If you frequent social media sites like Instagram, chances are you've seen friends participating in social media "cleanses" — a trend where you delete an account to cut down on screen time (and often stress). For those of us who spend our nights endlessly doomscrolling, a cleanse like this might sound incredibly appealing.
Deleting your Instagram account will erase every picture, video, and comment you've posted. Your account page will disappear too, so no one will be able to find it. In contrast, disabling your Instagram account will hide your account and all your photos, but you can bring them back at any time.
Unfortunately, you can't always delete your Instagram account using the iPhone app. If you only have a regular Instagram account, you won't see any options about deleting or disabling your account — in order to see these options, you need to have a Business or Professional account.
If you don't have a Business or Professional Instagram account, you'll have to delete your account the normal way. But if you do have one of those special accounts, here's how to delete or disable your Instagram account using the iPhone app.
How to delete or disable your Instagram account on iPhone
In the past, you could only delete your Instagram account using a web browser. But now you can do it in the iPhone app too.
1. Open the Instagram app and tap your profile picture in the bottom-right corner.
2. Tap the three stacked lines in the top-right, then select Settings.
3. Tap Account, then Delete account at the bottom of the page.
4. Choose whether you want to delete your Instagram account or just disable it. Remember that deleting your account will permanently erase all your photos, videos, and comments, while disabling it will just hide your profile until you log back in.
5. Whichever option you choose, a new page will appear asking you why you want to delete or disable your account. Fill out the form and then confirm your choice.
Your account will be deleted or disabled.
If you chose to delete your account, you can log back in within 30 days to recover everything and "un-delete" your account. If you disabled it, you can log back in whenever you want to re-enable it.
And once you've deleted your account, you'll probably want to delete the app too. Check out our guide on deleting iPhone apps for more details.
