Skip to main content

How to delete your Telegram account step by step

 

How to delete your Telegram account step by step

If you have downloaded Telegram to test whether you like it or not but in the end you decide to go back to WhatsApp, you can delete everything and delete all the available chats or the people you have talked to. You can delete the Telegram account in just a few minutes or configure it to be automatically deleted after a while if you have thought that it no longer serves you.


Whatever the reason you have, you can delete the Telegram account, delete active sessions, uninstall the application. We explain the difference between all these options and which one is best for you.


The first thing you should know is that there are several options: you can delete the account so that it disappears completely and nobody can talk to you, you can deactivate it temporarily or you can even uninstall the app if you want to continue having Telegram but are not interested in the messages you can receive for a while.


What is the purpose of deleting the account?

You can uninstall the application if you don't want to use it anymore, if you don't talk to anyone or if you don't use any channels or groups or bots that are in it. But uninstalling it will not delete your username or messages. That is, people can keep trying to contact you even if you don't receive it or don't see it.


It will remain there temporarily for several months until you remove it completely. Uninstalling the app does not mean deleting the Telegram account, but rather losing access to it. Your messages are not deleted and you can see them again whenever you want, just download the application again and start the session with your phone number. You can even reopen it from the computer's browser, from the computer version of Telegram ... All the options will take us to our chats and nothing will be deleted, for now.


Delete account

You can delete the Telegram account forever, without going back. But you cannot do it from your mobile phone or from the messaging application, but you will have to go to a specific page that Telegram has enabled for this purpose. It won't take long and you can permanently delete your account.


To do this, go to the corresponding web page:


Go to the specific Telegram page to delete your account and you will see that there is a form where you must enter your phone number. It is important that you write the country code before writing the number in question. In the case of Spain, you will have to enter +34 before entering any other number. If you live in another country, find out what your specific code is and write it in the corresponding box that you will see on the screen on the web.


Once you have written it, you will receive a confirmation code on your mobile phone. The code will automatically appear in a Telegram chat window so you must have the app installed and open either on your mobile phone or on your computer. Copy the code and enter it on the web that you have open to continue with the process of deleting the Telegram account.


Once you have it, confirm with "Delete" . You can choose the reason why you want to delete it in the box "Why are you leaving?" but it is not mandatory to do so. When you have filled in all your data, tap on "Delete my account" to confirm the process and completely delete the account you had.


There will be no going back when you do this, everything in your application will be deleted forever : chats, contacts that you do not have stored, activity with bots, groups or channels you are in, etc. You can always use Telegram again with the same phone number, but you will have to start from scratch to add contacts, etc.


Uninstall the app

Uninstalling the application is the best method if you want to disconnect for a while, but without deleting everything you have. You can leave it for a month, two months or three months (or whatever you want) and when you return you will find everything as you were. Messages will continue to arrive, but your contacts will know that you don't read them because they won't see the double tick or because the connection time indicates that you haven't opened the app for a long time.


Even so, you can always recover your conversations, your contacts or the groups you were in. You can uninstall and install again as many times as you want or need.


Self destruction

The most common way to delete the Telegram account is the self-destruct button that helps us delete itself when we are not using it. It is automatically activated even if you don't know what it is and it causes your account to be deleted six months after the last time you used it. If you haven't been online in six months, everything on it is automatically deleted without you doing any of the above. Irretrievably. But you can also configure self-destruction so that it takes as long as you want to delete the account. So you can be unconcerned if you get tired of Telegram and forget to delete it. It's easy and you can do it from the app. In addition, you can change the period of time as much as you want and it is not reversible because you can activate it, deactivate it, etc.


To cancel self-destruction, just stay online for a few seconds  and the period will automatically start over. That is, you cannot make it without a period of self-destruction but you can delay it as long as possible and just log in to Telegram a couple of times a year to start counting again.


You should also bear in mind that the app is not deleted from your smartphone, but the account is deleted and you will see it when you enter it. Keep in mind that if you accidentally open the app the self-destruction is canceled so the best thing in these cases is to uninstall it if you want your account to be completely deleted and thus avoid opening it accidentally and starting from scratch.


  • Open the Telegram application on your smartphone or tablet
  • Use the three lines in the upper left corner
  • If you have two profiles in the app, choose one of them
  • Tap on the Settings section
  • Open "Privacy and security"
  • Find "Account Self-Destruction"
  • You will see four options
  • One month
  • Three months
  • Six months
  • One year
  • Choose the period you want it to take to erase
  • The window will close automatically
  • The configuration will be saved

You cannot deactivate it but you can choose “one year”. Every year you only have to open Telegram once so that your account is not deleted. If you want to delete the Telegram account as soon as possible, you will only have to mark "one month" and not open the session during those days. After that time, it will be deleted.

Delete active sessions

Deleting the Telegram account is not the same as deleting active sessions, but in this case it is a way to delete your account from certain computers or devices that you are no longer using. If you have left your chats open on a public computer, you can remotely close the sessions.

  • Open the Telegram application on your mobile
  • Tap on the three lines in the upper left corner
  • Open the application settings
  • Tap on "Active Sessions"
  • You will see all the information of the current sessions open
  • Tap on "Close all other sessions"
  • Login wherever you want and where you are going to use it again

Once this is the case, you will not have anything open on any computer or mobile that you are not using and that could be a risk to your privacy.

Comments