Deactivating your Facebook account is a handy option if you want to take a break from the platform without fully deleting your profile. When you deactivate your account, your profile is hidden until you reactivate it by logging back in. You can reactivate your account and regain access to your profile at any time. But how long can you keep your Facebook account deactivated before Facebook deletes it entirely? Let’s take a look.
How Deactivation Works
When you deactivate your Facebook account, your profile is hidden from other users on the platform. Your friends will no longer see your profile in their friends list or be able to search for your profile. You will also stop receiving notifications, friend requests, and messages. Essentially, deactivating makes it appear as if you no longer have a Facebook account.
However, Facebook will still retain all of your information, including posts, photos, friends list, and messages. Nothing is actually deleted from their servers. Your account remains in a dormant state, ready to be reactivated whenever you decide to log back in.
Deactivating your account is different from permanently deleting your account. With deactivation, you can easily undo it later. Deletion is much more permanent, involves a longer waiting period, and makes it very difficult (though not impossible) to restore your account.
How Long Can You Deactivate for?
There is no time limit on how long you can keep your Facebook account deactivated. You can reactivate your account after being deactivated for days, weeks, months or even years if you want. Facebook does not automatically delete deactivated accounts after any set period of inactivity. As long as you remember your login info, you can log back in and pick up right where you left off.
Many people deactivate their accounts for social media fasts lasting anywhere from a few days to a few weeks. Some deactivate for months at a time if they need an extended break from the platform. Others have kept their accounts deactivated for over a year before deciding to log back in. There are even some who have kept their Facebook accounts deactivated for 5+ years straight.
Facebook’s policy is that they retain your deactivated account indefinitely in case you change your mind. Unless you decide to permanently delete your account, it will remain in a deactivated state waiting for you.
When Does Facebook Delete Deactivated Accounts?
Facebook only deletes deactivated accounts if the user submits a request for permanent account deletion. This can be done directly through the Facebook platform or by submitting a deletion request to Facebook support.
If you simply deactivate your account and take no further action, Facebook will not automatically delete your account at any point no matter how long it remains deactivated. The only way for a deactivated account to be deleted is if the user proactively requests it.
Here are the key points to remember:
– Deactivating your account does not lead to automatic deletion after any period of inactivity. Facebook retains deactivated accounts indefinitely.
– The only way for a deactivated account to be deleted is if the user manually requests permanent account deletion.
– If you want your deactivated account to be deleted by Facebook, you must submit a deletion request through the platform or to Facebook’s support team. Deactivation alone will not trigger deletion.
As long as you do not request account deletion, you can reactivate your deactivated Facebook profile at any time by simply logging back in.
How to Reactivate a Deactivated Account
Reactivating a deactivated Facebook account is very simple:
1. Go to Facebook.com and click “Log In”
2. Enter your email and password to sign in
3. Facebook will detect your account has been deactivated. Click okay to confirm you want to reactivate it.
4. Facebook will process the reactivation request and restore your account. This usually only takes a few minutes.
5. Once completed, you’ll have full access to your account again. You can pick up right where you left off.
The key things to have on hand are your email and password associated with the Facebook account. As long as you have those, you can log in to reactivate at any time.
If you don’t remember your password, you can reset it via the Forgot Password flow. This will send a reset link to your email on file.
If you no longer have access to the email on your Facebook account, the reactivation process becomes more difficult. You’ll need to submit ID verification to Facebook support to prove you are the rightful account owner.
As long as you have the original email and password though, reactivating a deactivated Facebook account is quick and painless.
What Happens When You Reactivate
When reactivating your Facebook account after a deactivation, here is what you can expect:
– Your profile will be fully visible to other users again. Friends will see you in their list and people will be able to search for and view your profile.
– You’ll regain access to your profile, timeline, photos, friends, groups and all other account information stored by Facebook. Everything will be as you left it.
– You’ll start receiving notifications, messages, friend requests and other interactions again. Facebook activity picks up right where it left off.
– If you made any new Facebook friends during the deactivation, they will now be visible as friends on your account. Their friend requests are saved for when you return.
– You may need to respond to any messages or notifications that stacked up during your time away. But everything will be waiting for you on your profile.
Besides your account being hidden during the deactivation time, nothing else really changes. Reactivating brings things right back to normal. It is as if you never left!
Should You Ever Fully Delete Your Account?
While lengthy deactivations are fine, some users may ultimately decide they want to fully delete their Facebook account rather than keep it in deactivated limbo forever. Here are some reasons you may want to consider permanent deletion:
– You have no plans to ever use Facebook again. You’ve moved on for good.
– You no longer feel comfortable having your data stored on Facebook’s servers.
– You’re concerned about old posts and activity that could come back to haunt you.
