Facebook has become a hugely popular social media platform, with over 2.8 billion monthly active users as of 2021. However, some people decide they want to take a break from Facebook or delete their account entirely for various reasons like privacy concerns, desire to be more productive, or simply losing interest in the platform.
Deactivating your Facebook account is different from permanently deleting it. When you deactivate your account, it is hidden from view but can be reactivated if you log back in. With permanent deletion, the account is removed from Facebook’s servers and cannot be recovered. Here we will focus on deactivation timeframes.
The Basics of Deactivating a Facebook Account
Deactivating your Facebook account is relatively quick and straightforward. Here are the basic steps:
- Go to your Facebook settings
- Click on the tab “Your Facebook Information” in the left sidebar
- Select “Deactivation and Deletion”
- Choose “Deactivate Account” and confirm
Once you confirm, your account will be deactivated immediately. Your profile and all information will no longer be viewable on Facebook. Deactivating accounts is Facebook’s default option before considering permanent deletion.
How Long Does Deactivation Take to Complete?
When you deactivate your Facebook account through the steps above, the deactivation happens instantly. Within seconds of clicking the “Deactivate” button and confirming, your account will no longer accessible.
Immediate Effects of Deactivation
Once deactivated, here are some of the immediate effects:
- Your profile and posts are hidden
- Friends can no longer search for you or view your profile
- You cannot log in or use Facebook messenger
- Your information is no longer accessible to anyone
So in summary, deactivation starts immediately upon confirming through the Facebook interface. But what about the behind-the-scenes process? Are there any delays before Facebook fully cuts off access?
How Long Before Facebook Completes Deletion Processes?
Facebook states the behind-the-scenes deletion steps can take up to 90 days to fully complete after deactivating your account. These are steps that disable certain account features or delete information from their systems.
According to Facebook, some of the deletion steps include:
- Deleting posts, photos, videos, reactions, and comments
- Disconnecting you from groups and events
- Removing your messages from other users’ inboxes
- Deleting your notifications
While your account appears deactivated immediately, Facebook says allowing up to 90 days ensures all of your information is properly removed from their complex systems and caches.
Why 90 Days for Full Deactivation?
Facebook provides a few reasons why it can take up to 90 days to fully deactivate an account behind the scenes:
- Backups: User information and posts can exist in backups that take time to be cleared from the system.
- Cached Data: Facebook caches certain data to improve performance. This cached data has to be deleted.
- Complex Systems: The enormous scale and complexity of Facebook’s systems means changes take time to fully propagate.
Essentially, the delayed completion ensures a deactivated account’s information is methodically and comprehensively purged from all of Facebook’s servers and services globally. No personal data is supposed to remain after the 90 days.
What Happens Within the 90 Day Completion Period?
For the 90 days after deactivation, Facebook states they take the following steps to remove user information:
- Delete posts, photos, videos, and other user-generated content
- Remove connections, such as friends or followers
- Disassociate from any groups or events you joined
- Erase records of your interactions, such as likes or comments
- Disable account features like contacts, messenger, marketplace
- Clear server caches and backups containing your data
Facebook claims they prioritize deleting any sensitive information early in the process. Things like contacts or financial data get priority removal. Other information like posts or comments may still show briefly until caches refresh.
Can You Reactivate During the 90 Days?
Yes, you can still reactivate your account anytime within the 90 day deactivation period by simply logging back in. All of your information will still be there. Reactivating tells Facebook to stop any deletion processes.
If you remain deactivated for over 90 days, Facebook then classify the account as permanently deactivated. At that point reactivating is much more difficult and not guaranteed.
Does Facebook Save Any Data After 90 Days?
Facebook claims that after the 90 day deactivation period, all of your information is deleted from their systems. However, there are a few exceptions:
- If you made financial transactions on Facebook, they may retain records per legal requirements.
- Some deactivated information may remain in aggregated statistics or analytics data.
- If you posted to other users’ timelines, that content may remain.
- Copies of messages you sent to other users may stay in their inboxes.
Facebook states the exceptions contain limited data and are disconnected from any identifying user information. Financial transactions, statistics, and messages to other users may not get purged.
Can You Retrieve Data After 90 Days?
No, after the 90 day deactivation period ends, Facebook permanently deletes your account data. There are no options to recover or download your information after that point.
If you think you may want your data back later, you can download it prior to deactivating your account using Facebook’s tools for managing your information.
| Time After Deactivation | What Happens to Your Data |
|---|---|
| 0 – 90 days | Account appears deactivated but data still exists on Facebook servers until deletion processes complete |
| 90+ days | Permanent deactivation, all personal data is deleted with a few exceptions |
Can You Use Facebook Messenger After Deactivating?
No, once your Facebook account is deactivated you can no longer use Facebook Messenger. Your messenger account and conversations will get disconnected along with your main account.
However, as mentioned above, messages you already sent other users prior to deactivating may still appear in their message inboxes. Their copy of conversations with you remains but your access gets removed.
Reactivating to Use Messenger Again
If you want to continue using Messenger after deactivating your Facebook account, you would first need to reactivate your Facebook account. Messenger requires an associated Facebook account to function.
The only way to keep using Messenger without Facebook is to create a separate Messenger-only account not linked to Facebook. But you cannot convert an existing Facebook Messenger account to a Messenger-only one after deactivating.
How to Download Your Information Before Deactivating
Before deactivating your Facebook account, you may want to download a copy of your information for personal records or in case you ever reactivate your account.
Here are the steps to download your Facebook data:
- Go to Settings > Your Facebook Information
- Select “Download Your Information”
- Choose media types to download: Photos, Posts, Profile Information, etc.
- Select date range for information to download
- Request download and wait for Facebook to prepare archive
- Once ready, download and unzip archive to access files
Facebook allows you to download the majority of the content and information associated with your account through this process before deactivating.
Information Facebook Allows You to Download
Here are some of the types of data Facebook lets you download for records before deactivating:
- Posts, photos, videos you’ve shared
- Messages and chat conversations
- Friends list and contacts
- Timeline information and history
- Interests and account settings
The download gives you a big snapshot of your Facebook presence for nostalgia or records before saying goodbye through deactivation.
Conclusion
Deactivating your Facebook account happens instantly but the platform needs up to 90 days to permanently delete all your personal data from their systems. Within seconds of deactivating through the Facebook interface, your profile and information disappear from view.
However, Facebook requires up to 90 days to methodically remove traces of your account from cached data, backups, databases, and other complex backend systems. They claim this ensures comprehensive deletion. After 90 days, your data is gone for good unless you reactivate your account within that window.
Overall, instant public deactivation but 90 days for permanent data deletion. Download your info beforehand if you want records. And you can still reactivate anytime during that 90 day period if you change your mind.