How to delete your X (formerly Twitter) account—and keep it that way

Troves of users have been leaving X (formerly Twitter) recently, turning instead to competitors like Bluesky and Mastodon, some due to the 2024 elections and others because of concerns regarding changes to the platform’s terms of service. 

You may have decided to do or be considering doing the same. 

We’ll cover everything you need to know about how to permanently delete your X account, back up your data (if you still want to keep your old tweets), and optimize your privacy if you decide to stay with the platform. 

Mariam Volobueva

How to delete X, in short:

1. Deactivate your X account.
2. Wait 30 days and make no attempt to log in. 

Delete your X account in 2 steps:

1. Deactivate your X account 

On Android and iPhone:

1. Open the X app and tap your profile photo to bring up the menu. 
2. Tap “settings and support” and select “settings and privacy.”
3. Tap “your account.”
4. Tap “deactivate account.” 
5. Tap “deactivate” to confirm your choice. 
6. Enter your password and tap “deactivate” again to complete the process. 

On Windows and Mac:

1. Open a browser of your choice and go to https://x.com. 
2. If you aren’t already logged in, enter your username and password to log in. 
3. Select “more” from the menu on the left-hand side. 
4. Click “settings and privacy.”
5. Select “your account” and click “deactivate your account.”
6. Click “deactivate” to confirm your choice.
7. Enter your password and click “deactivate” again to complete the process. 

NOTE: Deleting your account also permanently erases your data. If you want to keep a copy, you’ll have to download an archive of it first. We’ll cover the exact steps below.  

2. Wait 30 days 

To turn your deactivation into deletion, you’ll have to wait 30 days. Here’s where some have encountered a hiccup. If you make any attempt to log in during this 30-day period, your account will be reactivated and you’ll have to start the process again (and wait another 30 days). 

While you may want to check to ensure that your account has been deactivated, doing so is counterproductive. Wait 30 days and only check back after the time is up. At this point, your account, along with all of the associated data, will be permanently deleted. 

How to backup your X data

You may not want Elon Musk to have your data, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you want all your old tweets destroyed. Thankfully, this is one of the few cases in which you can have your cake and eat it too. 

Before deactivating your account, you have the option to download an archive of your data. 

How to download your data on a phone:

1. Open the X app and tap your profile photo to bring up the menu. 
2. Tap “settings and support” and select “settings and privacy.”
3. Tap “your account.”
4. Tap “download an archive of your data.”
5. Enter your password and tap “next.”
6. Tap “send code” and check your email for the verification code. 
7. Enter the verification code and tap “next.”
8. Enter your password again and tap “next.”
9. Tap “request archive.”
10. You’ll receive an in-app notification when your data is ready to download. 

How to download your data on Windows and Mac:

1. Under “your account,” click “download an archive of your data.”
2. Enter your password and click “next.” 
3. Click “send code” and check your email for the verification code.
4. Click “request archive.”
5. You’ll receive a notification on the platform when your data is ready to download. 

NOTE: Your data may take up to 24 hours to archive. After this time, check your notifications, either through the mobile app or in a browser, to download your data. If you still haven’t received a notification after 24 hours, submit a ticket to their customer support. 

Why so many users are leaving X

November 2024 has been a rough month for X, with a record 115,000 US users deactivating on November 6th alone. Of course, due to the timing, it’s clear this had a lot to do with Elon Musk’s support of Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential elections. But politics isn’t the only reason users are leaving. 

On November 15, X updated its terms of service, which left many users dissatisfied. The most controversial change allows X to use user content to train its AI, including the Grok chatbot. We’ll cover how to prevent X from using your data to train its AI below. 

Another change to the terms of service lets X fine users $15,000 for viewing more than 1 million posts in 24 hours. This is more than the average user can hope to achieve, but it has also led to criticism that such restrictions limit researchers’ ability to monitor how the platform affects relationships, public discourse, and even elections. 

A relatively new contender, Bluesky, may also be partially responsible for this X exodus. While Musk’s platform has been losing users, Bluesky has been growing rapidly, reaching 22 million users on November 25, compared to only 9 million in September. Beyond political motivations, Bluesky’s policies, such as refraining from using user data to train AI (although its open API allows anyone to scrape your public data for AI training), may have made it a more appealing alternative for those seeking more privacy-focused platforms. 

If you don’t want to delete your X account but want to protect your data privacy

While there are merits to deleting your X account (we often mention how bad social media, in general, is for your privacy), not everyone is ready to say goodbye. If you want to keep your account, there are still some steps you can take to protect yourself. 

Limit data sharing

X collects a ton of data about you. This includes stuff you’d expect, like your username, email, and tweets, but it goes far beyond these basic things. 

Here are some data points X collects (and sometimes shares with service providers and third parties):

• Public and private direct messages (and other non-public communications)
• Payment information
• Location information
• Data from third parties
• Cookie data
• Devices belonging to you
• Inferences about you (such as age, topics of interest, languages spoken, etc.).

You can limit how X uses your personal information through the privacy and safety settings. 

To access these settings on your phone:

1. Open the X app and tap your profile photo to bring up the menu. 
2. Tap “settings and support” and select “settings and privacy.”
3. Tap “privacy and safety.”
4. Scroll down to the data sharing and personalization section, tap on each of the options (ads preferences, inferred identity, etc.), and use the toggles to turn them off. 

Delete old tweets

Anyone who’s been using Twitter (now X) for a while likely has a few tweets better stricken from their digital footprint—whether they’re embarrassing pictures from your party years or hot takes that no longer align with your views. 

More importantly, your tweets may contain sensitive information. We recommend you remove anything containing information or images that may expose your contact details, where you live, where you work (unless it’s public knowledge anyway), and any other sensitive details. 

How to delete tweets on your phone:

1. Open the app, tap on your profile photo, and tap “profile.”
2. Find the tweet you want to delete and tap on the three dots on the right-hand side. 
3. Tap “delete.”

NOTE: There’s no way to delete all your tweets at the same time on the X platform. If you want to do this, you’ll have to use a specialized service. However, we generally don’t recommend using any services that require access to your accounts as this introduces new privacy and cybersecurity risks. 

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