Telegram is a reliable messenger that can encrypt messages and is rich in functionality. Then why delete your account? Although it has many useful features, there may be more than one reason for this. Here are just a few of them..
You don't trust Telegram. Telegram does not encrypt chats by default, which is why the service's security model is regularly criticized. There are no such problems, for example, with competing messengers WhatsApp and Signal. In both instant messaging services, encryption is performed automatically and without user intervention.
Perhaps your friends or family members have decided to switch from Telegram to another messenger. Then you have no choice but to follow them to stay in touch. Telegram doesn't suit you anymore. Given the large number of alternatives, it may well turn out that another service suits you better and you plan to switch to it..
How to deactivate an account
In Telegram, a profile is automatically deleted if it has not been active for six months. However, you can change this option in the settings and set the time span, for example, one month, three months, or a year.
This option is available in both the Android app and the iOS app. To use it, click the menu button in the form of three parallel lines in the upper left corner of the screen and select the Setting item. Go to the Privacy and Security page and scroll down the screen until you reach the advanced settings..
Here, select the Delete My Account If Away For option and set a new value for the period of inactivity, after which the profile will be automatically deleted.
The developers do not provide for the possibility of temporary deactivation. The only thing you can do is just not go to your profile. If you are satisfied with the option of self-liquidating your account, feel free to delete the application from your computer and phone.
How to delete an account
For those who do not want to wait at least a month, Telegram provides the ability to immediately delete the account and all associated data stored in the cloud storage. Unfortunately, this cannot be done in the mobile application; you will have to go to Telegram Web through a computer.
To delete your Telegram account, go to the My Telegram website and log in. On the screen that appears, click on the link to delete your account. In the provided text box, enter the reason why you are leaving the service.
When you're ready, click the "Delete my account" button. In the pop-up window, confirm the deletion of the profile. After that, the service will erase both the account itself and the data associated with it.
What happens when you delete an account
Before permanently deleting your Telegram profile, think about the consequences.
When you delete your account, Telegram informs you that both messages and data will be erased. The profile is deleted permanently, along with chats and contacts, without the possibility of recovery.
In this case, the channels and groups you have created together with the account will not be deleted. They will continue to function normally, and the current administrators will retain all their rights. If you are the only administrator, Telegram will automatically appoint another administrator from among the active community members.
Please note that if you change your mind and want to re-register an account with the same phone number, Telegram will not let you do this for at least a few days.
Therefore, this instruction is not intended for users who only want to erase messages, and not delete the profile completely. If you want to delete certain dialogs, select them with a long press and send them to the trash can by tapping the corresponding icon at the top of the screen.
If there are too many chats, you can try to contact Telegram support and ask them to delete all your conversations from their servers.
How to export data before deleting an account
As noted above, Telegram does not provide the ability to temporarily deactivate an account. Once you completely delete the profile, you will no longer be able to restore your account. You will not be able to log in to the deactivated profile, just as you will not be able to access the correspondence.
Fortunately, the desktop version of the application provides an export option. You can use it before deleting your account if you need to save any messages from Telegram.
To do this, first install the Telegram application on your PC (there is a version for Mac , Windows and Linux ) and log in. Then click on the three stripes icon in the upper right corner of the screen to enter the navigation menu. Select "Advanced Settings". Scroll down to "Export data from Telegram".
Select the type of data you want to save. You can export not all chats, but only certain messages. You can exclude public channels or video and GIF files from the archive, specify the export format, and so on. There is even an option to export only stickers .
After setting the export settings, click the "Export" button. The duration of the operation depends on the amount of data and the options selected. Export takes a few minutes on average. Click Show My Details to see the final file.
