How to Permanently Delete Your Facebook Account

Quick answer

Permanent deletion is not the first step. First export the information you want, transfer control of Pages and other shared responsibilities, and replace Facebook Login where you use it. Then open the deletion setting for the correct account or profile:

Meta says you can normally cancel within 30 days, but the deadline varies by region. Use the exact cancellation deadline shown to your account. Deleting everything you posted can take up to 90 days from the beginning of the process.

Prepare before opening the delete flow

Complete these checks while the account still works.

1. Export your information. Use Meta's Export your information flow for the photos, posts, messages, and account records you want. Wait until the export is ready, download it, open it, and store it outside Facebook before requesting deletion.
2. Transfer Page control. Meta says Pages only you control will also be deleted. Give another trusted person full control and confirm that they can manage the Page first.
3. Review groups and shared responsibilities. Do not assume deletion transfers a group role or business duty. Add another administrator or owner wherever other people depend on the account.
4. Replace Facebook Login. Add a direct email address, password, or other sign-in method to services where you chose “Continue with Facebook.” Meta says Facebook Login will stop working after deletion.
5. Check Messenger and important conversations. Messenger access ends with the deleted Facebook profile. Save records you need, while remembering that messages already sent can remain in recipients' inboxes.
6. Review additional profiles and connected accounts. Confirm the exact Facebook account or profile selected and read the displayed consequences instead of assuming every connected identity is included.
7. Check Meta Quest. If Facebook is your Quest login, Meta says deletion also removes associated Quest information, including purchases, achievements, store credits, and return access.

The account deletion checklist provides a compact tick-off version of the preparation work.

Confirm that deletion is the right state

Deletion is intended to become irreversible after the cancellation deadline. If you mainly want a break, temporary deactivation keeps the information for a later return.

The diagram shows the overall decision; one important limit is that messages already delivered to other people can remain in their inboxes even after deletion. If you are uncertain, follow the temporary deactivation guide first.

Delete the correct account or profile

1. Open Deactivation or deletion using the path above.
2. Select the exact Facebook account or profile you intend to delete.
3. Choose Delete account or Delete profile, then select Continue.
4. Read the displayed consequences and verify the affected profile, Messenger, Pages, additional profiles, Facebook Login, and Quest information.
5. Follow the remaining instructions to confirm the request.
6. Save the displayed cancellation deadline somewhere outside Facebook.

Labels and placement can differ by platform, app version, account setup, region, or rollout. If Accounts Center does not expose this route, use the alternate Facebook-settings procedure on Meta's permanent deletion instructions.

Cancellation deadline and removal time are different

The cancellation period is the time when you can reverse the request. Meta's current help page says that if fewer than 30 days have passed, you can log in and choose Cancel deletion, but it also says the number of days varies by region. The deadline displayed to your account is therefore more reliable than a universal countdown from another guide.

The removal process is separate. Meta says it may take up to 90 days from the beginning of deletion to delete everything you posted. During that process, the information is not accessible to other people using Facebook.

If you log in before the cancellation deadline, read the screen and do not choose Cancel deletion unless you want to keep the account.

What deletion does not erase everywhere

Deletion removes the profile and content covered by Meta's process; it does not reach every copy held elsewhere.

• Messages in other people's inboxes: copies of messages you sent can remain visible to recipients.
• Copies other people made: screenshots, downloads, quotations, and off-platform copies are controlled by whoever holds them, not by the account-deletion request.
• Other people's content: posts or Page and group content created by someone else belong to that person's or asset's record.
• Backup and retained copies: Meta says copies may remain after 90 days in disaster-recovery backups. It may also retain information for legal matters, terms violations, or harm-prevention efforts.
• Third-party services: deleting Facebook does not guarantee deletion of information already held by apps or websites where you used Facebook Login; contact those services about their own data.

If a specific public post or upload must be removed, review and delete it before starting account deletion, while you can still verify the result.

Official source

Meta's permanent deletion page is the authority for the current path, consequences, cancellation deadline, and removal timing. Follow the deadline and account/profile details shown on your own screen because they can vary by region and rollout.