WhatsApp is often criticised for insufficient data protection. If you have decided to switch to a more secure alternative to WhatsApp, you can easily delete your WhatsApp account.

What you need to know before deleting your WhatsApp account

You’ve made your decision. But now the question is: ‘How do I delete WhatsApp?’ First of all, you need to be aware that all your messages, chat logs and backups of saved data will be lost when you delete WhatsApp and they can’t be recovered. The deletion process is the same for Android and iOS.

Tip

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How to delete your WhatsApp account in simple steps

To delete your account with the messenger service, you need to do more than just uninstall the app from your device. Lots of personal information is stored on the provider’s servers – and there are advantages to this. For instance, if you switch smartphone, all your data will be available after installing the app. But if you want to stop using WhatsApp completely, you need to follow the steps below:

  1. Open the settings: First, open WhatsApp. Select the menu option ‘Settings’. On Android, you can access the settings by tapping on the symbol with three points in the top-right corner. On iPhones, you’ll find the settings in the bottom right.
Image: Go to WhatsApp settings in the menu
The ‘Settings’ option in the iOS menu.
  1. Go to ‘Account’: Now click on ‘Account’ in the settings. The account section will then open.
Image: WhatsApp settings
You can access the account settings by tapping on ‘Account’.
  1. ‘Delete my account’: You should now select ‘Delete my account’ in the account menu. This will open up a menu where you’ll need to confirm the deletion of your account. No data will yet be deleted when selecting ‘Delete my account’.
Image: WhatsApp ‘delete my account’ option
After tapping on ‘Delete my account’, you’ll need to confirm you definitely want to go through with the deletion.
Note

If you don’t want to delete your account but simply change the phone number linked to the account, you can do this by selecting the button ‘Change number’.

  1. Confirm deletion: You’ll now be asked if you really want to delete your WhatsApp account. You’ll need to enter your phone number to proceed. What’s more, you’ll be informed that the deletion process clears all account information, profile images and data, you’ll be removed from all groups, and all chat logs in WhatsApp and in the iCloud backup will be deleted. After entering your phone number, confirm by tapping ‘Delete my account’.
Image: Delete WhatsApp account
Once you’ve entered your phone number, you’ll only have to click on ‘Delete my account’ to complete the process.

It’s as easy as that. However, WhatsApp will tell you that it may take a while before all your data and backups are finally deleted. But what does deleting your data actually mean? What exactly happens to your data?

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What happens to your data after deleting your WhatsApp account?

For years, WhatsApp has been criticised for collecting and storing vast quantities of user data. All data that users provide within their account – such as display names, birthdays, phone numbers, status messages and profile images – is stored by WhatsApp. Messages and photos are generally not stored for the long term, but they are saved in intermediate storage for 30 days in the event of non-delivery. Deleted messages can be recovered with a backup on the smartphone itself – they don’t usually end up on a WhatsApp server. However, the service regularly records contact data and creates internal user profiles by collecting location data and tracking calls.

Although WhatsApp guarantees the permanent deletion of all data, it’s not absolutely clear what happens to collected data. For instance, log records are stored in the WhatsApp database and the company is able to store additional data for legal reasons.

According to WhatsApp itself, the following happens to data after a WhatsApp account is deleted:

  • Access to the account is no longer possible.
  • The deletion of backup data can last up to 90 days.
  • Already sent files and messages to other users will not be deleted.
  • Copies of some data (such as log files) may be kept in the database in anonymised form.
  • Further data may be retained for legal reasons. WhatsApp refers to its privacy policy regarding this.
  • Information at other Facebook companies is also deleted.
Tip

You might also be interested in these articles: ‘Save WhatsApp Images’ and ‘save WhatsApp Status Videos.’

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