Delete Linkedln account: How to deactivate/ delete LinkedIn account temporarily and permanently

If you are not content with LinkedIn and wish to leave the platform, it is better to delete your account than uninstall the app or log out from the platform. Like any other social networking site, LinkedIn has the freedom to use your data. This can be avoided by deleting or disabling your profile/ account. Whether you want to permanently move away from the platform, or take a short break, the professional networking website has got you covered. In this article, we’ll be guiding you through various procedures to permanently delete or temporarily deactivate your LinkedIn account on Android, iPhone, and laptop/ PC. So without further ado, let’s begin.

How to temporarily deactivate your LinkedIn profile

If you wish to take a break from LinkedIn without actually deleting your profile, that can be done by opting for the ‘Hibernate account’, as LinkedIn calls it. When enabling this mode, your profile will be temporarily disabled and won’t be visible to your connections or show up as a recommendation to other profiles. That said, a LinkedIn profile can be temporarily deactivated by using several devices.

on desktop

Let’s take a look at how to temporarily deactivate a LinkedIn profile through desktop.

• Open a browser on your desktop and log in to your LinkedIn profile
• Now tap on your profile found at the top
• From the dropdown menu select ‘Settings & Privacy’
  
• Within the ‘Account management’ section, select ‘Hibernate account’
  
• Select a reason for temporarily deactivating your profile and hit ‘Next’
  
• Enter account’s password and lastly, tap on ‘Hibernate account’

on Android

Here’s how to temporarily deactivate your LinkedIn profile on an Android phone.

• Open the LinkedIn app on your Android phone
• Tap on your profile at the top left corner. A menu should open
• Now within this menu, select ‘Settings’ and go to ‘Account preferences’
  
• From here, scroll down and select the ‘Hibernate account’ option
  
• You can choose a reason for temporarily deactivating your account which is optional
• Select ‘Next’ and enter your password for verification
  
• When done, tap on ‘Hibernate account’

on iPhone

Temporarily deactivate your LinkedIn profile on iPhone by following the below-mentioned steps.

• Head over to the LinkedIn app
• Now select ‘Settings’ from the left menu
  
• Under settings, tap on ‘Account preferences’
  
• From here, select the ‘Hibernate account’ option within the ‘Account management’ section
• Select ‘Next’ and enter your password for verifying its actually you who is handling the account
  
• When done, tap on ‘Hibernate account’

How to permanently delete your LinkedIn profile

A LinkedIn profile can be permanently deleted on any device you’ve logged in to. This will remove all your data from the professional networking site, including posts and comments, and there is no way to retrieve them. So in case, you haven’t backed up your LinkedIn data yet, scroll down and follow the steps on how to backup data and come back up here to delete the account.

on desktop

• Open LinkedIn on your desktop and log in, if you haven’t already
• Now tap on your profile icon at the top right
• From the dropdown menu, select ‘Settings & Privacy’
  
• After that select ‘Account preferences’ from the left menu and scroll all the way down to ‘Account management’
• Select the ‘Close account’ option
  
• On the next screen, click on ‘Continue’ and select the reason for permanently closing down your LinkedIn account
  
• It’ll ask for your account password for verification purposes and shortly after the profile will be deleted

on Android

The process to delete a LinkedIn account on Android is fairly simple. Here’s how.

• Head over to the LinkedIn app on your Android mobile. The app can be downloaded from the Play Store
• Now log in to the app, if haven’t already
• Next, tap on your profile at the top left corner to summon the side menu
• Select ‘Settings’ at the bottom
  
• Within settings, select ‘Account preferences’
  
• Now scroll down and tap on the ‘Close account’ option
  
• On the next screen, select ‘Continue’ and choose the reason for shutting down your LinkedIn account
  
• Enter your account’s password and hit ‘Done’

on iPhone

Apple iPhone users can also delete their LinkedIn profile using the official app. Here’s how.

• On your iPhone, fire up the LinkedIn app. The app can be downloaded from the App Store
• Now log in to the app, if haven’t already
• Head over to your profile settings by tapping on the profile picture at the top left corner and selecting ‘Settings’
  
• On next the screen, choose ‘Account preferences’
  
• Now under ‘Account management’ tap on ‘Close account’ option
  
• It’ll ask for final confirmation to delete the LinkedIn profile. Simply tap on ‘Continue’ and choose the reason for closing the account
• Then select ‘Done’ and your LinkedIn profile will be permanently deleted

How to backup LinkedIn data before deleting an account

LinkedIn allows users to take a backup of their account data. Since the feature is not available on the mobile app, here’s the procedure to back up the data from a laptop/ PC.

• Head over to your profile and tap on ‘Settings & Privacy’ from the dropdown
• Now select ‘Data Privacy’ from the left menu
  
• Under ‘How LinkedIn uses your data’ section, tap on ‘Get a copy of your data’
• From here select whether you want to download the whole profile’s data or just something specific
  
• When done, select the ‘Request archive’ button and the data will be backed up and ready for download

Also Read

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Twitter account delete: How to delete Twitter account on PC/ laptop or mobile phone

FAQs

How long does it take to delete my LinkedIn account?

It can take anywhere between 7 days to 30 days to permanently delete a LinkedIn profile. This will include removing all your information, posts, job listings from your account. However, some indexed information on search engines such as Google and Bing may still appear even after deletion.

How to reactivate a LinkedIn profile?

Only those LinkedIn profiles have a chance of getting reopened which have been deleted or closed less than 14 days ago. Here’s how to reactivate a LinkedIn profile:

• Go to the LinkedIn login page
• Enter the email address that is associated with your LinkedIn account
• Now enter the password and tap ‘Sign In’
• From here, select ‘reactivate’ to begin the account reopening process
• Soon you’ll receive an email to confirm the reactivation. Select the link in the mail and you’ll be redirected to LinkedIn

How to deactivate a company page on LinkedIn?

The procedure to deactivate a company page on LinkedIn is as follows.

• From the profile dropdown menu, select the company page you would like to disable
• On the next screen, select ‘Admin tools’
• And choose the ‘Deactivate page’ option
  
• Check mark the tick box to agree with the terms and hit ‘Deactivate’
  
• That’s how you can deactivate a company page on LinkedIn.