How to Deactivate or Disable Your Instagram Account

Tired of the mindless scrolling? Feeling like Instagram is becoming semi-Tiktok because of the Reels feature? Whatever your reason is, there’s a way to give yourself a break from Instagram and use your time for more important things to start and end the day productively —deactivate or disable your Instagram account.

Deactivating vs Disabling: What’s the Difference?

Instagram gives you an option to either deactivate or just disable your account. Deactivating means that you have decided to delete your Instagram for good and you don’t want anything to do with it anymore. All your data — personal information, posted pictures, activities you did in the app (likes, comments, shares) — will be removed permanently. For 30 days, Instagram will keep an archive of your details and activities (if ever you change your mind to return to the app), and after the 30 days lapse, it will permanently remove it from all its records. There’s no way to get it back but to create a new account.

Instagram allows a user to temporarily disable their account if they just want to take a break for some time but still want to return and use Instagram. Disabling your Instagram account means that your personal details, photos, videos, comments, and other activities are only hidden for a period of time until you log back in and use the app again.

Whether you are using Instagram on either Android phone or iPhone or maybe through a browser in a computer, you can deactivate or temporarily disable your Instagram account. Here’s how:

Disable Your Instagram Account Temporarily

Disabling your Instagram account temporarily will not remove your account and posts from the app. Your account will just be hidden for as long as you don’t log in to your account.

Check out this instructional video below. There may be a bit of variation on the options to tap for Android and iPhone phones to be able to proceed with the process, but nevertheless, you will be able to disable your account temporarily.

“No, I want my permanently delete everything on Instagram…”

Okay then…

Before you Deactivate Your Instagram Account…

Download a back-up of your files.

You may want to get yourself a copy of all the data that you provided, saved, and used. This may take some time, as Instagram will have to collect and organize all the data you have in their system and send it to you within the next 48 hours. This can be done either through the mobile app or through a web browser.

Through the Instagram app:

To do this, you can go to Settings > Privacy and Security and then scroll down to Data History > Download Data. Tap Request Download.

Through the mobile browser:

To do this, you can go to Settings > Privacy and Security and then tap Download Data. Tap Request Download.

Deleting Your Instagram Account

To proceed to deactivate your Instagram account, follow these steps:

1. Open the Instagram app.

2. Tap the three horizontal lines in the upper-right corner.

3. Tap Settings.

4. Go to Account and tap Delete Account. The app will then ask you if you want to delete your Instagram account or just disable it. Tap Delete account.

5. Instagram will inform you that your account will be hidden for 30 days until it is permanently deleted from the Instagram system. If you are okay with it, tap Continue deleting account.

6. You will then be asked why you want to delete your account. Choose one from the pre-supplied reasons and then key in your Instagram password. Then, tap Delete <username>.

Wait for 30 days and your Instagram will be deactivated. It may take up to 90 days for your data to be completely removed from Instagram’s records.

Clean out your Data and Uninstall the Instagram App

If you don’t want to use Instagram ever again, you may also want to clean the cache and data stored on your phone for the Instagram app. And then uninstall the app altogether.