How Long Can You Deactivate Instagram For?

Planning on disabling your Instagram account for a while? If you’re wondering about the time limit, you’ll be glad to know that there isn’t one.

You can keep your account disabled for as long as you need to. Instagram won’t reactivate it on its own or erase your account data.

That has never happened before, and it likely never will. I’ve seen comments from people who’ve kept their accounts disabled for almost a year, and when they wanted to retrieve their account, everything was still intact.

However, just so you can have peace of mind, make sure you keep hold of your:

Email address associated with the account
Phone number associated with the account
Account password
Any 2FA codes

There’s more to be said about this topic, so make sure you keep reading below!

Will Instagram Ever Delete My Account?

That’s highly unlikely, but it’s also not impossible. After all, if you disable your account for more than a year, they may assume that you’re not coming back or that you forgot about it.

However, they’ll most likely send you an email informing you that they’re planning to delete your account and that you should retrieve all the account data before that happens.

There has never been a case where a disabled Instagram account was deleted without notifying the owner, except when this came as a punishment for violating the community guidelines.

In other words, you can relax knowing that your account will be safe no matter how long you disable it.

How Can I Disable My Account?

If you want to disable your Instagram account right now, then by all means, follow the steps outlined below:

1. Open Instagram on a computer

Google search results showing the "Instagram" official website highlighted with a red arrow pointed to it — Google search results showing the “*Instagram*” official website highlighted with a red arrow pointed to it.

Your first step will be to open an internet browser on your computer and search for Instagram. Access the official website (www.instagram.com) as shown above.

You’ll need a computer for this guide because the Instagram app doesn’t let you deactivate your account 😀

2. Click on your profile picture in the top-right corner

Instagram feed showing your profile picture in the top-right corner with a red arrow pointed to it

Next up, you should have been redirected to Instagram to the login page (if you’re not already logged in). Enter your credentials, and you should see your feed.

Look in the top-right corner for your profile picture (alongside your username). Click on it to go to your profile page. Then, keep reading my next instructions!

3. Select “Edit profile“

Instagram profile page showing the “Edit profile” option highlighted at the top of the profile page with a red arrow that points to it

This right here is your profile page (highlighted above). At the very top, next to your username, you should see the “Edit profile” button.

Select that to open the profile’s settings page. That’s where you’ll find the option to disable your account temporarily.

4. Select “Temporarily deactivate my account“

Instagram profile settings where the “Temporarily deactivate my account” option in the bottom-right corner is highlighted, and a red arrow is pointing to it.

Once you get to your profile settings, which you can see above, scroll down to the bottom of the page and look in the bottom-right corner.

There should be a blue button saying, “Temporarily deactivate my account“. Select that and keep reading the final step to finishing this!

5. Select a reason and enter your account password

Instagram "Temporarily deactivate your account" page where the text fields related to your password and reason for disabling the account are highlighted. The "Temporarily deactivate account" button is also highlighted — Instagram “*Temporarily deactivate your account*” page where the text fields related to your password and the reason for disabling the account are highlighted. The *“Temporarily deactivate account*” button is also highlighted

Finally, you’re at the right pace. Under the “Keeping Your Data Safe” heading, you should see two other headings, each with a text field:

Why are you deactivating your account?
To continue, please re-enter your password

Choose a reason to deactivate your account (it doesn’t matter), and then re-enter your account password. Finally, select “Temporarily Deactivate Account” in the bottom-left corner.

Once you do that, all your posts, photos, comments, and other public interactions on the platform will be hidden until you reactivate your account.

When you choose to do that is up to you!

How Do I Reactivate My Instagram Account?

That’s easy – you just try to log in (on your phone or computer) and select that you want to reactivate your account.

When you choose to log in, you’ll receive a notification that your account has been disabled (by you), and you’ll have to choose between several options.

Either you keep it disabled and cancel the login attempt, or you reactivate your account and log in successfully.

You don’t need a guide for that since it’s very easy to do.

I hope this guide has helped answer the questions you had about disabling your Instagram account, but if you’re still confused about anything, please let me know in the comments below.

I’ll reply as soon as I can!