how-to-delete-your-accounts-from-the-internet

Post Reply New Topic

Deleting accounts you've created on the internet isn't always easy. Here's how to leave several big-name services, from Facebook and Google to Netflix and Hulu.
Eric Griffith
Senior Editor, Features
OUR EXPERT
Eric has been writing about tech for 30+ years. He manages PCMag’s Readers’ Choice program and leads a variety of special editorial projects.
Updated March 14, 2017
Add as a preferred source on Google
How to Delete Accounts from Any Website

The phrase "I wish I could quit you" takes on a whole new meaning when you want out of a relationship with an internet service. Sure, you once thought you and Facebook or Amazon or Netflix would be together forever, but terms of service change, end-user license agreements mature, and, well, you're just not in the same digital place anymore.

Sadly, not all websites and social networks and online retailers are created equal when it comes to breaking up. With some, it takes only a couple of clicks to say goodbye. For a few sites, if you stop paying for the service, the site cuts ties fairly quickly. Others make you jump through more hoops. Even after you follow all the required steps, some sites never quite leave you alone, with vestiges of your relationship around forever.

No matter what you call it—deleting, canceling, removing—when you want to be rid of an online account, many sites don't make it easy. You don't want to rush into a breakup, but if you're ready, we've compiled the links, tips, and—in the most extreme cases—the phone numbers you need to sever ties. (And let's be clear, there's a difference between deleting an account and just deactivating it. We'll spell out the differences for each account, as needed.) Also, sometimes legality prevents a service from deleting everything you've posted publicly in the past, so remnants of your time there could remain in perpetuity.

This list includes the big-name sites most people use. If you're looking for a site that's not on our list, check out AccountKiller.com and JustDelete.me. Each serves the same purpose—to let you know which sites and services make it easy to leave, which make it difficult, and which make it damn-near impossible.

Social Networks and Online Services

Facebook
The mac-daddy of social networking, Facebook had 1.86 billion monthly active users as of late 2016, almost double what it had in 2012, so it probably doesn't miss the few who decide to delete or deactivate accounts. But before you give Zuckerberg and Co. the old heave-ho, keep in mind that Facebook has become an almost-de-facto log-in option for many online services, retailers, and media outlets. Some even require you to use Facebook. So killing a Facebook account could lock you out of more than just one social network, which makes some people very cranky.

If you're ready to cut ties, the link to deactivate is in your account settings, found under Security, but here's a direct link to use while logged in. You can find it on the desktop or the mobile apps. Facebook will try to convince you to stay by showing you photos of the friends who will presumably miss your online presence. If you forge ahead through your veil of tears, Facebook will ask you to specify why you're leaving, then opt-out of future emails, agree to delete any apps or pages you've developed, and hit confirm.

How to Delete Accounts from Any Website, 2014--Facebook

This effectively puts your account to sleep. Facebook will leave you alone, but there's the option to reactivate.

To fully delete an account, go to the Delete My Account page. Be aware that, per the Facebook data use policy, "after you remove information from your profile or delete your account, copies of that information may remain viewable elsewhere to the extent it has been shared with others, it was otherwise distributed pursuant to your privacy settings, or it was copied or stored by other users." Translation: if you wrote a comment on a friend's status update or photo, it will remain even after you delete your own profile.

For more details, read How to Delete Your Facebook Account.

Twitter
Tweets are a breeze to obliterate. Visit Twitter's "account settings" page from a desktop web browser (you can't do it via mobile) and you can deactivate your account with the link at the bottom. Enter your password when requested. That's it. After 30 days—the grace period for you to return—the account and data is deleted. If all else fails, call 415-222-9670.

Note that Vine, the hobbled six-second video-sharing service owned by Twitter, is also matched to your Twitter account, so deleting Twitter deletes your Vine. Visit your Vine settings on the desktop to click the Delete Account link, or email vinehelp@twitter.com directly to get it "permanently suspended." Do it before you delete Twitter, or be sure to add an email to your Vine account, or they may not be able to match you do the email address.

