Instagram — how common account and privacy tasks work

How to make Instagram private, deactivate or delete an account, export your data, recover a hacked login, manage blocks, and turn off activity status.

Instagram — how common account and privacy tasks work

Product summary#

Instagram is a photo, video, and messaging service operated by Meta Platforms, Inc. Everyday privacy controls live in the app's settings, while account-level actions — deactivation, deletion, data export — run through Accounts Center, which Meta is gradually replacing with Meta Account settings, so menu names differ between accounts (as of August 2026). Labels below follow the web versions of Instagram's help pages; the phone apps expose the same settings with platform-specific wording.

What people ask#

Make your account private#

1. Open your settings and go to "Account Privacy" (listed under "Who can see your content" on the web).
2. Turn on "Private account" and confirm with "Switch to private". From then on only followers you approve see your posts, and your photos and videos stop appearing in search results, Explore, and hashtag or location pages — while your profile photo, name, username, and bio stay visible to anyone on or off Instagram. Verify in the product: business profiles can't be private (switch back to a personal account first), and under-18 accounts start private with age- and supervision-dependent rules for going public.

Deactivate your account temporarily or delete it permanently#

1. Both actions live in Accounts Center: open your settings, go to Accounts Center (or Meta Account settings), and find "Deactivation or deletion" in the account-ownership and personal-details area.
2. Choose the profile, then "Deactivate account" for a break — photos, comments, and likes are hidden until you log back in — or "Delete account" and "Continue" to remove it for good.
3. Before deleting, export your information: the export tool is no longer available once the profile is deleted. Deletion becomes permanent 30 days after the request and can take up to 90 days to complete; deactivation simply ends the next time you log in (as of August 2026). Verify in the product: menu paths differ between Accounts Center versions and platforms, the window to cancel a deletion varies by region, and deactivation works at most once a week.

Download a copy of your data#

1. In Accounts Center, open "Your information and permissions", then "Export your information".
2. Choose "Create export", pick the profile, and select "Export to device" or "Export to external service" (external exports connect to the chosen service and can repeat on a schedule).
3. Customize information types, date range, format, media quality, and the notification email, then start the export. An export link can take up to 30 days to arrive, and a finished export stays downloadable for 4 days under "Available downloads" (as of August 2026). To review recent account changes without a full export, use "Account history" under Your Activity.

Recover a hacked account#

1. Locked out? Open www.instagram.com/hacked in a desktop or mobile browser and follow the secure-your-account flow.
2. Check your inbox for a message from [email protected]: if the account's email address was changed, that message can undo the change via "secure my account".
3. Otherwise request a login link from the login screen ("Forgot password?", then "Send login link"), or request support and verify your identity — for accounts with photos of you, that's a short video selfie.
4. Still able to log in? Change the password, turn on two-factor authentication, confirm your email and phone number, and remove linked accounts or third-party apps you don't recognize. Recovery instructions arrive at the secure email address you provide during the process. Verify in the product: which recovery steps are offered depends on the account — Instagram's guidance is to try them all.

See and manage blocked accounts#

1. Block or unblock someone from their profile, or from your chat with them (open the conversation's info panel and choose Block/Unblock, then confirm).
2. Review everyone you've blocked in the blocked-accounts list inside your settings. Blocked people aren't notified, and blocking extends to the person's other existing accounts and new ones they create — but not to accounts of theirs you already follow, which need blocking individually. Verify in the product: milder alternatives sit alongside blocking — restricting someone, deleting their comments, or blocking them from commenting on your posts.

Turn off activity status#

1. In settings, open "Messages and story replies" under "How others can interact with you".
2. Open "Show Activity Status" and switch the toggle off. People you follow and people you message stop seeing when you were last active — and you stop seeing everyone else's activity status too.

Good to know#

• Deletion is permanent 30 days after the request, full removal can take up to 90 days, and Instagram can't delete a profile for you — you must be able to log in yourself (as of August 2026).
• Deactivation hides photos, comments, and likes, and works at most once a week (as of August 2026).
• Data exports are password-protected, can take up to 30 days to prepare, and expire 4 days after they're ready (as of August 2026).
• Blocking is silent: no notification is sent, and it covers the person's other and future accounts except those you already follow (as of August 2026).
• In a group chat with someone you've blocked, you're asked whether to stay or leave; staying means you both see each other's group messages (as of August 2026).
• With activity status off, nobody sees your last-active time and you can't see anyone else's (as of August 2026).
• Identity-check video selfies from account recovery are never shown on Instagram and are deleted within 30 days (as of August 2026).
• Under-18 accounts start private by default; under-16s need parent or guardian permission to go public, while 16-17s can switch unless supervision is set up (as of August 2026).

When to contact support#

This page ends where self-service ends. If the flow at www.instagram.com/hacked can't verify you, if you can't log in to deactivate or delete, or if you need your data while locked out of the account (Instagram offers a contact route for that case), use Instagram's help center at help.instagram.com. Its login, recovery, and security section carries the current options.