– Facebook has changed its policies and you no longer agree with how they handle your personal data.
– You believe the cons of Facebook now outweigh the pros for you personally.
– You feel like Facebook is having an overall negative impact on your mental health or well-being.
Permanent deletion terminates your account and removes your personal data from Facebook’s systems. While deactivated accounts can easily be restored, proper account deletion is difficult to undo. Make sure you’re absolutely certain before committing to delete your account forever.
How to Permanently Delete Facebook Account
If you decide you do want Facebook to permanently delete your account, you have a couple options:
1. Request Account Deletion Via Facebook Settings
– Go to your Facebook Settings
– Click “Your Facebook Information” in the left column
– Click “Deactivation and Deletion”
– Click “Delete Account” and follow the instructions
2. Request Account Deletion Via Facebook Support
– Go to Facebook Help Community
– Search for “How do I permanently delete my Facebook account”
– Click the top article result
– Scroll down and click “Let Us Know”
– Complete the form to request deletion
Once you request deletion, Facebook will deactivate your account for 30 days before fully deleting your data. This gives you a month to change your mind and cancel the deletion.
After the 30 day window though, your account and all data is permanently gone and very challenging to get back. So be 100% sure before going through with permanent deletion.
Warnings About Account Deletion
While account deletion gives you a clean break from Facebook, be aware of a few downsides:
– You lose access to any photos, posts, videos or other data you had stored on Facebook. Back up anything you may want to keep first.
– You lose access to any Facebook-connected apps or sites that use your Facebook login. You may have to reset passwords.
– You have no way to easily reactivate or recover the account later. Reversing deletion is a difficult, manual process.
– Friends may not realize you deleted your account and may continue trying to tag or contact you on Facebook.
– Facebook may retain some usage data related to your account even after deletion. Full removal of your data is challenging.
Make sure to fully close out your Facebook account before deletion – download data, notify friends, remove connected apps, etc. Once your account is gone, it’s gone for good.
Should You Download Your Facebook Data?
Before deactivating or deleting your Facebook account, you may want to download an archive of your Facebook data for your records. Here’s an overview of what the download includes:
– **Posts:** All of your posts, including status updates, photos, videos, check-ins and more that you’ve shared on Facebook.
– **Photos/Videos:** High quality versions of all photos and videos you’ve uploaded.
– **Comments:** All public comments you’ve made on Facebook posts, photos, videos, etc.
– **Profile Information:** Name, bio, contact info, work/education history that you add to your profile.
– **Messages:** Full history of all conversations on Facebook Messenger.
– **Friends List:** List of all your added Facebook friends.
– **Ads:** Ads you’ve clicked on or data used for ad targeting.
– **Groups:** Your memberships and activity in any Facebook groups.
– **Events:** Events you’ve created, been invited to or marked as “Going” for.
– **Pages:** Any Facebook pages you’ve created, managed or liked.
– **Marketplace Activity:** Your Facebook Marketplace browsing and purchase history.
– **Search History:** Record of things you’ve searched for on Facebook.
Having this data can be useful if you ever leave Facebook and want to look back on your profile or preserve certain information and memories. It also allows you to close your account knowing Facebook no longer has data you may not want them keeping indefinitely.
Should You Notify Your Facebook Friends?
Before deactivating or deleting your Facebook account, it’s nice to give your Facebook friends a heads up that you’ll be leaving the platform. Here are some ways to notify them:
– **Post about it:** Make a post explaining you’ll be leaving Facebook for the foreseeable future. This broadcasts the notice to all your friends at once.
– **Change profile photo:** Temporarily change your profile picture to an image saying you’re leaving Facebook.
– **Turn off notifications:** Mute any email or push notifications so you don’t get bothered with questions.
– **Message close friends:** Personally let your closest Facebook friends know through direct messaging or chat.
– **Update other social profiles:** Update your bio on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn etc. to say you’ve left Facebook.
– **Export friends list:** Download your friends list so you know who you may want to contact through other methods.
Giving your friends notice helps avoid confusion down the line if they try to tag you or message you on Facebook after you’ve left. It ensures they know why you suddenly disappeared from the platform.
Closing Thoughts
Deactivating your Facebook account can provide a nice break from the platform whenever you need a social media reset. And the best part is you can keep your account deactivated indefinitely and come back whenever you want.
Unless you request full account deletion, Facebook will hang onto your deactivated profile waiting for your return. There is no time limit to how long deactivation can last.
If you ultimately decide complete removal is right for you, make sure to download your data, notify friends and properly close out your account before permanent deletion. But deactivation gives you an option to take an extended break without the finality of deleting your profile forever.
So feel free to deactivate your account for as long as you want! Facebook will be waiting if you ever decide to return.