Google (and YouTube)
Google is big. The company has so many services—an office suite and storage via Google Drive, email via Gmail, blogging with Blogger, apps and media via the Google Play store, advertising via AdSense, video sharing via YouTube, maps, Hangouts, Google Photos, a sad play at a social network...it's endless.

Deleting all of them in one fell swoop is actually quite easy. Use the Delete Google Account link. That's all it takes to walk away entirely (and lose all those files, emails, videos, etc., so download them first ) You get a small grace period to reinstate the account from the Google password assistance page, but the window is not long.

How to Delete Accounts from Any Website, 2014--Google

This is the only way to get rid of some accounts within Google. For example, there's no way to completely delete a Blogger account (only individual blogs under it) without this nuclear option.

One exception: YouTube can be deleted separately. Go to your YouTube Account Overview page, and under your name/email click Advanced. What you get here is the option to delete your YouTube channel—it won't kill the required Google account. But it will obliterate all the videos on the channel, including videos you may have purchased! You'll be given an option to do that, or just hide the channel instead. Hiding has granular options like deleting comments you've made. That's a tool more people should take advantage of.

Remember Google+? You might have a profile to get rid of. Click Delete your Google+ profile and sign in to do just that. It will not delete a YouTube channel associated with the profile. Naturally, "some data will be kept, and some data will be deleted or converted," according to Google.

LinkedIn
It could be argued that LinkedIn is the most useful social network around, especially for job networking. That doesn't mean you won't want to cancel. In fact, LinkedIn specifically suggests that if you have multiple accounts, you should close all but one to consolidate.

To close an account, log in via a desktop browser and click the thumbnail pic in the upper right to access Account: Settings & Privacy. It'll take you to this page. Look for a link called "Closing your LinkedIn Account" under Subscriptions. Give a reason you're leaving—most sites want to know what they can improve, or did wrong— and then click Continue.

LinkedIn Close Your Account

You have 20 days to reinstate your account, if you regret the deletion decision. (Certain info, like endorsements and followings, are lost for good). Contact Customer Service and confirm your email address to do so. LinkedIn provides a link to contact them on the bottom of every page or call 650-687-3555.

Microsoft
Your Microsoft account has previously gone by other names, such as Windows Live ID, MSN log-in, .NET Passport, etc. Sticking with branding is not a strong suit in Redmond. For now at least, your master Microsoft account signs in to everything Microsofty, from Outlook.com and Skype to Xbox Live and Microsoft Office 365 ($69.99 Per Year at Microsoft) subscriptions.

How you access your account depends on what site or service you enter, but there is a close account page. Microsoft promise that it "deletes all the data associated" if you do so—but that takes 60 days, during which time you can reopen it, if you still have the account security info.

It won't be that simple for most people, however. You can't delete the account until you've canceled any premium (paid) services or subscriptions you have with Microsoft Commerce while logged in. Plus, Microsoft lists other things you should do first, like use up your Skype credit and reset your automatic replies on Outlook.com. Got more serious problems? Call 800-MICROSOFT.

Delete Microsoft Account

Skype
It used to be impossible to kill a Skype account, but you can reportedly now do it via an online chat with Skype representatives. It's only possible if you're logged into the Skype.com site, so they can tell it's you. They'll still ask for proof by asking you to identify at least five contacts in your Skype account, plus the email you used to sign up. After that, they'll shut it down for you. (This only works for Skype IDs, not if you use your Microsoft ID to log into Skype.)

Snapchat
Simply deleting the app from your phone doesn't do the trick. There also isn't a way to delete your account from within the app. But all is not lost. On the Web, go to Snapchat's Delete Your Account page and log in. You're going to have to prove you're not a robot with a Captcha and then re-enter your password on the next page. Then you just click Delete My Account and your long, sordid (or probably not-so-sordid) history with Snapchat is over.

