Temporarily deactivate your Facebook account: For one reason or another, you need a break from Facebook. You’re not ready to delete your account forever, though. No worries. You can temporarily deactivate your Facebook account without permanently deleting it. Here’s how.

Click your profile picture in the top right of Facebook.
Select Settings and privacy, then click Settings.
If Accounts Centre is in the top left of your Settings menu, you can deactivate your account through Accounts Centre. If Accounts Centre is in the bottom left of your Settings menu, you can deactivate your account through your Facebook settings.

Deactivate your Facebook account through Accounts Centre

Click your profile picture in the top right of Facebook.
Select Settings and privacy, then click Settings.
Click Accounts Centre in the top left of your screen.
Click Personal details, under Account settings.
Click Account ownership and control.
Click Deactivation or deletion.
Choose the account or profile that you want to deactivate.
Select Deactivate account.
Click Continue then follow the instructions to confirm.

If you have additional Facebook profiles and you delete or deactivate your Facebook account, you also delete or deactivate all profiles under your account. Learn how to delete or deactivate individual profiles.

You can deactivate your account temporarily and choose to come back whenever you want.

Deactivate your account through your Facebook settings if you don’t have access to the new Pages experience

Click your profile picture in the top right of Facebook.
Select Settings and privacy, then click Settings.
Click Privacy, then click Your Facebook information.
Click Deactivation and deletion.
Choose Deactivate Account, then click Continue to Account Deactivation and follow the instructions to confirm.

You can deactivate your account temporarily and choose to come back whenever you want.

Deactivate your account through your Facebook settings if you don’t have access to the new Pages experience

From your main profile, click in the top right of Facebook.
Select Settings and privacy, then click Settings.
Click Your Facebook information in the left column. If you have Facebook access to a Page in the new Pages experience: Click Privacy, then click Your Facebook information.
Click Deactivation and deletion.
Choose Deactivate Account, then click Continue to Account Deactivation and follow the instructions to confirm.

When your account is deactivated:

No one else can see your profile.
Some information, such as messages that you sent to friends, may still be visible.
Your friends may still see your name in their friends list. This is only visible to your friends and only from their friends list.
Group admins may still be able to see your posts and comments, along with your name.
You will not be able to use your Facebook account to access Oculus products or your Oculus information.
Pages that only you control will also be deactivated. If your Page is deactivated, people can’t see your Page or find your Page if they search for it. If you don’t want your Page to be deactivated, you can give someone else full control of your Page. You’ll then be able to deactivate your account without deactivating the Page.

Bear in mind that if you choose to keep Messenger active or are logged in to Messenger when you deactivate your Facebook account, then Messenger will remain active. Learn how to deactivate Messenger.

When your Facebook account is deactivated, but you still have Messenger:

You can still chat with friends on Messenger.
Your Facebook profile picture will still be visible in your conversations on Messenger.
Other people can search for you to send you a message.

Reactivating your account

If you’d like to come back to Facebook after you’ve deactivated your account, you can reactivate your account at any time by logging back in to Facebook or by using your Facebook account to log in somewhere else. Remember, you’ll need to have access to the email address or mobile number that you use to log in to complete the reactivation.

If you’re the only person that has full control of a deactivated Page, you can reactivate your Page after you’ve reactivated your Facebook account.