How to Delete or Deactivate Your Snapchat Account
By the View Snapchat Stories team · · 1 min read
Deleting a Snapchat account is a two-stage process: first the account is deactivated for 30 days, then it is deleted for good. There is no separate “pause” button: deactivation is how you take a break.
Before you delete: save your data
- Go to Settings → My Data in the app (or accounts.snapchat.com on the web).
- Tick Export your Memories and anything else you want, such as chat history and friends list.
- Submit. Snapchat emails you a download link, sometimes after a few hours.
Delete the account
- Open Settings (profile picture → gear icon).
- Scroll to Account Actions and tap Delete Account. (On a computer: accounts.snapchat.com → Delete my account.)
- Enter your username and password and confirm.
Video by Gauging Gadgets. It plays from YouTube (privacy-enhanced mode) when you press play.
What happens next
| When | What happens |
|---|---|
| Day 0 | Account deactivated. Friends can’t contact you or find you. |
| Days 1–30 | Log in with your username (not email) and password to reactivate. Everything comes back. |
| After 30 days | Account, friends, Memories and chats are deleted permanently. |
Your public profile
If you had a Public Profile, it disappears from Snapchat and the web when you deactivate. Sites that cache public profiles, like ours, stop showing it within about an hour.
Just want less Snapchat?
Instead of deleting, you could turn off notifications, switch on Ghost Mode, set Contact Me to My Friends, or simply log out. See our privacy checklist.
