You can now delete your Threads account separately

Meta is finally letting users delete their Threads profiles without affecting their Instagram accounts. This is a welcome change for many users who wish to delete their Threads profiles. Previously, the only way to delete your Threads profile was to delete the entire Instagram account.

You can now delete your Threads profile separately

Instagram boss Adam Mosseri announced the update on Threads. He wrote, “We’re rolling out a way for you to delete your Threads profile separately from your Instagram account.” The option to delete or deactivate Threads profile is now available for everyone. If it’s not available for you, fret not, it will be coming soon.

In another update, Mosseri announced that the platform will allow users to opt out of cross-posting. Previously, Threads posts were automatically shared across Meta’s platforms, including Facebook and Instagram. Notably, users had requested this control in feedback and it comes in its response.

How to delete your Threads profile without impacting your Instagram account

Before we begin, let’s understand the difference between Deactivating Threads profile and Deleting Threads profile. Deactivating your Threads profile is like turning your Instagram off for a while. It’s a temporary action, and you can always turn it back on. But Deleting Threads profile is like throwing it away. It’s a permanent action, and you can’t get it back once it’s gone.

To delete your profile, open the app and tap on the two-line hamburger icon in the top right corner. After that, select Settings from the menu. Tap on Account and then choose Deactivate or Delete Profile. Confirm your deletion by tapping Delete at the bottom.

Meta may eventually make Threads more independent by making it compatible with ActivityPub. For those unaware, it powers Mastodon and is an open-source protocol. In the future, if this works right, social media users will interact with Threads content without Instagram baggage.

Instagram Threads came off as a direct rival to X, formerly Twitter. It gained significant traction, for instance, it reached 100 million users in merely five days. This is the fastest of any sign-ups so far, surpassing OpenAI’s ChatGPT.