How to Delete Reddit Account
Do you have a Reddit account that you would like to delete? Perhaps you are concerned about privacy and personal data or don’t enjoy spending time on the Reddit site as you used to.
If you have been thinking to delete your Reddit account lately, in today’s step-by-step guide you will learn:
- How to delete Reddit account permanently,
- How to delete posts and comments you wrote on Reddit,
- If it’s possible to disable the account temporarily or reactivate it.
What You Need to Know Before You Delete Reddit Account
Every social media platform has its own process of account deletion.
Facebook will let you rethink your decision once you deactivate your account and if you login again within 30-days, your profile will be reinstated.
On Instagram, you need to log in to your desktop account because you can’t delete an account using mobile.
Unlike most social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or TikTok social media users don’t have a deactivation period on Reddit.
Quite frankly, Reddit is unforgiving in terms of deleting data.
Your post and comment data won’t be deleted
When you delete your Reddit account, that does not automatically remove any post or comment that you submitted.
They will still be visible but in place of your username, it will display [deleted] mark.
You can’t temporarily disable your Reddit account
Reddit does not offer a way to temporarily disable the account so when you delete your Reddit account, you won’t be able to bring it back - your content is gone forever. Once you click the Deactivate Account button, your account, along with user settings are gone.
Your Reddit Premium won’t be canceled
Keep in mind that deleting your account does not automatically cancel your subscription.
Make sure to unsubscribe from Reddit Premium before you decide to delete Reddit account.
Since you might want to take care of your post and comment data before deleting your Reddit account, let’s start with this step first.
How to Delete Reddit posts and comments
Before you delete your Reddit account, we advise you to go to your section and check which posts you want to leave, and which do not.
To delete your post and comment data, go to the Reddit website, log in, and head to the “Profile” under “My Stuff” in the drop-down menu.
Once there, click either Posts or Comments.
Click the three dots icon (…) next to the posts or comment and select “Delete”.
How to delete Reddit Posts and Comments all at once?
We know that deleting posts by post may be a tedious thing to do, so there are a few options to make it faster.
There is a Chrome extension called “Nuke Reddit History”. It gives you two options:
- Overwrite and delete all comments,
- Delete all posts.
If you have many Reddit accounts, the extension will take effect on whichever account you’re logged in at the moment.
How to Delete Reddit Account
What will happen after you delete your account? Let’s get the answer straight from Reddit’s FAQ page.
Here are the consequences in the case of deactivating an account:
- A profile removed from the platform permanently,
- Your username is removed forever, meaning no one will be able to use it again,
- Your comments and posts will be unattributed ([deleted] instead of author name),
- Messages and chats become unattributed as well.
Do you still want to delete the account? If yes, follow these steps.
Delete Reddit account via browser (desktop)
Step 1: Log in to your account.
Step 2: Once there, go ahead and click “User settings” (gear icon) in the bottom right corner drop-down menu.
Step 3: Find the “Deactivate account” button.
Step 4: A form will pop up. Enter your credentials one more time. Leaving feedback is optional. Make sure to check the box that you understand that deactivated accounts are not recoverable.
Step 5: You will be asked for confirmation as this action cannot be undone. Click “Deactivate” one more time, and that’s it.
How to delete a Reddit Account on mobile
Unlike Instagram, you don’t need to log in on a PC or macOS web browser to delete your account on Reddit.
It doesn’t matter if it’s iOS, Android, or any other operating system.
Open up your app.
- Tap the profile icon.
- Go to your “User Settings”.
- Locate the “Help and FAQs” button in a dropdown menu.
- A web site will pop up. Type in “Deactivate account” into the search bar.
- Among other questions, search for “How do I deactivate my account?”
- Find the “You can also click this link” passage. Click the link.
- Log in to your account.
- Enter your username and password. You can leave a message about your reasons to deactivate the Reddit account but it’s not necessary.
- Check the box confirming your awareness of the fact that deleting the account is irreversible.
- Hit the “Deactivate account”.
Why do People Delete Reddit Accounts?
First off, just like almost every website Reddit collects, stores, and processes data.
They have vast, sophisticated algorithms to track people, find disobedient, disruptive users, distribute restrictions, bans, and so on.
Deleting an account every now and then is a sort of a reset.
Being on the Internet, social media, posting, and commenting, we express ourselves, sometimes sharing some personal information about ourselves, our family, workplace, neighborhood, etc.
For OSINT (Open Source Intelligence) experts it is a cakewalk to find our Reddit account by an email address and link it to us.
Finally, some Reddit users want to change their usernames.
Delete Reddit Account FAQ
Is it Possible to Delete a Reddit Account?
Yes. You can deactivate your Reddit account anytime.
Deleting your Reddit account will make your posts and comments stay as long as they don’t violate Reddit’s Terms of Service.
Is it Worth it to Delete my Reddit Account?
It depends. You should consider deleting your account if:
- you don’t believe in Reddit’s privacy settings you want to have your Reddit presence wiped out or reset,
- you lost your interest in participating in Reddit’s life and you want to delete it entirely,
- You want to change your username.
Karen is a senior technical writer and copywriter at Hypegrowth. Her area of expertize are social media apps and new media.