How to delete Facebook without losing your data

Deleting your Facebook account can be an important step toward regaining your online privacy and reducing digital clutter.

While privacy concerns are valid, it is possible to prevent your data from being passed on to third-party apps and to lock your profile. But if you don’t trust Facebook itself with your personal information, you may question your decision to pass it on.

Still, the fear of losing years of photos, messages, and messages can be daunting. Fortunately, Facebook offers ways to download your data before deleting your account. Here’s a step-by-step guide to ensure you don’t lose your precious memories when you decide to say goodbye to Facebook.

How to Download Facebook Data

If you want to keep the information and data on your Facebook account before deleting it, you can download everything as an archive to your computer. Facebook can download the posts, photos, and videos you’ve shared, your messages and chat conversations, information from the About section of your profile, and more.

Here are the steps you need to follow:

1. Go to Facebook and log in with your username and password.
2. Click on your profile photo in the top right corner of the page.
3. Select ‘Settings & Privacy’ and then ‘Settings’.
4. Click on ‘Your details’ in the left menu.
5. Click on ‘Download your data’.
6. You will see a list of all the types of data you can download. This includes posts, photos, videos, comments, likes and more.
7. You can select the specific data you want or choose to download everything. Make sure you select the correct date range, format (HTML or JSON), and media quality.
8. Once you’ve made your selections, click “Create Files.”
9. Facebook starts by creating a file with your data. This process may take some time depending on the amount of information you have.
10. Facebook will notify you when your file is ready for download. You can access this from the ‘Available Files’ tab on the ‘Download your information’ page.
11. Click ‘Download’ and save the file to your computer or external storage device.

Artur Tomala / Foundry

Artur Tomala / Foundry

Artur Tomala / Foundry

After downloading your data, check the files to make sure all important information is included. This is critical because once your account is deleted, you will no longer have access to Facebook’s data recovery options.

How to delete Facebook permanently

If you’re ready to permanently delete your account, follow these steps:

1. Go to ‘Settings & Privacy’ > ‘Settings’ > ‘Your data’.
2. Click ‘Deactivate and delete’.
3. Select ‘Delete Account’ and click ‘Continue to Delete Account’.
4. Enter your password and follow the on-screen instructions.

Artur Tomala / Foundry

Artur Tomala / Foundry

Artur Tomala / Foundry

Please note that the permanent deletion of your Facebook account cannot be undone. Temporarily disabling your Facebook account may be a better alternative if you’re not entirely sure you never want to go back to Facebook.

How to temporarily disable Facebook

By temporarily disabling your Facebook account, you won’t lose any of your stuff, such as contacts and photos. To deactivate your account:

1. Go to ‘Settings & Privacy’ > ‘Settings’ > ‘Your data’.
2. Click ‘Deactivate and delete’.
3. Select ‘Deactivate account’ and follow the on-screen instructions.

Artur Tomala / Foundry

Artur Tomala / Foundry

Artur Tomala / Foundry

If you decide to delete your Facebook account, it will be permanently deleted after 30 days. During this period you can log in to cancel the deletion if you change your mind.

After 30 days, the account and all data are permanently deleted from Facebook’s servers.