Do you spend more time on Facebook, or are you looking to take a break from this social media platform? Whatever the reason is, don’t worry, deactivating your Facebook account temporarily is the best option to prevent the time spent on FB. However, it doesn’t mean deleting your account permanently, as it lets other users not see your profile (hide the profile), yet chat with the contact via Messenger.
Here, in this article, we will provide a detailed explanation of how to temporarily deactivate your Facebook account for some time.
How To Deactivate Your Facebook Account
You can deactivate the FB account either by using your phone or PC. Follow this step-by-step procedure to temporarily deactivate your Facebook account.
Using Your Smartphone
Follow this simple procedure to deactivate your Facebook account from your Android or iOS Facebook app.
- Open the Facebook app on your phone.
- Tap on the Menu option and then Setting & Privacy.
- Tap on Settings and then Meta Accounts Centre.
- Select Personal details in Account Settings and tap on Account ownership and control.
- In this Deactivation or deletion, select the account to deactivate or delete.
- Tap on Deactivate account (deactivating your account is temporary) and then on the Continue option.
- Now enter your Password and select continue.
- Click on the reason to deactivate your account and tap on the Continue option.
- Facebook asks for final confirmation to deactivate your account temporarily.
- Before deactivating, tap on continue using Messenger and tap on Deactivate my account.
- That’s it! FB confirms that your account is now deactivated.
Note – You can reactivate your account at any time with a simple login to your FB account.
Using Laptop/PC
- Login into your Facebook account on your computer.
- Click on your profile picture and then select Settings & Privacy.
- Then choose Settings and click on the Meta Account Centre in the top left corner.
- Now choose the Personal Details option, and then click on Account Ownership and Control (where you can manage your data, modify, deactivate, or delete your accounts and profiles.
- A pop-up appears with two options – memorialization (to decide what happens to your FB profile after you pass away), and deactivation or deletion (either temporarily deactivate or permanently delete your accounts and profiles).
- Then select your Facebook account you want to deactivate or delete.
- Confirm to deactivate the account temporarily to take a break from Facebook.
- Deactivating your account temporarily will hide your stuff or photos from most things that you’ve shared. Your profile will be deactivated yet you will be able to continue using Messenger.
- Then select the Continue option at the bottom right corner of the popup message.
- Facebook asks you to re-enter your password to continue the process for your security purposes.
- After entering the password, Facebook will ask you the reason to deactivate the account.
- Deactivating your account will remove your name and photo from most things that you’ve shared on Facebook.
- Also, Facebook will prompt you with several options like whether you want to reactivate your account automatically after several days (or) if you’d like to continue receiving notifications via Messenger.
- However, you can easily reactivate your account by simply logging in to Facebook.
What Happens When Your Facebook Account Is Deactivated
Here are the things that happen whenever you temporarily deactivate your Facebook account.
- Profile Visibility: No one (friends, family, or anyone) will notice your profile.
- Messages: Messages you’ve sent might still be visible to the recipients. This is because they are now part of their message history.
- Friends List: Your name might still appear on their friends lists, but only visible to them.
- Group Admins: Group admins can see your posts and comments (along with your name).
- Oculus: You cannot use your Facebook account to access Oculus products or information.
- Page Deactivation: Pages you can control will be deactivated. People won’t be able to see or find those Pages.
- Page Control Transfer: You can give someone else full control of a Page (sharing administrative rights of your FB Page with another FB user) before deactivating your account to prevent the Page from being deactivated.
- Messenger: Keeping Messenger active/login allows you to continue chatting even after deactivating your Facebook account.
- Apps and Websites: If you used your Facebook account to log in to other apps or websites, those logins will also be deactivated. You might need to set up new login methods for those services.
- Data Retention: Facebook retains your data even after deactivation. It’s not deleted. Deactivation is more like hiding your profile.
- Reactivation: You can reactivate your account at any time by logging back in. Your profile, friends, and most of your content will be restored. Ensure to access the account to the email or phone number you use to log in to complete your account reactivation.
FAQs:
Deactivating is temporary and reversible; your profile is hidden, and you can reactivate it at any time. Deleting is permanent and irreversible; you lose access to your account and data. Deactivating hides most of your content, but some might remain visible (like your name on messages). Both options remove your access to linked Meta Quest data.
Before deactivating or deleting, download your data. In your Account Center settings, find “Download your information” and choose where to send it, the format, and media quality.
If you think you might want to use Facebook again in the future, deactivate your account. If you’re sure you want to permanently leave Facebook, delete your account. Deactivating is like taking a break. Your profile is hidden, but you can reactivate it later. Deleting is permanent; you lose access to your account and data.
No, you cannot directly search for someone who has deactivated their Facebook account. Their profile is hidden from search results, and they will not appear in searches.
Messenger stays active after Facebook deactivation because they’re treated as separate services. You can keep chatting even if you’re not using Facebook. You can deactivate Messenger separately if desired.
Conclusion
People usually deactivate Facebook for their mental health, privacy concerns, time management, disinterest, life changes, or to re-evaluate their social media usage. We hope this article has provided all the information on deactivating the FB account temporarily. Feel free to share your FB queries with us, we will respond promptly to resolve them.
