Technologies
How to permanently delete your Facebook account without losing your photos
Getting rid of your Facebook account will take some time. Here’s how to delete your account for good and completely cut ties with the social network.

If you’ve been keeping an eye on the news, you’ve likely seen Facebook all over it. Frances Haugen, a former Facebook product manager, testified before Congress alleging that Facebook knew its services, like Instagram, may hurt teens. Her testimony also included details alleging Facebook’s internal research shows weakness in fighting misinformation. On Tuesday night, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg responded in a post. If the controversy has you convinced you should cut ties with the social media account, we’ll tell you below the steps to follow.
It’s important to note that there’s a difference between deleting your Facebook account and deactivating it. Deactivating your Facebook account temporarily freezes it, which is useful if you want a brief hiatus. But that does nothing to prevent the company from tracking your online activity.
To fully separate from Facebook, deleting your account is the only answer. Deleting it also severs ties to Facebook Messenger, the platform’s chat app. (If you want to also get rid of Instagram and WhatsApp, which are Facebook properties, you’ll have to do that separately.) We’ll explain some things you’ll need to consider before going through the process, which requires time and patience.
1. Delete the Facebook app from your phone and tablet
The first step is to delete the app from your smartphone or tablet. Remember that deleting the Facebook app doesn’t delete your account — you can still access it from the browser and other apps might still use Facebook as a login.
Removing the icon from your phone gets it out of sight and mind, but it doesn’t do anything to your overall account. You’ll need to make sure you do all these other steps or Facebook can still track your online activity.
2. Choose a messaging or social media alternative
Remember, when you delete your Facebook account, your Messenger access goes with it. Meaning, you’ll need to reach out to those you frequently talk to on Messenger and figure out another app or messaging service to use to stay in touch.
Take the same approach with your Facebook friends in general. Post a status a few days before you plan on deleting your account, and ask that anyone who wants to keep in touch send a message with their contact info.
Facebook also gives you the option to transfer your photos, videos, notes and posts to other sites like Google Photos and Dropbox. Here’s how to do that.
3. Disconnect your Facebook account from other apps and logins
Third-party developers such as Spotify and DoorDash have long offered the option of using your Facebook account as a way to sign up and log in to their services. It’s convenient because it keeps you from having to remember yet another password. That is, until you don’t have a Facebook account anymore.
You’ll need to address those outside accounts that rely on your Facebook info by logging in to each account and disconnecting it from your Facebook account.
To find a list of apps linked to your Facebook account:
- Sign in to Facebook.
- Go to Settings > Apps and websites.
- If you’re having trouble figuring out how to unlink your Facebook account from a service, contact the company’s customer service department for help.
Once that’s done, request and download a copy of all your Facebook data by following these steps:
- Log in to Facebook on your computer
- Go to Settings > Your Facebook Information
- Click View next to Download Your Information
- Leave all of the boxes checked under the Your Information section
- Leave the date range to All of my data.
- Leave the format set to HTML — doing so puts your data in an easy-to-navigate format.
- In order to save high-resolution copies of photos and videos you’ve posted to Facebook, change the Media Quality drop-down from Medium to High.
Finally, click Create File. Facebook will then gather all of your information and send you an email when it’s ready to be downloaded. It can take some time for this to happen — it’s not an instant process.
4. Finally, it’s time to delete your Facebook account
The final step is to delete your account. To do so, visit this page and sign in.
Facebook will give you a list of tasks and things to consider before deleting your account. For example, you’ll be advised to download all of your information, or if you’re the sole admin of a Facebook Page, you’ll be asked to grant another account admin privileges. Otherwise, the page will be deleted alongside your account.
All right, you ready? Click Delete Account, enter your password and click Continue. Finally, click Delete Account again and you’re done.
5. You have 30 days to change your mind about Facebook
Facebook will take up to 90 days to delete all of your account data from its servers. For the first 30 days of that, you can still sign in and cancel your deletion request. Your account will be restored and it’ll be like you never left. For better or worse.
To cancel your deletion request, visit Facebook.com, log in to your account, and click the Cancel Deletion button.
And if you need any help with the emotional side of the breakup, here are some more tips to ease the pain of Facebook separation.
Technologies
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Technologies
Today’s NYT Connections Hints, Answers and Help for April 27, #686
Hints and answers for Connections for April 27, #686.

Looking for the most recent Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.
Today’s Connections puzzle might make you hungry — especially if you spot the four words in the blue category. Read on for clues and today’s Connections answers.
The Times now has a Connections Bot, like the one for Wordle. Go there after you play to receive a numeric score and to have the program analyze your answers. Players who are registered with the Times Games section can now nerd out by following their progress, including number of puzzles completed, win rate, number of times they nabbed a perfect score and their win streak.
Read more: Hints, Tips and Strategies to Help You Win at NYT Connections Every Time
Hints for today’s Connections groups
Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group, to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.
Yellow group hint: Do the math.
Green group hint: Tresses.
Blue group hint: Munchies.
Purple group hint: Think Stockholm.
Answers for today’s Connections groups
Yellow group: Calculator buttons.
Green group: Amounts of hair.
Blue group: Salty snack unit.
Purple group: Swedish ____.
Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words
What are today’s Connections answers?
The yellow words in today’s Connections
The theme is calculator buttons. The four answers are equals, minus, percent and times.
The green words in today’s Connections
The theme is amounts of hair. The four answers are lock, shock, thatch and tuft.
The blue words in today’s Connections
The theme is salty snack unit. The four answers are Combo, Goldfish, Ruffle and Taki.
The purple words in today’s Connections
The theme is Swedish ____. The four answers are Chef, Fish, massage and meatball.
Technologies
Today’s NYT Strands Hints, Answers and Help for April 27, #420
Here are hints — and answers — for the NYT Strands puzzle No. 420 for April 27.

Looking for the most recent Strands answer? Click here for our daily Strands hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.
Sleep used to be so simple, but now it can be complex, as we try to add in extra things to help us get that good night’s rest. Today’s NYT Strands puzzle highlights sleep assistance, and a few of the words are tricky. If you need hints and answers, read on.
I go into depth about the rules for Strands in this story.
If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections and Mini Crossword answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.
Read more: NYT Connections Turns 1: These Are the 5 Toughest Puzzles So Far
Hint for today’s Strands puzzle
Today’s Strands theme is: Sleep tight
If that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: Zzzzz…
Clue words to unlock in-game hints
Your goal is to find hidden words that fit the puzzle’s theme. If you’re stuck, find any words you can. Every time you find three words of four letters or more, Strands will reveal one of the theme words. These are the words I used to get those hints, but any words of four or more letters that you find will work:
- BEDS, MINE, TAKE, TAKES, TAKER, STAKE, LATS, EARL, PLUG, PLUGS, ROUT, MIKE, DATE
Answers for today’s Strands puzzle
These are the answers that tie into the theme. The goal of the puzzle is to find them all, including the spangram, a theme word that reaches from one side of the puzzle to the other. When you’ve got all of them (I originally thought there were always eight but learned that the number can vary), every letter on the board will be used. Here are the nonspangram answers:
- MASK, EARPLUGS, MELATONIN, MEDITATION, MOUTHGUARD
Today’s Strands spangram
Today’s Strands spangram is BEDTIME. To find it, start with the B that’s five letters down on the farthest row to the left and wind across.
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