Facebook is still currently under fire for literally “becoming too big” because it acquired two of the world’s biggest social networking platforms – WhatsApp and Instagram even though Facebook’s executives believes otherwise.
To make matters worse, the social network giant announced that it would be sharing data of WhatsApp with Facebook which ultimately led to a big chaos in the cyber space with big names in tech such as Elon Musk tweeting about his support for Signal which has been dubbed the WhatsApp killer.
Signal unlike WhatsApp doesn’t store user’s information for advertisement purposes but keep the entire conversation encrypted in its entirety. Also the company behind it isn’t in for the profit – at least for now.
The new change in the WhatsApp’s policy which can only be accepted while a decline automatically translates that you don’t want to use the service any longer.
This might be detrimental to those who are highly security-conscious and might make them think about other alternatives such as Telegram or the aforementioned Signal.
In any case you’ve decided to delete your WhatsApp account, here is a simple guide which you can follow to achieve this and just move on to another platform that is more privacy-focused.
What’s Deleted?
Let’s say you’ve make up your mind to get rid of your WhatsApp account finally. But you might be left with the question “What is actually deleted?”
There are a number of things that will be deleted when you click on the “Delete account” button (more on that later), data such as your message history as well as backup files on your Google Drive or iCloud will all be deleted.
You will also lose access to all WhatsApp groups either the ones you manage or the ones you’re just a member of.
Another thing is that it could take as long as 90 days before your data is completely ripped off the WhatsApp database based on a FAQ page compiled by WhatsApp which you can check below:
- It may take up to 90 days from the beginning of the deletion process to delete your WhatsApp information. Copies of your information may also remain after the 90 days in the backup storage that we use to recover in the event of a disaster, software error, or other data loss event. Your information isn’t available to you on WhatsApp during this time.
- Copies of some materials such as log records may remain in our database but are disassociated from personal identifiers.
- We may also keep your information for things like legal issues, terms violations, or harm prevention efforts.
For more, you can refer to the Law and Protection section of the WhatsApp Privacy Policy.
With that said, below is the simple guide on how to delete your WhatsApp account for good.
Delete my WhatsApp account
For this tutorial, I’ll be using an Android device but do note that this process is very similar in iPhones as well.
To get started, you have to launch the WhatsApp mobile application on your smartphone (Android/iPhone) and then click on the Menu button on the top right corner of the application’s UI and then click on Settings.
As for iPhone users, just head over to the Settings page. From this point on, the whole process is exactly the same, whether you’re on an Android or an iPhone.
Next is to click on Account and then you should find the “Delete my account” link as the last option on the list. When you click on hat, then you’ll come to another interface where you can finally take out your WhatsApp account once and for all.
From this page, WhatsApp makes it possible to change your number instead of outright deleting your account. There is also a list of data that will be deleted (mentioned above) if you click on the red “Delete my account” button at the bottom of the screen.
Once that’s done, you will be asked to provide some feedback (if you want to) and to confirm. If you do confirm, you’re done. You’ll no longer have a WhatsApp account and so you can then proceed to set up a Signal or Telegram account once and for all both of which are simple and straightforward.
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