How to deactivate Twitter: Here’s how to close your Twitter account for good

Tired of Twitter and the endless barrage of bad news/misogynistic trolls/alt-right bigots (delete as appropriate)? Deactivating your Twitter account is one sure-fire way to get away from the nonsense being spouted on the 140-character stream of consciousness that is Twitter.

Thankfully, deactivating your Twitter account is actually wonderfully straightforward. It’ll only take you a couple of minutes to do and it can be done on mobile as well as online. There are a few things you should know before you got ahead and deactivate your Twitter account though.

How to deactivate Twitter: What you need to know

Before rushing to deactivate your Twitter account, you need to bear some things in mind.

• You have 30 days to reactivate your account before everything is deleted for good.

• If you just want to change your username or email address, you don’t need to deactivate your Twitter account to do so.

• Deactivating your account won’t necessarily remove information from Google search results.

• Deactivating and reactivating an account doesn’t solve issues around missing tweets, incorrect follower counts, suspicious DMs or potential account compromises.

• Deactivated accounts will have their profile page removed within a few minutes, but content may remain viewable for a few days via twitter.com.

• If you need to switch your username/email address from one account to another, you need to change them first, then confirm said change prior to deleting the original account. Twitter explains the process here.

How to deactivate Twitter: Deactivating your Twitter account online

If you want to deactivate your Twitter account from your PC or Mac browser, simply follow these four steps:

1. Sign in to twitter.com.

   

2. Head over to Account Settings and scroll to “Deactivate your account” at the bottom of the page.

   

3. Once you’ve read Twitter’s deactivation terms, click “Deactivate”.

   

4. You’ll then be prompted to enter your password and verify your account deactivation. Do so.

   
5. Finalize by selecting the “Deactivate” button.
   

How to deactivate Twitter: Deactivating your Twitter on mobile

If you want to deactivate your Twitter account but don’t have access to a PC, you can actually do it via the mobile app. Open the app on your mobile phone and follow the deactivation steps listed above.