Instagram doesn’t always make us feel our best. While the photo-sharing platform encourages creativity and has become a powerful tool for brands, usage of the app has also been connected to increased levels of anxiety and depression among young people.
If you’ve finally tired of Instagram’s endless stream of FOMO-inducing vacation pics, slime videos, and former Bachelor contestants selling hair vitamins, this quick guide will walk you through temporarily disabling or deleting your account for good.
Before you proceed, keep in mind that deleting your account cannot be undone. Once you move forward, your profile, photos, videos, comments, likes, and followers will all be permanently removed from the app.
How to Delete Your Instagram
- Log on to Instagram.com from a web or mobile browser. You won’t be able to delete your account from within the Instagram app.
- Enter https://instagram.com/accounts/remove/request/permanent/ into your browser’s address bar. There is no way to navigate to this page from Instagram.com, so you’ll need to enter this URL directly once you’re logged in.
- Once you land on the page, select an answer from the drop-down menu for ‘Why are you deleting your account?’
- After you’ve selected an answer, you’ll be promped to re-enter your password.
- An option to permanently delete your account will appear.
If you’d rather just take a break and temporarily disable your account, follow the steps below instead. Temporarily disabling your account means that your profile, photos, videos, comments, and likes will all be hidden until you reactivate your account by logging back into Instagram.
How to Disable Your Instagram
- Log on to Instagram.com from a web or mobile browser. You won’t be able to disable your account from within the Instagram app.
- Click the person icon in the upper right-hand corner to navigate to your profile.
- Click ‘Edit Profile’ on your profile.
- Scroll down until you see an option for ‘Temporarily disable my account’.
- Once you land on the page, select an answer from the drop-down menu for ‘Why are you disabling your account?’
- After you’ve selected an answer, you’ll be promped to re-enter your password.
- An option to temporarily disable your account will appear.
