Are you tired of your Facebook account and want to stay off it temporarily or permanently?. You have the option to either deactivate your account to stay off temporarily. You also have the option to delete your account to stay off permanently. For whatever choice you make, Facebook will give you the time to think things through in case you won’t change your mind before obeying your command. When you delete your account, Facebook will remove your data from its servers. However if you had made a backup copy of your data before deleting your account even when you can’t recover your account, you will still have all your posts, images, and other data.
Deactivation vs Deletion – How to Retrieve a Deleted Facebook Account
You have two options to stay off Facebook. That is either by deactivating your account or by deleting your account. You can only recover your account if you deactivated it instead of deleting it completely. Understand also that Facebook does not set a deadline for recovering a deactivated account as it does for a deleted account. Thus you can activate your account anytime you feel the need to after you have deactivated it.
Deactivation– When you deactivate your Facebook account, your timeline is hidden from everybody. Your name will not be displayed when people are searching for users. However, your account will still pop up when one of your Facebook friends, looks up through their friends list but without your profile image. Also, contents like Facebook messages or comments on other people’s pages remains on the site. When you deactivate your Facebook account, Facebook does not delete any of your data. This means that, your data will still be there for when you to reactivate.
Deletion –If you happen to permanently delete your Facebook account, you will not be able to access your data anymore. Additionally, note that you will not be able to do anything to get back your data. It will be gone for good. To this end, Facebook gives you a window period in case you want to change your mind from deleting your Facebook account. Facebook gives you up to 30 days after you have made your account delete request to regain access to your account and data. The length of time it takes for Facebook to delete your account data, including comments and posts, is usually 90 days. However, the site mentions that it may be longer if placed in their backup storage. But you can’t get access to those files after 30 days.
How to Reactivate a Deactivated Facebook Account
Don’t know if you deactivated your Facebook account or deleted it? To confirm, you can do this:
- Try logging in using the Facebook app or website.
- If you no longer have your account details, you can use Facebook’s account recovery process in verifying your identity. You can either use your phone number or a similar method and reset your password to gain access.
- After you have successfully logged in, you will come across a message prompting you to re-activate your account. With this, you will gain access to all your contacts, groups, posts, media as well as other Facebook data.
How to Recover a Deleted Facebook Account
If you are confused on whether you deactivated or deleted your Facebook account, you can do this:
- Try logging into your account
- As long it is not more than 30 days.
- You will see the date when Facebook plans to fully delete your account along with a “Cancel Deletion” option.
- Click on the “Cancel Deletion” button to stop the deletion process and keep your data instead.
If it is more than 30 days, you will come across an error about a failed login. This means you won’t be able to restore your account data. However, if the content you want to restore includes images, videos or similar items that you have shared, you can check your contacts to see if they still have the files. Alternatively, you can also look through your device’s media if you saved those items before posting them.
How to Preserve Facebook Account Data Before Deletion
It is advised that you back up your Facebook data before you delete your account. When you make an initial account deletion request, Facebook will present you with an option to download a copy of your information. It will also prompt you to select the types of items you want to download. You can also carry out this function at any time your account is active.
- Simply visit your Facebook settings
- Search out your “Facebook Information” option
- Then proceed to “Download Your Information”.
