{"id":33861,"date":"2026-09-18T08:09:47","date_gmt":"2026-09-18T08:09:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/folnova.com\/what-happens-if-you-delete-the-instagram-app\/"},"modified":"2026-09-27T07:59:22","modified_gmt":"2026-09-27T07:59:22","slug":"what-happens-if-you-delete-the-instagram-app","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/folnova.com\/en-au\/what-happens-if-you-delete-the-instagram-app\/","title":{"rendered":"What happens if you delete the Instagram app?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>If you delete the Instagram app, your account will still exist. Your posted photos, videos, followers and private messages will not disappear. You are only removing the app from your mobile. Check beforehand that you can log in again. Also save important drafts separately: photos, videos and text you have not posted yet may only be stored on your mobile and could be lost.<\/p>\n<p>Read below to find out what remains, what to check beforehand and what you can do if you also want to hide your profile.<\/p>\n<nav aria-label=\"Table of contents\">\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"#app-van-telefoon\">What do you remove when you delete the Instagram app?<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#account-blijft-actief\">Will your Instagram account remain active and visible?<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#fotos-volgers-berichten\">What happens to your Instagram photos, followers and messages?<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#verschil-verwijderen\">Delete the Instagram app, deactivate your account or delete your account?<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#opnieuw-installeren\">Reinstall Instagram and log in again<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/nav>\n<h2 id=\"app-van-telefoon\">What do you remove when you delete the Instagram app?<\/h2>\n<p>You are deleting the app you use to access Instagram on that mobile. Your account is not stored only on your device. That is why removing the app is different from deleting your account.<\/p>\n<p>You can still use Instagram through a browser or on another device. Removing the app from your mobile does not automatically log you out everywhere.<\/p>\n<p>Check that you are actually deleting the app. If you only remove the icon from your home screen, the app may still be on your mobile.<\/p>\n<p>How much space you free up and which data disappears from your mobile depends on your device and how you delete the app. So do not assume that your drafts will come back later.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"account-blijft-actief\">Will your Instagram account remain active and visible?<\/h2>\n<p>Yes. Your account remains active and your privacy settings do not change. Anyone who was allowed to see your profile and posts can still view them. Other people can also still send you messages.<\/p>\n<p>Suppose you delete Instagram while you are away for a weekend. A friend can still send you a message. You have removed the app, but you have not temporarily deactivated your account.<\/p>\n<p>Want to limit contact with one person? Read the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.surfplaza.be\/magazine\/blokkeren-op-instagram\/\">Surfplaza guide to blocking on Instagram<\/a>. The article is older, so the information about buttons may be outdated.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"fotos-volgers-berichten\">What happens to your Instagram photos, followers and messages?<\/h2>\n<p>Anything stored on your account will not disappear when you delete the app. Drafts stored only on your mobile may be different.<\/p>\n<table>\n<thead>\n<tr>\n<th scope=\"col\">Item<\/th>\n<th scope=\"col\">What happens if you only delete the app?<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>Posted photos and videos<\/td>\n<td>They will remain in your account.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Followers and accounts you follow<\/td>\n<td>You do not delete these lists.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Sent private messages<\/td>\n<td>You do not retract them or delete them for the recipient.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Drafts you have not posted yet<\/td>\n<td>They may be lost if they are stored only on your mobile.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Photos and videos in your mobile gallery<\/td>\n<td>Deleting the app is not the same as deleting these files.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>Your follower count may change while you are away. For example, someone may unfollow you. That is separate from deleting the app.<\/p>\n<p>Want to retract a sent message? You must do that separately. Instagram has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/help\/instagram\/491370017690934\">a help page about retracting a sent message<\/a>. Also read <a href=\"https:\/\/folnova.com\/en-au\/what-happens-when-you-unsend-an-instagram-message\/\">what happens when you retract a message on Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"verschil-verwijderen\">Delete the Instagram app, deactivate your account or delete your account?<\/h2>\n<p>Do you only want to remove the app from your mobile, temporarily hide your profile or stop using your account altogether? Each goal calls for a different choice.<\/p>\n<table>\n<thead>\n<tr>\n<th scope=\"col\">You want to\u2026<\/th>\n<th scope=\"col\">Suitable choice<\/th>\n<th scope=\"col\">What does this mean?<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>Instagram no longer as an app on your mobile<\/td>\n<td>Delete the app<\/td>\n<td>Your account remains. Who can see your profile still depends on your privacy settings.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Temporarily hide your profile<\/td>\n<td>Deactivate your account<\/td>\n<td>You temporarily turn off your account.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Stop using your account<\/td>\n<td>Delete your account<\/td>\n<td>You request that the account itself be deleted.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>Want to open Instagram absent mindedly less often? You do not need to delete your entire account for that. But if you want to hide your profile, removing only the app is not enough.<\/p>\n<p>When deactivating or deleting, carefully read what Instagram says before confirming. Do you no longer know the password for that account? Read more about <a href=\"https:\/\/folnova.com\/en-au\/delete-instagram-without-password\/\">deleting your Instagram account without a password<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"opnieuw-installeren\">Reinstall Instagram and log in again<\/h2>\n<p>You can reinstall Instagram later and use your existing account. So you do not need to create a new profile.<\/p>\n<p>Check these three things before deleting:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Your login details.<\/strong> Make sure you know which account you use and how to log in to it.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Access to additional verification.<\/strong> Check that you have access to the linked email address or phone number. Do you use an extra security code? Make sure you can receive or generate it.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Your drafts.<\/strong> Where possible, save important photos, videos and text you have not posted yet separately.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Want to use the app again? Install Instagram through your device\u2019s official app store. Open the app and log in to your existing account. Instagram may ask for additional verification. You cannot skip it by reinstalling the app.<\/p>\n<p>Cannot log in? Use the help Instagram provides to log in or recover your account. Do not immediately create a new account. That will not give you access to the photos and messages from your old account. If you also publish your own content, our <a href=\"https:\/\/folnova.com\/en-au\/product-category\/instagram\/\">Instagram services<\/a> includes packages for <a href=\"https:\/\/folnova.com\/en-au\/product\/buy-instagram-followers\/\">followers<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/folnova.com\/en-au\/product\/buy-instagram-likes\/\">likes<\/a>. The product pages show the available quantities and prices.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you delete the Instagram app, your account will remain. Read what happens to photos, followers, messages and logging in again.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24003,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[845],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33861","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-instagram"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/folnova.com\/en-au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33861","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/folnova.com\/en-au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/folnova.com\/en-au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/folnova.com\/en-au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/folnova.com\/en-au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33861"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/folnova.com\/en-au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33861\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":62791,"href":"https:\/\/folnova.com\/en-au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33861\/revisions\/62791"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/folnova.com\/en-au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24003"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/folnova.com\/en-au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33861"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/folnova.com\/en-au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33861"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/folnova.com\/en-au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33861"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}