WhatsApp is one of the applications that today is almost lacking in any smartphone, even some models already have the application pre-installed. However, despite having become the most used communication tool from our mobile phones, we may one day find ourselves in need of wanting to eliminate it completely. Next, we will show all the steps to follow to delete your WhatsApp account.
When we refer to deleting the account from the messaging application, we must think first of all if what we want is to completely delete the account or if what we really need is to deactivate it . There are big differences between deactivating and deleting an account, therefore, first of all it will be good for us to know very well what we want to do and then not have to regret it.
The main difference, although there are others, is that the fact of deleting an account means that we can no longer recover it, while if we deactivate it, the account is not completely deleted. That said, we will show below the steps to follow to delete or deactivate your WhatsApp account and what each of these two actions entails.
Steps to follow to delete your WhatsApp account
If what we want is to completely eliminate our account, these are the steps that we must follow:
- We open the messaging app on our mobile.
- From the main screen we touch on the menu button.
- We access Settings> Account> Delete my account .
- Next we will have to choose our country .
- Enter our phone number in international format.
- Click on the button DELETE MY ACCOUNT .
Consequences of deleting your account
Once our account is deleted, we must keep in mind that:
- Our account will be removed from the application.
- Message history will be deleted.
- All groups will be deleted.
- The Google Drive or iCloud backup will also be deleted.
- You will not be able to recover access to your account
- Although it can take up to 90 days for all our account information to be removed from the servers. Our information will not be available during that time.
- For legal reasons (e.g., to investigate cases of fraud and illegal activities) WhatsApp may retain our information.
- The personal information we share with other Facebook companies will also be deleted.
How to deactivate a WhatsApp account
If our mobile phone has been stolen or lost and we want to make sure that our messages and WhatsApp account does not fall into the hands of anyone, it is best to deactivate our account.
To do this, the first thing we have to do is contact our operator and request that they block our SIM card. After it is locked, it will no longer be possible to verify our WhatsApp account on that phone, since it is necessary to receive an SMS or a call with the activation code.
From that moment, we can do two things:
- Use a new SIM card with the same phone number to reactivate the WhatsApp account on another device . In this way, we will be deactivating the lost or stolen mobile account, since it can only be activated on a single device.
- Contact the company through an email message. The shipping address is support@whatsapp.com and in the subject of the message we must indicate « Stolen / lost phone: Please deactivate my account «. In the body of the message, we will have to indicate our telephone number in full international format.
What is deactivating your account
- The account is not deleted completely .
- Our contacts can still see our profile .
- Our contacts can send us messages and will remain pending for a maximum period of 30 days.
- If we reactivate our account before it is deleted, we will receive all pending messages on the new device and also continue to have all our group chats.
- If we do not reactivate our account within 30 days , it will be completely removed.
