Sure, you once thought you and Facebook or Amazon or Netflix would be together forever, but terms of service change, end-user license agreements mature, and, well, you're just not in the same digital place anymore. Sadly, not all websites and social networks and online retailers are created equal when it comes to breaking up. With some, it takes only a couple of clicks to say goodbye. For a few sites, if you stop paying for the service, the site cuts ties fairly quickly. Others make you jump through more hoops. Even after you follow all the required steps, some sites never quite leave you alone, with vestiges of your relationship around forever. No matter what you call it—deleting, canceling, removing—when you want to be rid of an online account, many sites don't make it easy. You don't want to rush into a breakup, but if you're ready, we've compiled the links, tips, and—in the most extreme cases— you need to sever ties. And let's be clear, there's a difference between deleting an account and just deactivating it. We'll spell out the differences for each account, as needed. Also, sometimes legality prevents a service from deleting everything you've posted publicly in the past, so remnants of your time there could remain in perpetuity. This list includes the big-name sites most people use. If you're looking for a site that's not on our list, check out and. Each serves the same purpose—to let you know which sites and services make it easy to leave, which make it difficult, and which make it damn-near impossible. Social Networks and Online Services Facebook The mac-daddy of social networking, Facebook had 1. But before you give Zuckerberg and Co. Some even require you to use Facebook. So killing a Facebook account could lock you out of more than just one social network, which. If you're ready to cut ties, the link to deactivate is in your account settings, found under Security, but to use while logged in. You can find it on the desktop or the mobile apps. Facebook will try to convince you to stay by showing you photos of the friends who will presumably miss your online presence. If you forge ahead through your veil of tears, Facebook will ask you to specify why you're leaving, then opt-out of future emails, agree to delete any apps or pages you've developed, and hit confirm. This effectively puts your account to sleep. Facebook will leave you alone, but there's the option to reactivate. To fully delete an account, go to. For more details, read. Twitter Tweets are a breeze to obliterate. Enter your password when requested. After 30 days—the grace period for you to return—the account and data is deleted. If all else fails, call 415-222-9670. Note that Vine, the , is also matched to your Twitter account, so deleting Twitter deletes your Vine. Visit your on the desktop to click the Delete Account link, or email vinehelp twitter. Google and YouTube Google is big. The company has so many services—an office suite and storage via , email via Gmail, blogging with Blogger, apps and media via the Google Play store, advertising via AdSense, video sharing via YouTube, maps, Hangouts, Google Photos, a sad play at a social network... Deleting all of them in one fell swoop is actually quite easy. That's all it takes to walk away entirely and lose all those files, emails, videos, etc. This is the only way to get rid of some accounts within Google. For example, there's no way to completely delete a Blogger account only individual blogs under it without this nuclear option. One exception: YouTube can be deleted separately. What you get here is the option to delete your YouTube channel—it won't kill the required Google account. But it will obliterate all the videos on the channel, including videos you may have purchased! You'll be given an option to do that, or just hide the channel instead. Hiding has granular options like deleting comments you've made. That's a tool more people should take advantage of. You might have a profile to get rid of. Click and sign in to do just that. It will not delete a YouTube channel associated with the profile. LinkedIn It could be argued that is the most useful social network around, especially for job networking. That doesn't mean you won't want to cancel. In fact, LinkedIn specifically suggests that if you have multiple accounts, you should close all but one to consolidate. It'll take you to. Give a reason you're leaving—most sites want to know what they can improve, or did wrong— and then click Continue. You have 20 days to reinstate your account, if you regret the deletion decision. Certain info, like endorsements and followings, are lost for good. Contact Customer Service and confirm your email address to do so. LinkedIn provides a link to contact them on the bottom of every page or call 650-687-3555. Microsoft Your Microsoft account has previously gone by other names, such as Windows Live ID, MSN log-in,. Sticking with branding is not a strong suit in Redmond. For now at least, your master Microsoft account signs in to everything Microsofty, from Outlook. How you access your account depends on what site or service you enter, but there is a. It won't be that simple for most people, however. You can't delete the account until you've canceled any premium paid services or subscriptions you have with while logged in. Plus, Microsoft lists other things you should do first, like use up your Skype credit and reset your automatic replies on Outlook. Got more serious problems? Skype It used to be impossible to kill a Skype account, but you can reportedly now do it via an online chat with Skype representatives. It's only possible if you're logged into the Skype. They'll still ask for proof by asking you to identify at least five contacts in your Skype account, plus the email you used to sign