How to Delete Your LinkedIn Account or Temporarily Deactivate It

Want the fast version? Click here to read a summary.

How to Delete Your LinkedIn Account or Temporarily Deactivate It: A Quick Guide

Do you rarely check your LinkedIn account or just want more privacy online? Permanently deleting or temporarily deactivating (called hibernating) your LinkedIn account is the answer. Here’s how to do it.

How to delete your LinkedIn account:

1. Log into your LinkedIn account and tap your profile image where it says, “Me.”
2. In your Profile dropdown, look under Account and select “Settings and Privacy.”
3. Click on “Account preferences.”
4. Scroll down to “Account Management” and then choose “Close account.”
5. Choose the option that explains why you are closing your account.
6. Enter your password to close your account.

If that sounds too permanent, you could deactivate your account temporarily.

How to deactivate your LinkedIn account:

1. Log into your LinkedIn account and tap your profile image where it says, “Me.”
2. In your Profile dropdown, look under Account and select “Settings and Privacy.”
3. Click on “Account preferences.”
4. Scroll down to “Account Management” and then choose “Hibernate account.”
5. Choose the option that explains why you are hibernating your account.
6. Enter your password to deactivate your account.

Once you hibernate your account, LinkedIn will show a generic icon and “A LinkedIn Member” where your photo and name used to be. This way, information is saved but not connected to you personally. This gives you some additional privacy online without the final act of deleting your account.

For more details on how to deactivate, reactivate, or delete your account on LinkedIn, keep reading!

Do you only check your LinkedIn account every six months? Are you concerned about how much information you are sharing online? You don’t need that LinkedIn account anymore and it’s time to delete or deactivate it. We’ve laid out how to delete your LinkedIn account in a few simple steps. 

If deleting your account permanently (yes, it’s gone for good) feels too final, you can deactivate or “hibernate” your account temporarily instead. Either way, read our “things to remember” so you know what you will or won’t lose once your delete or deactivate your LinkedIn account.

How to Delete Your LinkedIn Account in 5 Steps

Less is more in terms of what you want social media accounts sharing about you online, so removing one account isn’t a bad idea. LinkedIn’s privacy policy states that your account information is removed from LinkedIn within 24 hours. Then, within 30 days, LinkedIn will remove account-related logs and de-identify personal information. Here’s how to close your LinkedIn account in 5 steps.

Step 1: Log into your account

Open your browser and log in to LinkedIn (you can’t delete an account in the LinkedIn app). At the top right of the page, tap your profile image circle where below it says, “Me.”

Step 2: Go to your profile

Under the Account tab, select “Settings and Privacy.”

Step 3: Click on “Close Account”

Find “Account preferences” on the left sidebar. Scroll down to “Account management” and choose “Close account.” 

Step 4: Select a reason

Now, LinkedIn will tell you what you’ll lose by closing your account including your connections, messages, endorsements, and recommendations. Beneath that message, you’ll see “Tell us why you’re closing your account.” Choose the reason and hit “Next.”

Step 5: Enter your password

Finally, LinkedIn will require you to enter your password one more time, for security reasons. Enter your password and click “Close Account.” Additionally, check the “Unsubscribe me from LinkedIn email communications, including invitations” box or you’ll continue to receive emails from LinkedIn.

It will take LinkedIn up to 30 days to delete to wipe all your information from its servers. Then, once it’s gone, it’s gone permanently. That’s why we want you to take note of what you will lose once your account is deleted.

Things to Remember Before You Close Your Account

Before you close your account for good, be aware of what content will be lost. In most cases, you can reopen your account within 14 days, but you cannot recover certain elements linked to your account.

What you will lose permanently after you close your LinkedIn account:

• All invitations
• All recommendations and endorsements
• Memberships to LinkedIn groups
• Followings (including influencers, authority figures, companies, etc.)

Don’t want the account, but still want your list of connections, posts, or recommendations? LinkedIn allows users to request a copy of their data at any time, and we highly recommend you do this as a backup. You never know what the future holds!

Back up your LinkedIn data

When you download a copy of your data, you can still see the content you posted or your connections. However, if a connection has their email address private, you won’t be able to see it in your data download. A copy of data is useful, but not entirely comprehensive of your LinkedIn activity and access.

How to get a copy of your data:

1. Go to your Profile, select “Settings and Privacy.”
2. On the left sidebar, under “Data privacy,” select “How LinkedIn uses your data.”
3. Select “Get a copy of your data,” which is the second choice on the main page.
4. Tick the boxes next to the data you would like to receive.

Within ten minutes to two days, LinkedIn will send you all the requested data files. If you’re still worried about losing parts of your LinkedIn data, there’s another option to consider: deactivation.

How To Deactivate or Hibernate Your LinkedIn Account in 5 Steps

If you have no use for your LinkedIn account right now, but don’t want to commit to deleting your account, “hibernating” or deactivating your LinkedIn account is the way to go. Here’s how to do it.

Step 1: Log in to LinkedIn

Open your browser and log into your account on LinkedIn. Keep in mind that you can’t delete an account in the LinkedIn app. At the top right of the page, tap your profile image circle where below it says, “Me.”

Step 2: Navigate to “Settings and Privacy”

Go to your profile and under the “Account” tab, select “Settings and Privacy.”

Step 3: Hibernate account

Next, on the left sidebar, select “Account preferences.” Scroll down to “Account management” and choose, “Hibernate account.”

Step 4: Provide a reason

Now, tick the box next to the reason for hibernating or deactivating your LinkedIn account (this is optional).

Step 5: Enter your password

Finally, enter your password in the password box to deactivate your LinkedIn account.

Important note: If you are a group admin or associated with an enterprise product, you will need to take extra steps before closing your account. Premium subscribers will automatically have their subscription canceled upon closing or hibernating their account.

How to Reactivate Your LinkedIn Account

You’ve taken a break from social media (good for you), but now you’re ready to reactivate your LinkedIn account. Congrats. It’s simple, but remember, you can only do this if you hibernated your account. If you closed your account, you need to open a new LinkedIn account from scratch. If it’s been less than 14 days since you closed your account, LinkedIn might be able to reopen it but not all data is recovered.

To reactivate our account, simply open LinkedIn’s site and log in with your email and password.

Hibernate or Delete LinkedIn Account: What’s the Difference?

Hibernating or deactivating your LinkedIn account means your data is still there, but your information is invisible to other users. If you had endorsements, posted comments, written posts, or made recommendations, LinkedIn will show “A LinkedIn member” and a generic icon instead of your name and photo. You won’t show up in any searches and your profile will not be visible.

When you delete or close a LinkedIn account, any information not downloaded beforehand is permanently deleted. You can’t reopen your account after 14 days. If you don’t want to delete your account, you can also manage your LinkedIn privacy settings to control what LinkedIn knows about you.

Deleting Your LinkedIn Account is Easy

There’s a lot of reasons you might want to delete your LinkedIn account. If your account was hacked, you want more online privacy, or you’re just sick of social media, deleting your account will solve those problems, in part. But remember, after 14 days, you will not be able to reopen your account at all. It may take slightly longer for your name to disappear from search engines like Google. On a side note, Google actually knows quite a bit about you already.

If you just need some space from this social media site, hibernating (LinkedIn’s version of temporarily deactivating) an account will make your information invisible to internet users without deleting it. It’s never a bad idea to reduce the amount of information available about you online! If you want to go further, here’s how you can delete your Facebook account completely.