You can delete your Mastodon account at any time. There is no cool-off period, the deletion happens as soon as you confirm it.
⚠️ After you confirm deletion, it will immediately delete your account and all your posts, and they cannot be restored. You need to be 100% really sure you want to do this. When you confirm the deletion, your account will be gone forever and no one can bring it back.
If you’re totally sure you want to delete your account straight away and forever, here’s how to do it:
- Log in through your server’s website or web app
- Go to Preferences > Account > Delete account
- Click Proceed here and follow the instructions. It will ask you for your password to confirm the deletion.
You probably shouldn’t delete your account if you’re transferring to another server
The account transfer process lets you move your account to another server. However, the profile and posts from your old account remain on the old server and redirect people to your new account on the new server.
It’s a bad idea to delete your old account when transferring to a new server, as it will make it a lot harder for people who know about your old account to find your new account. Deleting the old account will also make all your old posts disappear, which removes yet another way that people might discover your new account.
Also, some of your followers may not transfer over to the new account the first time you do the transfer. You may want to redo the transfer again in the future to get these remaining followers transferred, but you can only do that if the old account still exists. See the guide to the transfer process for more details about this.
I deleted my account but I wish I hadn’t. Is there any way for the server admin to bring it back?
No. Once the account is deleted, it is deleted forever, no one can bring it back.
If I delete my account, can someone else register on that server and steal my old username?
No. If you delete your account, no one else can use your account address ever again. Each server keeps a list of its deleted accounts’ usernames, and blocks anyone from trying to register the username of a deleted account. If you want to sign up for a new account on the same server, you’ll need to think of a new username.
I can still see my account and some of my posts in search results on other servers, even though I deleted the account. What’s going on?
Once you delete your account, your server will start letting other servers know that the account is deleted and they will gradually remove anything to do with your deleted account. However, this can take time and some servers may still show remnants of your old account for a while longer. As time goes by these remnants will disappear, and they cannot be restored.