How to delete Instagram: Here’s how to deactivate your Insta account temporarily or permanently

Let’s face it, we all have a love/hate relationship with social media: sometimes we love it and sometimes we really, really hate it.

The latest news in the world of social media is that Facebook is planning to integrate the messaging services on WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook Messenger altogether. This would allow someone using Facebook to send a message to somebody who only uses Instagram, for instance.

If the latest news has you wanting to completely remove Mark Zuckerberg’s influence from your life, then you’re in luck. Here is our how-to guide on deactivating your Instagram account or removing it completely.

How to delete Instagram: first steps

Firstly, you need to decide what you want to do with the account: deactivate it for a while to give you some time off or completely delete it?

If someone, in particular, is bothering you, you can always set your posts to private and block specific accounts, just as an FYI.

How to temporarily deactivate Instagram

If you’re deactivating your account for a set period, with the idea that you’ll come back, it’s really simple to do.

Log into Instagram, either from a mobile browser or a computer because you can’t do it from the app.

Tap or click the person icon to go to your profile and hit edit profile.

Scroll down in settings to click Temporarily disable my account, which should be in the bottom right.

This takes you through to another page, where you can select why you’re disabling your account and you have to re-enter your password and then you’re done.

Remember, all your photos, comments and likes will be hidden until you reactivate the account. And, you can only disable your account once a week so try not to make a habit out of it.

How to delete Instagram permanently

You’ve decided to go the whole hog and fully delete yourself from Instagram. First up, you can’t do this via the app, only on your browser.

You need to visit the Delete Your Account page on Instagram’s help centre, where you will be asked to log in.

Then you can select a reason why you want to leave the platform, and re-enter your password to remove yourself from Instagram. You need to select a reason from the menu otherwise Instagram won’t let you go.

And that’s it, you’re gone from Instagram.

What are you going to do with all that free time you would otherwise have spent scrolling through social media? Hopefully, it should at least improve your sleeping habits.