Deactivating, Deleting & Memorializing Accounts

A lot of people deactivate their accounts for temporary reasons. This option gives you the flexibility to leave and come back whenever you want. If you deactivate your account:

• Your timeline disappears from the Facebook service immediately.
• People on Facebook will not be able to search for you. Some information, like messages you sent, may still be visible to others.
• We save your timeline information (friends, photos, interests, etc.), just in case you want to come back to Facebook at some point. If you choose to reactivate your account, the information on your timeline will be there when you come back.

If you permanently delete your account:

• You will not be able to regain access to your account again.
• Most personally identifiable information associated with it is removed from our database. This includes information like your email address, mailing address, and IM screen name. Some personally identifiable information may remain, such as your name if you sent a message to someone else.
• Copies of some material (photos, notes, etc.) may remain in our servers for technical reasons, but this material is disassociated from any personal identifiers and completely inaccessible to other people using Facebook.

Permanently delete your account:

Permanently deleting your account means you will not ever be able to reactivate or retrieve any of the content or information you've added. If you would like your account permanently deleted with no option for recovery, click here.

Note: Facebook does not use content associated with accounts that have been deactivated or deleted.

If you can't get into your account: Reset your password.

To deactivate your account:

1. Click the account menu at the top right of any Facebook page
2. Select Account Settings
3. Click Security in the left-hand column
4. Click Deactivate your account

When you deactivate your account, your timeline and all information associated with it disappears from Facebook immediately. People on Facebook will not be able to search for you or view any of your information.

If you’d like to come back to Facebook anytime after you’ve deactivated your account, you can reactivate your account by logging in with your email and password. Your timeline will be restored in its entirety (friends, photos, interests, etc.). Remember that you will need to have access to the login email address for your account in order to reactivate it.

We’ve noticed that this isn’t the first time you’re deactivating your account. While we want to make sure you have plenty of options, it can be confusing to your friends when you disappear. Try taking advantage of your privacy settings to control who sees your information.

If you still want to deactivate your account, next time you reactivate it you will need to wait 24 hours before logging in. Just follow the same reactivation process as before. When you log in, you will see a clock showing you how much longer you have to wait. We'll also send you an email when this 24 hour period is up.

If you deactivate your account, your timeline disappears from the Facebook service immediately. People on Facebook won't be able to search for you, though some info, like messages you sent, may still be visible to others. We also save your timeline information (ex: friends, photos, interests, etc.) in case you want to come back.

If you don't think you'll use Facebook again, you can request to have your account permanently deleted. Please keep in mind that you won't be able to reactivate your account or retrieve anything you've added. Before you do this, you may want to download a copy of your info from Facebook. Then, if you'd like your account permanently deleted with no option for recovery, log into your account and fill out this form.

If you can't log in to your account, you'll need to reset your password first. To do this, go to www.facebook.com and click the Forgot your password? link below the password field. Once you’ve followed the instructions to reset your password and can log into your account, you can deactivate or delete your account using the steps outlined above.

After you a request to have your account permanently deleted your account, we delays the deletion process a few days in case you change your mind. If you log into your account again during this time you'll cancel your deletion request.

Note: Once your account is permanently deleted, there's no way to undo this action. You won't be able to reactivate the account or retrieve anything you've added to it.

If you have an account:

• Go to your notification settings
• Click Edit next to the notification types you want to receive and make sure the appropriate boxes are checked

You can also follow the unsubscribe link instructions located at the bottom of any email message from Facebook.

If you don't have an account or you haven't received an email recently you can submit a request to have your email address removed from Facebook's stored information.

When a person passes away, we memorialize their account to protect their privacy. Here are some of the key features of memorialized accounts:

• No one can log into a memorialized account and no new friends can be accepted
• Depending on the privacy settings of the deceased person's account, friends can share memories on the memorialized timeline
• Anyone can send private messages to the deceased person
• Content the deceased person shared (ex: photos, posts) remains on Facebook and is visible to the audience it was shared with
• Memorialized timelines don't appear in People You May Know and other suggestions

Creating a timeline in remembrance of an already deceased person is not allowed. We encourage you to create a Page to do this.

Learn how to request the memorialization of a deceased person's account.

It is our policy to memorialize the account of a deceased person.

In order to protect the privacy of the deceased person, we cannot provide login information for the account. However, once it has been memorialized, we take measures to secure the account.

If you need to report a timeline to be memorialized, please contact us.

Verified immediate family members may request the removal of a loved one’s account from the site.

If a friend or contact has passed away, you or their family can memorialize their Facebook account. Learn more about account memorialization or contact us to request memorialization of this person's account.

We provide people with the ability to report a friend's account after they've passed away. If you can't access your account because it's in a special memorialized state, please contact us.

Note: We will only be able to grant you access to this account if we are able to verify you are the user whose name is listed on the account.

We take our responsibility to protect the privacy of people who use Facebook very seriously. We are only able to consider requests for account contents of a deceased person from an authorized representative. The application to obtain account content is a lengthy process and will require you to obtain a court order.

Keep in mind, sending a request or filing the required documentation does not guarantee that we will be able to provide you with the content of the deceased person's account.