Where do you fall in the love-hate debate on Facebook? For many, the social media giant is an essential tool for staying in touch with friends and relatives around the world, interacting with common interest groups, and getting news. For others, Facebook is only good for harmful disinformation, privacy violations and political fight. Whatever your reasons for wanting to cancel your account, we’ll walk you through the steps below.

It is important to note that there is a difference between deleting your Facebook account and deactivate this. Disabling your Facebook account temporarily blocks it, which is useful if you want a brief downtime. But that does not prevent the company to follow your activity online.

To completely cut ties with Facebook, deleting your account is the only solution. Its removal also breaks ties with Facebook Messenger, the platform’s chat application. (If you also want to get rid of Instagram and WhatsApp, which are properties of Facebook, you will need to do this separately.) We will explain some things that you will need to consider before going through the process, which takes time and patience. .

1. Delete the Facebook app from your phone and tablet

The first step is to delete the app from your smartphone or tablet. Remember that deleting the Facebook app does not delete your account – you can still access it from the browser, and other apps can still use Facebook as a login.

Removing the icon from your phone makes it disappear from sight and mind, but it doesn’t do anything to your overall account. You’ll need to make sure you follow all of these other steps or Facebook can still track your online activity.

2. Choose a messaging or social alternative

Remember that when you delete your Facebook account, your Messenger access goes with it. This means that you will need to contact those you talk to frequently on Messenger and find out another app or messaging service To stay in contact.

Take the same approach with your Facebook friends in general. Post a status a few days before deleting your account and ask anyone who wants to stay in touch to send a message with their contact details.

Facebook also gives you the option to upload your photos, videos, notes, and posts to other sites like Google Photos and Dropbox. Here is how to do it.

3. Disconnect your Facebook account from other applications and connections

Third-party developers, such as Spotify and DoorDash, have long offered to use your Facebook account to sign up and login to their services. This is super convenient because it saves you from having to remember another password. That is, until you no longer have a Facebook account.

You will need to address external accounts that depend on your Facebook information by signing in to each account and disconnecting it from your Facebook account.

To find a list of apps linked to your Facebook account:

• Log into Facebook.
• Go to Settings > Apps and websites.
• If you’re having trouble figuring out how to unlink your Facebook account from a service, contact company customer service for assistance.

Once done, request and download a copy of all your Facebook data by following these steps:

• Log into Facebook on your computer
• Go to Settings > Your Facebook information
• Click on Seen beside Upload your information
• Leave all the boxes checked under the Your informations section
• Leave the date range at All my data.
• Leave the format set to HTML – it puts your data in an easy to navigate format.
• To save high-resolution copies of photos and videos you’ve posted to Facebook, change the Media quality drop down from Medium to High.

Finally, click Create a file. Facebook will then gather all of your information and send you an email when it’s ready to download. It may take a while for this to happen – it is not an instant process.

4. Finally, it’s time to delete your Facebook account

The last step is to delete your account. To do this, visit this page and log in.

Facebook will give you a list of tasks and things to consider before deleting your account. For example, you will be advised to upload all your information, or if you are the only administrator of a Facebook page, you will be asked to grant another account administrator privileges, otherwise the page will be deleted with your account. .

Alright, are you ready? Click on Delete account, enter your password and click on To continue. Finally, click Delete account again and you’re done.

5. You have 30 days to change your mind on Facebook

Facebook will take up to 90 days to remove all of your account data from its servers. During the first 30 days, you can still log in and cancel your removal request. Your account will be restored and it will be as if you never left. For the best or for the worst.

To cancel your removal request, visit Facebook.com, log into your account and click the button Cancel deletion button.

And if you need help with the emotional side of breaking up, here are some more tips for relieve the pain of Facebook separation.