Facebook has been around for a long time now. It was one of the very first social media networks to storm the globe and still retains a loyal following to this day. It is used by individuals, communities, businesses, and brands to connect with one another, promote themselves and keep up-to-date with all of the events and news most relevant to them, as well as to plan events and share news with each other.
However, it is still entirely possible that a time may come when you’ve had enough, and you want to get rid of your account. This could be for any number of reasons: you’re spending too much time on the Facebook app, it no longer meets your requirements, or you have concerns as to your privacy and security, which you feel could be dealt with by deleting your account. Certainly, you’re not alone.
But then, deleting your account can be a big deal, especially if you’ve been a part of the Facebook community for a long time. You’re liable to have photos, videos, and funny or sentimental posts and messages which you, having deleted your account, suddenly wish you had access to again. Maybe you deleted your account on a whim, and now realize it was the wrong decision, or you had a really important deadline to meet and deleted your account to help you focus, but now the deadline’s past, and you want to get back onto Facebook.
Well, you might just be in luck. Facebook has an extended grace period of 30 days, from the day you decide to delete your account, to the day it is actually permanently deleted from Facebook altogether. In other words, if you deleted your account less than one month ago, you will be able to recover it without issue, simply by following the four steps listed below.
Recovering a deleted Facebook account
- Open up your preferred browser and navigate to the Facebook website. When prompted, enter your login details (i.e. your username/email and password – if you’ve forgotten your password, click Forgotten password? and follow the instructions Facebook gives you to recover it).
- Click Log In. Remember, this process must be done within 30 days of deleting your account.
- Once your credentials are accepted, you will receive a prompt and two options to choose from: Confirm Deletion or Cancel Deletion, click the Cancel Deletion option.
- You should now be redirected to your Facebook profile as if you had never deleted it in the first place. However, should Facebook require further verification (such as sending you a code or asking you to answer a security question), then follow the steps Facebook suggests in order to pass verification and regain access to your account.
And there you have it! In just three simple steps, you can cancel the deletion of your account and regain access to it.
But here’s a thought: if in the future you come to the same decision as before, and wish to once again delete your account, consider simply deactivating it instead.
By deactivating your account, none of your information (that includes posts, photos, videos, and messages) is put at risk of permanent deletion. Instead, all your information and content will remain on your Facebook profile, waiting for the eventuality that you decide to reactivate it in the future. Furthermore, deactivation allows you to continue using the popular Facebook Messenger app, thus allowing you to continue chatting with your Facebook friends, despite having deactivated your account.
It is just as simple and straightforward to deactivate an account as it is to delete it: Navigate to Profile > Settings > Your Facebook information > Deactivation and deletion > Deactivate account > Continue. Equally, you just follow the same process as recovering a deleted account in order to reactivate it, except that you don’t have to worry about doing so within 30 days/1 month, and can instead reactivate a Facebook account even after years of disuse.
If you are attempting to recover a deleted Facebook account after the one-month grace period has elapsed, I would recommend still attempting the 4 steps above. However, you should be prepared for the fact that your account may already have been permanently deleted. In which case, you will have no other option but to create an entirely new account and start from scratch.
