How to Delete Your LinkedIn Account Forever - 56juqingba: How-to instructions you can trust

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While LinkedIn is a popular professional networking platform that can help you connect with companies, look for new job opportunities, or find colleagues in a similar field, it’s not for everyone. If LinkedIn isn’t a good fit for you, learn how to delete your LinkedIn account for good.

Tip: check out these common LinkedIn mistakes to explain why the platform isn’t working for you.

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How to Delete Your LinkedIn Account on PC

Click on Settings & Privacy. Scroll down to the bottom of your Account Preferences page, and click the Close Account option under the Account management section.

Read the disclaimer, and click Continue. Select a reason for closing your account, and click Next.

Enter your LinkedIn password, and tick the Unsubscribe me from LinkedIn email communications, including invitations option. Click Done to finalize the action.

On the next screen, LinkedIn will confirm your account deletion. It’s explained that it can take a few weeks for your profile to disappear from search engines.

You’ll receive a confirmation email from LinkedIn.

Note: if you have a Premium account, you can cancel it but still have access to a Basic account. For those with an Enterprise account, keep in mind that closing your account will result in losing access to your Online Jobs and those you have posted in Recruiter.

Tip: enable two-factor authentication on LinkedIn to secure your account.

How to Delete Your LinkedIn Account on the Mobile App

Follow the steps below to learn how to delete your LinkedIn account on your mobile device. The steps are similar on Android and iPhone.

Open the LinkedIn app, and tap on your profile picture, then Settings.

Tap on Account preferences.

Under Account management, tap Close account.

Read the disclaimer, and tap Continue. Select the reason for closing your account, and tap Next.

Enter your account password, and tap Done to complete the request.

As with the desktop version, you’ll receive an email from LinkedIn to confirm the closure.

FYI: scams are a thing on LinkedIn, so make sure you read on to learn how to protect yourself against them.

What Happens Once You Delete Your LinkedIn Account?

Learning how to delete your LinkedIn account is relatively easy. In most cases, you can recover your account within 14 days if you change your mind. However, plenty of things will disappear permanently if you do decide to go through with it:

Access to any of your connections
All recommendations and endorsements, including the ones you’ve given others
Your profile will no longer be visible
Access to all messages in your mailbox.

Due to how the Internet works, search engines may still temporarily display your information. This will automatically disappear when your profile is crawled again by Google or Bing, wiping it from the Web forever.

If you want to keep your information, LinkedIn lets you download a copy of your data before you close your account. Go to Settings & privacy -> Data privacy -> How LinkedIn uses your data -> Get a copy of your data.

However, a few things could delay closing your LinkedIn account or prevent complete account closure. For example, if you’re the owner of a LinkedIn group, you must cancel the membership or transfer the group to someone else.

Note: it’s also possible to deactivate your LinkedIn account. Your profile will become invisible, but your information will remain intact, and your previous actions will be attributed to a LinkedIn member.

To put your account in hibernation, go to Settings & Privacy -> Account Management -> Hibernate account.

For those with a LinkedIn premium account, this will cancel your account. You can reactivate the account once 24 hours have elapsed.

Tip: Looking to work from home? Check out this list of sites to help you find remote work.

How to Reactivate Your LinkedIn Account

As mentioned above, you have 14 days to reconsider your decision and retrieve your LinkedIn account.

If you decide you want to give it another shot, access the official LinkedIn website in your browser, or redownload the app. If it’s been just 48 hours since you’ve deleted your account, look for the email from LinkedIn confirming the deletion, and click the included link.

Click the Sign in button.

Use your credentials (email/phone and password) to log in to your account.

Click Yes, Reactivate. LinkedIn will send you an email to confirm that this is what you want to do and ask you to confirm your email address.

Even if you reopen your account, some things will still be lost:

Endorsements and recommendations
Ignored or pending invitations
Followings (Top Voices, Companies)
Group memberships

If the 14-day window has closed, however, your account will be lost forever, and you’ll need to start from scratch. If you need help, check out our guide on how you to create a LinkedIn profile for you or your company.

Tip: make sure your social media accounts are secure with these tips.

If you want to reduce your social media presence even further, continue by learning how to delete your Facebook account. It may also prove helpful to learn how to delete your Temu account and stay safe online.

Image credit: Freepik. All screenshots by Alexandra Arici.

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Alexandra Arici –
Staff Writer

Alexandra is passionate about mobile tech and can be often found fiddling with a smartphone from some obscure company. She kick-started her career in tech journalism in 2013, after working a few years as a middle-school teacher. Constantly driven by curiosity, Alexandra likes to know how things work and to share that knowledge with everyone.