- Click the 3 dots next to a deleted post and select “Restore”
- The post will be restored to your profile
2. Reactivate your account
If you deactivated your Facebook account, you can fully restore it within 30 days by logging back in with your credentials.
3. Download your archived data
If you downloaded your Facebook archive before deleting your activity history, you can access your past data from the files you downloaded.
However, there is no way to reload deleted activity history back onto Facebook once removed. But you’ll have your own records in the archived data files.
Conclusion
Deleting your Facebook activity history can be a great way to gain control of your privacy and digital footprint. But weigh the pros and cons carefully, as it also takes away your own ability to access past memories and interactions.
Be sure to download your Facebook archive before erasing your history just in case you change your mind later. And realize the data still exists anonymously on Facebook’s servers even after deletion.
With the right expectations set, clearing your Facebook activity log can help you feel empowered with your privacy choices and more in control of your data.