up. After that, they'll shut it down for you. This only works for Skype IDs, not if you use your Microsoft ID to log into Skype. Snapchat Simply deleting the app from your phone doesn't do the trick. There also isn't a way to delete your account from within the app. On the Web, go to and log in. Then you just click Delete My Account and your long, sordid or probably not-so-sordid history with Snapchat is over. That company hung on to customers as tightly as Scrooge with a ha'penny. Users had to call, fax, and threaten lawsuits to be cut loose. That torch has been. Once you do that, visit , click the My Account link under the icon at upper right ; on the next page, click. You'll see a Cancel link under the type of AOL subscription you have. Even if it's just an AIM account used for instant messaging, you can delete it with a click and a confirmation. This is definitely worth doing if you don't use AOL, and check for your family members as well—as little as two years ago, there were reportedly still as many as for dial-up internet access; a lot of them probably didn't even know it. Yahoo and Flickr When you delete your Yahoo account, you're signing out permanently from a number of services: Yahoo Mail, Yahoo Messenger, Yahoo Groups, Flickr, etc. There is a , which will spell out what your Yahoo ID deletion does; it may take up to 90 days for full deletion to go through. You'll need to enter your password and a code to go through with it. Note again, killing your Yahoo account kills your Flickr account. But you can delete Flickr separately and leave Yahoo intact via Flickr's. Tumblr Yahoo bought Tumblr, but the blog site has its own login. You can delete your blog or blogs without killing the account, of course, using the. Killing your entire Tumblr account is done at. Reddit Reddit users have it easy when it comes to account deletion, which makes sense for such a tech-savvy location. Just surf to while signed in to take care of it. Evernote is an easy-to-use repository for anything and everything you'd want to store while you're online. Getting rid of your data and account isn't as easy. First, log in and delete every single thing you stored there—and delete the trash, too, as those items are not automatically erased. Then go to the. Note that it's not a true deletion, but it does prevent you from ever accessing Evernote with that same email address ever again. You can change your email address easily enough under settings; don't use the nuclear option for that. Pinterest This is another site where you can deactivate the account to stop using it, but can't actually delete it. Once you disable things, the boards and everything you pinned are no longer available and the account is unlinked from services like Facebook and Twitter. But the username and email on the account remain in place, so change the account email address first if you want to set up a new Pinterest account later. To deactivate, click your name while logged in, go to , and you'll find the Deactivate Account button in the bottom the Account Basics section. Ancestry You used to be stuck with Ancestry forever. You can change a subscription type or just go through with cancellation here. But you're never fully deleted: by going to a free account, you've got a at Ancestry, so you can still use things like message boards and access family trees you've created. Online Retailers Amazon Closing your account at Amazon means no longer having access to Wish Lists or Associate Accounts or any other associated content—like videos. The cancellation is not necessary if all you want to do is change your email or credit card on the account. You can do either of those under the Your Account link, which you'll find in the upper right-hand corner of any Amazon page. To actually , make sure you have no orders outstanding. Go directly to the. Write a brief note to Amazon telling them why you want out, and send it off. You can also call 866-216-1072 206-266-2992 for international customers to follow up if the account appears live after you close it. Go there and look for the link. Canceling means saying buh-bye to any accumulated credits on your account. However, you can still get access to your library of audiobooks to re-download, if needed. Try 888-283-5051 or 973-820-0400 outside the US and Canada. Zappos This online shoe and more store, another subsidiary of Amazon, is well-known for an interesting corporate culture, but not for letting go of customers. There's no link or even an FAQ section about how to break free. Or, start an online chat session at the site and request the account deletion that way. Apple Apple ties every interaction you make with the company—computers purchased on Apple. Getting rid of an Apple ID is next to impossible. If you make a mistake and create an account you don't want, it can't be merged with another account. There are reports that you can call customer service at 800-275-2273 and ask for an account to be deleted, but don't count on it unless you can supply a certificate showing the customer is deceased. That'll help, but your existing Apple ID will always exist on the servers in Cupertino. One big reason to not deactivate your Apple ID is Digital Rights Management. Music and video and ebooks are tied to your account via DRM to protect the copyright. But you'll be the one getting punished if you mess with the DRM and can't access your media anymore just because you messed with your account. If you need help, 800-APL-CARE is the basic Apple Care tech support line. Which could be a handy thing for those accumulating bad feedback. Cancellation is not immediate; you get 180 days to finalize any transactions. If you change your mind during that time, you can reactivate the account. You'll have to sign in, of course. You get a choice to