how to delete my pinterest account

I've been an avid fan of Pinterest since it first came into existence. I love the idea of creating my personal space online, where I can fill it up with pictures that interest me. At my peak, I was managing 4 boards that garnered a fair bit of traffic from various people. It came as a surprise to most of them when out of the blue, my boards suddenly disappeared. All those photos and pins lost without any warning.

In this article, I will be detailing what lead me to delete my Pinterest account and the 7 quick steps on how to delete Pinterest account.

Also, Read How To Increase Twitter Followers for Your Business.

What Led Me To Sign Up For Pinterest Account

Before letting you know how to delete Pinterest account, I would like to share my story, how I joined Pinterest.

Growing up, I always had a knack for arts and crafts. In school, I was always the one most excited when the teacher would take out the arts and crafts trolley because it will mean hours of unsupervised creativity. I was often called in front to showcase what I made that day. Our fridge at home was filled with my artwork done in school, often inciting envy from my other siblings.

I carried my love for creating art all through my high school, which got a new name – scrapbooking. And while I made scrapbooks with friends and for some school project, I didn't consider my hobby as scrapbooking, more like tactile painting using whatever materials I had available.

Then came Pinterest. I remember a friend telling me, upon seeing one of my posters in the school gym, to sign up to a site called Pinterest. She thought it would interest me quite a bit, seeing as how I love that sort of stuff. She wasn't wrong.

The next three days after signing up was a blur. I remember being stuck in my room, only leaving for food or bathroom breaks. After that weekend, I created 3 boards of my interest: street style fashion, jewelry, and album covers.

What Led Me To Delete My Account In Pinterest?

My street style and album cover board found a decent amount of popularity. I was gaining 10 to 20 followers in a day, and it continued to rise as the months and eventually, years passed. The little fame I got out of Pinterest motivated me to do better. I was spending hours and hours online scouring the net, looking for the perfect photo to add to my collection.

I only realized I was obsessing over Pinterest when a close friend sent a text message asking if she did anything wrong and that she hasn't heard from me in over 3 months. That was a rude awakening. I realized I was caught up in this virtual world and forget about the real one.

My grades suffered as well as my relationship with my family and friends. I dreaded leaving the house, fearing that I might lose followers if I wasn't staying active. And on the rare occasion that I did go out, I was on my phone, still on the app.

Decision of Quitting Pinterest

The decision to delete my account wasn't easy, but it had to be done for the sake of my sanity. I didn't realize it back then, but I was addicted to Pinterest, and the validation of seeing my photos being pinned by other followers only fueled my craving for attention.

I would be lying if I said I didn't miss it. Pinterest took up a good 2 years of my life, and I did form some bond with a few users. But my decision to leave Pinterest was ultimately a sound one. Now, I have more time to focus on other more important things.

I do miss having a way to express my creativity, which Pinterest is perfect for. I miss having somewhere to get inspiration from when I'm stuck in a rut. But I eventually found my own outlet for creativity, somewhere a little removed from social media. The great thing this time is that I'm being paid to be creative, so I guess it worked out in the end.

Quitting Pinterest

If you plan on taking a break from your Pinterest life as I did, there are many ways to go about it. There is the option of deactivating your account for a little while. This method means, should you choose to, you can go back to it anytime you want, and all your boards and pins are still going to be intact. The other way is to close your account permanently. That means all your saved photos, pins, and boards that you've created will be deleted. You will also lose the followers you have on your account.

So, let us check the steps of how to delete Pinterest account temporarily and permanently.

Deactivating your account in 5 steps

If you choose to deactivate your account, your profile, as well as your boards, will be inaccessible by your followers. If, however, you change your mind and wish to go back to being active on the site, all you have to do is log in in order to reactive the account.

Click on the three dots (…) at the very top of the Pinterest main page.
Then go to Edit settings
Select Account Settings on the left side of the screen
Then click on Deactivate account just underneath Account changes
You will be prompted to fill up a form as to why you chose to deactivate your account then click Deactivate my account.

You can double-check to make sure that your account is truly disabled by going to your Pinterest URL. Remember not to log back into your account to check if it is still active – it will only reactive your account.

Deactivating your account will not free your username and email address. Should you wish to come back, all you have to do is log back in, and you will still get your profile along with the boards you've created before.

The above-mentioned step is for deactivating an account, now I will let you know how to delete Pinterest account permanently.

7 Steps: How To Delete Pinterest Account

Now let us check how to delete Pinterest account permanently with quick 7 steps.

Opting to close your account will mean you are permanently going to leave Pinterest. What this will do is it will erase all your data and once it's done, there's no going back. You will lose all your boards and pins forever.

At the top of the Pinterest main page, click on the three dots (…)
Go to Edit settings
Then click on Account Settings on the left side of the screen
Click on Delete account
You will be asked to provide a reason why you would want to delete your account then click on Next
Click Send email
Check the email address you used for your Pinterest account to confirm that your account has been closed.

When you delete your Pinterest account, your profile will also be deactivated. It will take 12 days before your account to be closed permanently. During the 14 days that your account hasn't been deleted, if you change your mind, you can log back in, and your account will be reactivated.

Final thoughts

I'm not saying you should follow my lead in quitting Pinterest. It was and continues to be an amazing website to express one's creativity. My reason for quitting was a personal one. And I'm sure others have a better way of managing their real life and their Pinterest life.

As for regrets, I have none. The first few months that followed after leaving were quite hard; I had a void in my day usually taken up by being online that I now had to fill. I got by and continue to do so. All in all, I'm healthier and happier because of what I did.

I hope this article has given you enough knowledge on how to delete Pinterest account. It will give me a great boost if you share this article to reach to more users who are willing to learn new things.