Recent modifications to WhatsApp's privacy and security policies have prompted many of its users to migrate to competing messaging platforms like Signal and Telegram. You may be intending to leave WhatsApp and delete your account, but you want to download and retain all of the data WhatsApp has accumulated over the years. This includes WhatsApp conversations and other media. This guide will demonstrate how to delete your WhatsApp account while preserving the data.

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How To Deactivate WhatsApp

We have a detailed guide on how to delete your WhatsApp account, but we will review the steps again here.

Delete Your WhatsApp Account

1. Launch WhatsApp

2. Tap the icon with three dots in the upper right quadrant. From the menu, choose "Settings."

3. Tap the "Account" option in the Settings menu.

4. Within the Account preferences, there are numerous options. To delete your account, tap "Delete my account."

5. WhatsApp will request confirmation of the phone number linked to the account.

6. Once your phone number has been entered, select the "Delete My Account" button.

7. You will be required to provide a reason for deactivating the account. You may choose from the available explanations or provide your own feedback. This is an optional procedure.

8. A confirmation message will be displayed informing you that deleting your account will eliminate your message history, remove you from all groups, and delete all of your backups. If you wish to continue, select "Delete My Account."

9. Your WhatsApp account will be terminated permanently. Your account information will be removed from WhatsApp's servers and you will be logged out.

When you delete your WhatsApp account, you will lose all conversation history, media files, and contacts associated with that account. In addition, you will be removed from every group you belonged to. WhatsApp states that it can take up to 90 days to completely remove your account and all data from their servers.

WhatsApp has the following to say about the matter: "Copies of your information may also remain in our backup storage for up to 90 days in the event of a disaster, software error, or other data loss incident. During this time, you do not have access to your WhatsApp information. Copies of some materials, such as log records, may persist in our database, but they are delinked from personal identifiers."

How to Backup WhatsApp

Before you delete your account, you should save important information from your private conversations. You can request a report from WhatsApp or manually extract specific data points.

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WhatsApp account information request

Requesting a report from WhatsApp will take several days because they must compile all available data. To request account information, follow these steps:

Request account details

1. Open WhatsApp

2. Open Settings

3. Within the menu, select Account

4. Tap request account information, then tap request report.

When your request for data collection is complete, you will receive a notification. Download the zip file using this notification. The compressed file contains all the information WhatsApp has gathered about your account.

Save chat history and media assets in WhatsApp

Within each conversation, you can manually export the data; the steps may differ slightly for an Android or iOS device, but the process is straightforward.

Save chat history and media assets in WhatsApp

1. Open WhatsApp

2. Enter the chat from which you wish to extract data.

3. Launch the options menu

4. Select Further

5. You will then be prompted to select the file types you wish to include.

6. Once this is complete, choose where you would like to export the data; this could be Google Drive, iCloud, Gmail, or any other app.

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Final Reflections

Deleting a WhatsApp account can be a difficult choice, particularly if the account has been in use for years. But with the help of this guide, you'll be able to delete your WhatsApp account and save all of the data WhatsApp has on you, as well as download important files and messages from your WhatsApp conversations. Remember that complete removal from WhatsApp servers can take up to 90 days.