How to Reactivate Instagram

Social media platforms are, without a doubt, a great place to maintain our connections with family and friends, to keep up with our favorite personalities and brands, and to stay up-to-date on the goings-on in the world. But we may also feel the need to disconnect from social media to reconnect with real-life or to give ourselves time off from the noise of the online world.

Instagram, like all other social media platforms, gives its users an option to temporarily deactivate or permanently delete their account. Deactivation is, more often than not, the preferable choice. Let’s take a look at the process, as well as how to reactivate Instagram when you’re ready to jump back into the filtered reality it offers. 

Deactivating Your Account vs Deleting It

Disabling Your Instagram Account

Deactivating or disabling your Instagram account is like hitting pause on your social media activities. Your account will essentially disappear; your followers won’t be able to find it, or any of your old posts, including all your comments on other posts. Your profile will be hidden from both your followers and the public, i.e., if anybody searches for you using your Instagram username, they will come up empty. 

You won’t lose any of your data, uploaded content, and followers when you decide to deactivate your account, as it will only be temporarily disabled. You can regain access to everything when you log back in, which will automatically reactivate it. 

Deleting Your Instagram Account

But should you wish to completely give up your account and everything in it, you can delete it. Just keep in mind that all your data will be lost forever. If you change your mind for whatever reason and wish to resume your account activities, your only option would be to start from scratch — this would include rebuilding your follower base from zero. 

You may use the same username when you sign up for a new account, except when:

• The username has already been taken; or
• Your account was removed for violating Instagram’s Community Standards

If you decide to delete your account for good, Instagram’s Terms of Use and Data Policy state that:

“It may take up to 90 days to complete the deletion process after it begins. Copies of your content may remain after the 90 days in backup storage that we use to recover in the event of a disaster, software error, or other data loss event. We may also keep your information for things like legal issues, terms violations, or harm prevention efforts.” 

How to Deactivate Your Instagram Account

You can temporarily disable your account from a computer or a mobile browser; you can’t do this using the Instagram app. Here’s how. 

• Log into instagram.com from a computer. 
• Click your profile picture in the top right and click Profile, then click Edit Profile.
• Scroll down, then click Temporarily disable my account in the bottom right.
• A drop-down menu will appear with the question, “Why are you disabling your account?” Select your reason and re-enter your password. The disable option will only appear after you’ve selected a reason from the menu and entered your password.
• Click Temporarily Disable Account.

The deactivation process typically takes up to 24 hours, so you may not be able to reactivate your account until after 24 hours. Instagram also only allows users to deactivate their account once a week; if you decide to reactivate your account, you’ll have to wait 7 days before you can deactivate it again. 

You won’t lose any of your data when you temporarily disable your account; however, you will lose any momentum you’ve already achieved in terms of account growth. Your account analytics will also be thrown off when you cease all activities. If your followers are unable to see any updates from you, their engagement will possibly be significantly reduced after you resume account activities; or some of them might decide to unfollow you if they think you’re gone for good. 

How to Reactivate Instagram

Again, it’s best to wait a minimum of 24 hours after deactivating your account before you reactivate it. Reactivating your Instagram account is fast and easy. 

1. Launch the Instagram app on your device.
2. Log in with the deactivated username and its associated password.

That’s it! Your account will be immediately restored and you can resume your activities. You may have to double down on your activities to get back to the level of visibility and engagement you had prior to deactivating your account. Remember that the longer your account is disabled, the more effort you’ll have to put in to restore “normal conditions” after you reactivate it. 

Final Thoughts

The better option is always to simply disable your account temporarily so you won’t lose your data and followers. You can take time off from your platform for as long as you want, and come back whenever you’re ready and pick things up right where you left off.