shut down the whole account, a seller account, an eBay store, or just your PayPal account. Follow the instructions for whichever you choose. EBay has a few toll-free numbers you can call: 888-749-3229, 800-322-3229, and 800-322-9266, from 7:30 a. Press 2 to get customer support. The recording will try to get you to use Live Customer support online. If you want to delete that account, new or old, there's no link to make it happen. You'll have to hit the and send a request for deletion. Just know it will keep a record of all your old purchases, and thus some personally identifiable info, in perpetuity. That's no longer the case. There is, however, a direct link to a to stop getting billed. This is, of course, nothing more than a deactivation—Netflix isn't about to give up all the info you've fed it, like movie ratings to be used in recommendations. The service does claim it only keeps the info including your DVD queue for 10 months. You can always delete your reviews one at a time yourself, however. Visit the while logged in and click the Call Us link to get a six-digit service code Netflix will utilize to know who you are when you call. Spotify The streaming media darling has an that lets you sign out of Spotify on all your devices, which is handy if you share your account with others. You must do that first to close out of Spotify altogether. To leave Spotify forever, visit link. Be signed in when you access the link, click the button, and you're done. You can also email support spotify. Rotten Tomatoes Flixster's site for rating movies provides an on how to cancel out of Rotten Tomatoes. That's because you might have signed up with a Flixster account, or using your Facebook log-in. Ultimately, you have to fill out the to make the full request. Hulu Hulu has a for those who no longer want a paid subscription. You need to be signed in and accessing the main profile to see it, and even then must re-enter your password. Before you cancel your subscription, it'll ask you for your reasons. If you don't want to cancel it altogether, just put Hulu on hold for as many as 12 weeks. Note that these steps simply turn a paid Hulu subscription into a free version. After that, use the to get rid of the account entirely. PlayStation Network If you want to leave Sony's game network behind, the best you can do is call Sony Customer Service at 1-800-345-SONY to deactivate an account, but you won't be able to use that login or username again. IMDb Pro Yes, you can have a paid account at the world's best database of movie and TV info which is owned by Amazon. If you don't want it anymore, there's a straight up that will take care of that. Steam It's not entirely clear on how to get rid of a Steam account—it's certainly not easy. Your best bet: delete all games and info associated with the account and wait. After a while, maybe months, maybe years, Steam will deactivate it due to inactivity. Pacific Time or 8 a. Go to your Account Settings and select the page. If you're a paid member and don't want to renew, hit the same page. You can still sign in until the end of your subscription term, however. Once you've found a new love, just make sure to hide that profile. You can't really delete it forever. The site might delete you itself if you misbehave. OKCupid The deletion of an OKCupid account is easy. Visit your account page to just disable the account, so your profile is inactive and all communication from OKCupid ceases, or do a so that the info is permanently and irreversibly dumped. All, that is, except the username. That is never freed up again, so no one else can use it to make a new account and pretend they're you. Zoosk If you signed up for Zoosk but want out, go to your Zoosk Settings page. Sign in one last time, and then visit. If you use the Zoosk app on a social network like Facebook, removing it doesn't cancel your subscription or your account, you have to go to the main site at Zoosk. Ashley Madison Ashley Madison, the site for those seeking extra-marital activities, sometimes on the , got a lot of press a couple of years ago when it got hacked. And a lot of people wished they'd had deleted their account long before that though chances are, the data was still in their system to be hacked even if the user opted out before. Supposedly you can send an email to privacy ashleymadison. Tinder Remember, deleting the app from your phone does NOT delete the account. Open up the mobile app on your iPhone or Android Device. Log in and go to App Settings to find the Delete Account button at the bottom. Tap it then confirm. The data and matches are wiped. Since Tinder uses your Facebook login, you should also on Facebook and delete Tinder's access. Click the pencil icon to edit Tinder, and select Remove App at the bottom of the popup window. There are a startling number of services and publications online that do not let you delete an account, period. They generally state it up front in the Terms of service ToS —you know, the text that no one ever reads. If you suddenly decide to reclaim your privacy and want to obliterate yourself from the following services, well, you're SOL. Note that most of these companies keep this information for legal and regulatory reasons. The rest are just not that into helping you. However, if you do sign up for an account—it makes returns easier, if nothing else—it's never going away. You can try calling 800-966-6546, then dialing 238 to get a real person. It can, however, be changed. It suggests simply leaving the account inactive if you don't want it anymore. Eric narrowly averted a career in food service when he began in tech publishing at Ziff-Davis over 25 years ago. He was on the founding staff of Windows Sources, FamilyPC, and Access Internet Magazine all defunct, and it's not his fault.
