In 2025, a lot of individuals plan to review and modify their social media use. And for a lot of those individuals, this entails completely abandoning some social media sites like Facebook. They’ve made the decision to cancel their account and leave, whether they’re upset about the fact-checking being removed from Meta platforms or concerned about Meta AI having access to their whole camera roll. It’s important to make sure you don’t lose your data, however, before you completely abandon your Facebook days.

Many users are curious about how to gather their data before canceling their account since they have years’ worth of images and a wealth of personal information. If that is you, continue reading to learn how to completely delete your Facebook account while preserving all of your data in the process.

The only way to properly untangle oneself from Facebook is to delete your account if you’re done with it. If you’re unsure, you may test life outside Facebook without worrying about being deleted by deactivating your account. It does take some time to download your data and deactivate your Facebook account, but we have all the information you need to know what to anticipate and how to preserve everything before doing so.

Locate and delete your third-party Facebook logins before deactivating your account.
You have been able to use your Facebook account to log in for years thanks to third-party applications like DoorDash and Spotify. This lets you connect in without having to remember another password, but you’ll need to change your login information if you choose to delete Facebook. This is because you won’t have a Facebook account to log in with if you first deactivate your account.

Fortunately, it’s easy to find out which of your websites and applications are connected to Facebook and unlink them before canceling your account.

To locate and unplug the web services connected to your Facebook account:

Log in to Facebook.

Navigate to Settings > Apps and Websites under Settings & Privacy. You may need to scroll down a little to find the apps and websites on the left. Under Your Activity, it is nestled.)

To delete the third-party login, choose Remove next to the relevant app.

Facebook-app-logins
Don’t lose access to the services and applications you use to check in with Facebook.
You’ll need to change how you log in to other websites and applications when you unplug them from Facebook. To create new passkeys or passwords, go to those particular applications and websites. You may also use Google or another single-service sign-on method to log in.

What distinguishes deleting your Facebook account from deactivating it?

You have two main choices if you want to stop using Facebook. You have the option to deactivate or completely delete your account.

If you’re attempting to cut down on your Facebook use or need a vacation from social media, deactivating your account can be helpful. On the other hand, you will no longer be active on the social networking platform if you completely delete your account.

A few things won’t change whether you delete or deactivate your account. Other users won’t be able to see your timeline, posts, images, or profile. You won’t show up in search results if someone looks for your account.

Similarly, all of your uploaded photos—including those in which you were tagged—will vanish. You will also need to modify your login process for any third-party accounts, such as Spotify or Pinterest, before deactivating Facebook, unless you want to retrieve them afterwards.

You may reactivate your account at any time; deactivating it does not erase your data. It is crucial to keep in mind that Facebook may continue monitor your online activities even after you deactivate your account, particularly if you utilize third-party logins.

When you deactivate your account, you may access it again, but when the 30-day time is over, it is permanently deleted. Deactivation is the best course of action if you’re not ready to remove Facebook entirely. Although Facebook-related functions will be deactivated, you will still be able to send messages and use third-party logins after deactivating your account.

What are the consequences of deactivating your Facebook account?

Although you will no longer be visible on Facebook if you delete your account, everything you have ever done on the site remains intact. Facebook Messenger is likewise cut off when you delete Facebook, although your friends will still be able to see your messages.

All of the data on MetaQuest will be erased if you log in using your Facebook credentials. This covers both your accomplishments and the apps you have purchased. It also implies that all of your remaining store credits will be lost and that you won’t be able to return any applications via MetaQuest. Instagram and WhatsApp are examples of Meta platforms that will not be impacted by a Facebook deletion. You will have to remove such accounts on your own if you choose to stop using those sites.

Next, download all of your Facebook personal information.

Many people have been using Facebook for years as a simple way to gather pictures or to remain in contact with friends and family. Here’s how to get any Facebook data you want to save before deleting your account.

• Open Facebook and log in.
• Navigate to Account Center under Settings & Privacy > Settings.
• Choose your details and permissions.
• Click “Download your information.”
• Choose to send or download the data.
• Choose which profiles you want to get information from.
• Click Next.
• Click Available information when prompted for the amount of information you want. Keep in mind that this covers everything except data logs, which are recordings of information that may be linked to you. Make sure Data Logs is chosen at the bottom of the screen after clicking Specific sorts of information if you want them.
• Choose “Download to device.”

Click Date range in the Create files to download choices, then choose All time.

Your data will be in an easily navigable format if you leave the format set to HTML.

Change the Media Quality setting from Medium to High to save high-resolution copies of the images and videos you upload to Facebook.

Lastly, choose “Create files.” After compiling all of your data, Facebook will notify you via email when it is prepared for download. This is not a procedure that happens instantly; it may take some time.

Before deleting your account, make sure you have all the personal information you want to save.
Lastly, remove your Facebook profile.
The last step is to deactivate your Facebook account once you’ve downloaded the information you don’t want to lose.

Before canceling your account, Facebook will provide you with a list of things to think about. It contains instructions on how to retrieve your data and a warning that if you are the only administrator of a Facebook page, it will be removed until you give another account administrator access.

Here’s how to permanently erase your Facebook account when you’re ready to go.

• Open Facebook and log in.
• Navigate to Account Center under Settings & Privacy > Settings.
• Under Account Settings, choose Personal Details.
• Choose Account Control and Ownership.
• Choose deletion or deactivation.
• Select the profile or account that you want to remove.
• After choosing “Delete account,” click “Continue.”
• To confirm, click Continue and then adhere to the directions.

Facebook settings for account deletion that is permanent.

What happens if you decide you don’t want to remove Facebook?

The decision to remove your Facebook profile is final, but it takes time. If you decide you wish to maintain your account, you have time to stop the procedure since it takes 30 days for the system to finalize an account deletion. All you have to do is return to your account before the 30-day period has passed.