If i permanently delete my facebook will my messages disappear

Table of Contents Show

Deactivating vs. Deleting
Messages to Friends
Deleting Pictures
Removing Like Clicks
Removing External Facebook Site Connections
How to Delete Facebook Messages
How to Delete a Conversation in Facebook Messenger
Reporting Spam on Facebook

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There are several reasons you might want to leave Facebook: concern over lack of privacy, problems with a stalker or maybe simply a loss of interest in the site. Whatever your motivation, you will want to know how to delete your account and you will want to understand what information remains even after you have done so.

Deactivating vs. Deleting

Facebook provides two methods of leaving the site: deactivating an account and deleting an account. Deactivating is meant to be a temporary state and does not actually delete any of your information from Facebook. In this state, your account is hidden but you are not removed from friend lists and Facebook continues to maintain your information despite the fact the account will not generate any activity. Deleting an account is a slightly more involved procedure and is designed to completely delete your information from Facebook servers.

Messages to Friends

Even after you delete your account, any messages you sent to friends or even past friends will remain visible to those people. There is currently no way to have those messages deleted when you leave Facebook. Since they were exchanged between two parties, both the sender and receiver own the message chain; you can only delete your copy and not your friend's copy.

Deleting Pictures

Pictures in your picture album should be deleted as part of the account deletion process. However, if you are concerned with potential changes in Facebook ownership policy, then you can delete all your picture albums manually. This is the best way to ensure these are removed from Facebook servers, since you are in direct control of the process. If you were tagged in friends' pictures, your name will eventually be removed and replaced with the neutral descriptor "Facebook User." The tagging action itself is not deleted.

Removing Like Clicks

You can further clean up your past activity by "unliking" anything you previously "liked" on Facebook. This same rule holds true for any other clickable activity you may have participated in. These events will still exist on the product, company, user or service Facebook page and will eventually be replaced with "Facebook User" rather than your name. However, if you want to make a clean break and not leave any trace behind, deleting these actions manually is a good way to do so.

Removing External Facebook Site Connections

There are many other websites and services that offer the option to link their services to your Facebook account or for you to sign into the service using your Facebook ID. If you used this method for any of those sites, you should change your login method and no longer use your Facebook ID. This will help ensure that no remaining connection lingers on Facebook's servers that would keep your name or any other information associated with the site.

References

Writer Bio

John Granby began his writing career in 2000 as a founding member of a tech industry website targeted at WAP developers. He has provided in-depth coverage of the wireless industry, served as a speaker at several conferences and authored a book on Bluetooth. Granby earned a Bachelor of Science in computer engineering from Purdue University.

It's easy to send someone a message on Facebook or through its linked Messenger app that you later regret. You may be wondering whether there's some way to delete a Facebook message so that the recipient never sees it or can't see it again. At this time, you can only delete your copy of the message.

Tip

While Facebook has hinted it may add an unsend feature, you currently can only delete your copy of a message or conversation. You can't unsend a message or prevent the recipient from seeing it after you've sent it.

How to Delete Facebook Messages

You delete Facebook messages from your own conversations using the Facebook website on your computer or the Messenger app on your phone.

Open all your messages by clicking the Messages icon at the top right corner of your Facebook page and selecting "See all in Messenger" at the bottom of the list. Click on a conversation to open it. Locate the message in the conversation that you want to delete with your mouse and click the three-dot icon next to it. Click "Delete" from the drop-down menu. You'll be asked to confirm that you want to delete the message and, if you do so, your copy of the conversation is permanently erased. The recipient's copy is not deleted, which can be confusing if someone references the message later on.

If you're using the Messenger app and what to delete messages on Messenger, tap and hold the message and then tap the "Delete" button. You'll be warned that you can't get your copy of the message back if you delete it and asked to confirm by again tapping a "Delete" button. The message is then deleted from your copy of the conversation, but it remains in the correspondence of anyone you sent it to.

How to Delete a Conversation in Facebook Messenger

If you want to delete an entire conversation in Facebook Messenger or through the website, you can do this as well. Again, you'll only delete your copy of the conversation, not anyone else's.

To delete your copy of an entire conversation on the Facebook website, click on the gear icon next to a conversation to open the Settings menu and click "Delete conversation." You'll be asked to confirm that you want to delete the conversation permanently and, if you do so, it is deleted from your account, but not from the recipient's account.

To delete a conversation in Facebook Messenger using the app, hold down your finger on the conversation and then tap "Delete." Confirm you want to delete the conversation to delete it permanently.

Reporting Spam on Facebook

If someone sends you a spam message on Facebook or Messenger, you can report it to Facebook.

On the Facebook website, click the gear icon next to the message and click "Report as Spam or Abuse." On Messenger, hold down your finger on the conversation and tap "Mark as Spam."