AOL/AIM
It used to be a running joke how hard it was to cancel an AOL account. That company hung on to customers as tightly as Scrooge with a ha'penny. Users had to call, fax, and threaten lawsuits to be cut loose. (That torch has been passed on to Comcast.) Now, whether you've got a free or paid account, it's relatively simple to get free of the former "America Online."

If you've got a paid account, first cancel your billing to convert it to free. Once you do that, visit AOL Help, click the My Account link (under the icon at upper right); on the next page, click Manage My Subscriptions . You'll see a Cancel link under the type of AOL subscription you have. Even if it's just an AIM account used for instant messaging, you can delete it with a click and a confirmation.

cancel aol

This is definitely worth doing if you don't use AOL, and check for your family members as well—as little as two years ago, there were reportedly still as many as 2.15 million people still paying AOL for dial-up internet access; a lot of them probably didn't even know it.

Yahoo and Flickr
When you delete your Yahoo account, you're signing out permanently from a number of services: Yahoo Mail, Yahoo Messenger, Yahoo Groups, Flickr, etc. There is a magic page for deleting a user account, which will spell out what your Yahoo ID deletion does; it may take up to 90 days for full deletion to go through. You'll need to enter your password and a CAPTCHA code to go through with it.

How to Delete Accounts from Any Website, 2014--Yahoo

Note again, killing your Yahoo account kills your Flickr account. But you can delete Flickr separately and leave Yahoo intact via Flickr's Profile Deletion page.

Tumblr
Yahoo bought Tumblr, but the blog site has its own login. You can delete your blog (or blogs) without killing the account, of course, using the Account Manager. Killing your entire Tumblr account is done at the account deletion page.

Reddit
Reddit users have it easy when it comes to account deletion, which makes sense for such a tech-savvy location. Just surf to Preferences > Deletion while signed in to take care of it.

Evernote
Evernote is an easy-to-use repository for anything and everything you'd want to store while you're online. Getting rid of your data and account isn't as easy. First, log in and delete every single thing you stored there—and delete the trash, too, as those items are not automatically erased. Then go to the Deactivate Action page. Note that it's not a true deletion, but it does prevent you from ever accessing Evernote with that same email address ever again. (You can change your email address easily enough under settings; don't use the nuclear option for that.)

How to Delete Accounts from Any Website, 2014--Evernote

Pinterest
This is another site where you can deactivate the account to stop using it, but can't actually delete it. Once you disable things, the boards and everything you pinned are no longer available and the account is unlinked from services like Facebook and Twitter. But the username and email on the account remain in place, so change the account email address first if you want to set up a new Pinterest account later. To deactivate, click your name while logged in, go to Settings, and you'll find the Deactivate Account button in the bottom the Account Basics section.

Ancestry
You used to be stuck with Ancestry forever. Now you can go to Your Account > Cancel Subscription (you'll only see it if you have a paid subscription). You can change a subscription type or just go through with cancellation here. But you're never fully deleted: by going to a free account, you've got a forever-guest account at Ancestry, so you can still use things like message boards and access family trees you've created.

Online Retailers

Amazon
Closing your account at Amazon means no longer having access to Wish Lists or Associate Accounts or any other associated content—like videos. The cancellation is not necessary if all you want to do is change your email or credit card on the account. You can do either of those under the Your Account link, which you'll find in the upper right-hand corner of any Amazon page.

To actually delete an account altogether, make sure you have no orders outstanding. Go directly to the Email Amazon.com Customer Service link. Write a brief note to Amazon telling them why you want out, and send it off. You can also call 866-216-1072 (206-266-2992 for international customers) to follow up if the account appears live after you close it.

Audible.com
Amazon's arm for audiobooks has an Account Details link on every page (just click your name at the top when signed in). Go there and look for the Cancel my Membership link.

Canceling means saying buh-bye to any accumulated credits on your account. However, you can still get access to your library of audiobooks to re-download, if needed. Obviously, this is more of a "deactivation" than a "deletion." If the cancellation doesn't work, call them. Try 888-283-5051 or 973-820-0400 outside the US and Canada.