Instagram or any other social media app is a boon for humankind as it connects one individual to another even if they are living in different corners of the world and with the invention of the social media, communication has become much more effective and easier. But it also has negative effects on one’s mental health when it becomes toxic and an addiction. And in such situations, one might need to delete their social media accounts to have a detox from the toxic and unrealistic life of social media.
Now to delete their Instagram accounts one can follow the steps mentioned below but before doing that one needs to keep in mind that once the account has been deleted it cannot be reactivated using the same username and password, also all the photos, followers, likes and comments meaning the history of the account will be deleted and can’t be regained.
Steps to follow while deleting your Instagram account:
- Log into your account using your computer or mobile browser on Instagram.com as one cannot delete their account from the Instagram app and thus it becomes compulsory to log into the account from the browser.
- After you have logged in to your account from the browser you have to go to the ‘Delete your account’ page of Instagram using the given URL: https://instagram.com/accounts/remove/permanent/.
- And once you are on that page you have to select a reason why you have decided to delete your account permanently from the drop-down menu next to ‘Why are you deleting your account’?
- After you have selected your reason because of which you want to delete your account permanently, you have to re-enter your password once again
- And once you have re-entered your password, you can see the menu permanently delete my account and once you click on it your account will be deleted.
Although only after 30 days of your account deletion request, your account and all the data will be deleted permanently and you won’t be able to retrieve your data ever again. And during these 30 days, the content and your information remain subject to Instagram’s terms of use and will not be accessible to others using Instagram. But the actual process of account deletion may take up to 90 days after the actual process has started. And all the data regarding your account will be stored in the backup storage that can be used later on to recover data in case of any disaster or data loss or software error. Also, Instagram may keep your information in case of any violations or harm prevention efforts.
But what kind of information does Instagram collect?
- Information and content provided by you which contains all the details shared by you while creating the account, conversations done with the others, and also the content shared with the others. It also analyzes all the features used by you which is provided Instagram in their camera features and so on.
- Data that provide information regarding your political views or religious beliefs as well as your health and who you are interested in. Although these informations are subject to special protection under the laws of one’s country.
- Networks and connections – Instagram collects information about the people, pages, hashtagd groups you are connected to and how you communicate with the others. They also collect data regarding the address book, call log or SMS history that is used to find other people that you may know.
- Customer's Usage – They also gather information regarding the last time one had used their product or camera features or last last interaction and such type of contents.
- Information about transactions- Instagram also gathers information about the transactions done with the help of Instagram like the date of purchase or transaction along with your credit card or debit card information and shipping and contact details.
- Information provided by others about you like this may include when they share comments or message you or rag you in a post.
- Device information- Instagram collects various kinds of data related to the device like the device attributes meaning the operating system, hardware – software versions battery level, signal strength, available storage and space, browser type, apps, files and plug-ins.
- Device operations which helps distinguish humans from bots.
- Device signals and settings like collect information about Bluetooth, wifi signals beacons and cell towers, also your GPS location that is turned on while clicking picture using your phone camera. It also gathers information about other devices that are nearby your network and also whether you have steamed a video from your phone to your TV.
- Cookie data – Collects data from the cookies stored on your device including ID and settings.
- And information from partner companies like Facebook, APIs and SDKs or Facebook pixel.
Now why does Instagram collect these information?
They do this to improve their products including to personalize features and content and make suggestions for the customers in the events and features they are interested in. To create personalized products with special protection to the customer's personal data. They also use this data to promote safety, integrity and security. As well as to communicate with you and research and innovate for the social good.
Event though Instagram collects your data for various reasons, it only keeps your data till your account is active and not deleted. But the moment the process of account deletion starts all your data is deleted including your photos, status updates and many more and once the information is deleted you cannot retrieve it. But the Information that you have shared with others about you won’t be deleted as it is not the part of your account data.
But deleting your account permanently will not let you access the Instagram with the same username ever again so it might be a too much of a drastic step if you only intend to not use Instagram for the time being because of some issues. And in such a scenario you can choose to deactivate your account for a certain period of time instead of just deleting it permanently. And if you choose to deactivate your account for the time being that what are the steps that you need to follow?
Steps to deactivate your Instagram Account:
- Yet again log in into your Instagram account from your mobile browser or computer as you cannot disable your account from the Instagram app.
- And once you have logged in and can see your page click on the person icon in the upper right-hand corner to access your profile.
- Then click on edit profile and scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on temporarily disable my account and after you have clicked on it you will have select a reason because of which you have decided to temporarily disable your account.
- And once you have selected the reason behind your temporary disabling of your account you will have to click on the Temporarily disable account. And it would be disabled.
Thus, this way you can stay away from using your Instagram account for a while and also not deleting your account permanently as it will save all your photos, likes, shares and comments till you again decide to re-activate your account.