By Deleting a LinkedIn account takes about two minutes once you know where the setting lives: Settings & Privacy โ Account preferences โ Account management โ Close account. The harder part is everything around that click. What happens to your data? Can you undo it? Do you even need to delete, or would pausing your profile do the job? This guide walks through how to delete the LinkedIn account on desktop and mobile, what to do first, and how to handle the awkward cases: locked-out accounts, duplicates, and profiles you can no longer sign in to.
Quick answer: To delete your LinkedIn account, click your profile photo, open Settings & Privacy, go to Account preferences, scroll to Account management, choose Close account, select a reason, enter your password, and confirm. The same path works in the mobile app. See LinkedIn's official instructions in Close and delete your LinkedIn account.
Before you delete: a 4-step checklist
Closing your account permanently removes your profile, connections, messages, endorsements, and posts. There is a short grace period to change your mind (more on that below), but treat deletion as final and get your affairs in order first.
- Download your data. Go to Settings & Privacy โ Data privacy โ Get a copy of your data and request the full archive. LinkedIn emails you a download link, and per the official Download your account data page, the link stays live for a limited window, so grab the file promptly. The archive includes your connections as CSV files, which is the only way to keep those contacts after the account is gone.
- Cancel Premium first. If you have an active Premium subscription, cancel it before closing the account so you are not billed for a service attached to a deleted profile.
- Hand off anything you own. Company pages, groups, and event pages need a new admin. If your account sits under an enterprise license (Sales Navigator, Recruiter, LinkedIn Learning through work), your admin has to release you from that license before the close option will work.
- Tell people where to find you. Your LinkedIn URL is on resumes, email signatures, and old conference bios. A short farewell post with an alternate contact saves your network a dead link.
How to delete the LinkedIn account on desktop
- Sign in at linkedin.com and click the Me icon (your profile photo) in the top navigation.
- Select Settings & Privacy.
- In the left sidebar, click Account preferences.
- Scroll to the Account management section at the bottom of the page.
- Next to Close account, click Change, then Continue.
- Pick a reason for leaving and click Next.
- Enter your password and confirm.
That's it. LinkedIn signs you out and begins removing your profile.
How to delete the LinkedIn account on mobile (iPhone and Android)
The app follows the same path as desktop:
- Tap your profile picture, then tap Settings.
- Tap Account preferences.
- Under Account management, tap Close account.
- Tap Continue, choose your reason, and tap Next.
- Enter your password and confirm.
If the app throws an error and tells you to finish on a desktop browser (a complaint that shows up regularly in LinkedIn's own community forums), log in on a computer and repeat the desktop steps above. The web version handles account issues the app sometimes can't.
What happens after you close your account
- Your profile disappears from LinkedIn. Connections lose access to your profile and your side of shared history.
- You get a short reopen window. LinkedIn allows you to reopen a closed account for a limited period (LinkedIn's help documentation describes roughly two weeks). Even if you reopen in time, some things do not come back, including endorsements, recommendations, and group memberships.
- Search engines catch up on their own schedule. Google may keep a cached copy of your public profile for a while after deletion. That cache clears when the search engine recrawls, not the moment you close the account.
- Data deletion is the point of closing. LinkedIn's own guidance is explicit: if you want your account data deleted, closing the account is the mechanism. If you are in the EU or UK, you also have a legal backstop. Article 17 of the GDPR, the right to erasure, obligates companies to delete your personal data without undue delay when you withdraw consent or the data is no longer necessary.
Deleting vs. hibernating: which one do you actually want?
A lot of people searching for how to delete the LinkedIn account really want a break, not a bonfire. LinkedIn's hibernate feature hides your profile without destroying anything, and it is worth a look before you do something permanent. The official Hibernate your LinkedIn account page has the full details.
| Delete (close account) | Hibernate | |
|---|---|---|
| Profile visibility | Gone permanently | Hidden; shows as "A LinkedIn Member" |
| Connections & messages | Deleted | Preserved, restored when you return |
| Reversible? | Only within a short reopen window, with losses | Fully, any time after the first 24 hours |
| Time limit | Permanent after the window closes | None; hibernate for months or years |
| Best for | Leaving for good, data removal | Burnout, job-search privacy, a sabbatical |
The rule of thumb: hibernate if there is any chance you'll want your network back. Ten years of connections is not something you can rebuild with a new signup.
Troubleshooting: when the close button won't cooperate
Can I delete my LinkedIn account without signing in?
No. LinkedIn requires you to be logged in and to enter your password, which is how it verifies the request is really yours. If you've lost access, recover the account first: use the password reset flow with any email address you might have registered. Once you're in, follow the normal close steps. If you no longer control any of the associated email addresses, LinkedIn support has identity-verification processes for reclaiming accounts, but there is no anonymous delete-by-request shortcut.
How do I delete a LinkedIn profile I accidentally created?
Duplicate accounts are common, usually the result of signing up with a second email years ago. Sign in to the duplicate (not your main account) using the email it was created with, then close it from its own Settings & Privacy page. Deleting the duplicate has no effect on your primary profile.
What about a restricted account?
If LinkedIn has restricted your account, the self-serve close option is typically unavailable until the restriction is resolved. Work through LinkedIn's support process to either lift the restriction or request closure directly.
My account is tied to a company license
Enterprise accounts (Recruiter, Sales Navigator seats, corporate Learning) must be released by the administrator before you can close the personal account underneath. That admin might be at a former employer, which is annoying but unavoidable: email their HR or IT team and ask to be removed from the license.
Is deleting your LinkedIn account a good idea?
Sometimes. If the platform is a genuine source of stress, if you're leaving the corporate world, or if you want your data gone, deletion is the honest answer, and the steps above make it painless.
But be clear about which problem you're solving. If the issue is spammy DMs, you can restrict who messages you. If it's the feed, you can simply stop scrolling; recruiters will still find your profile. And if the real frustration is that LinkedIn eats hours without producing results, the fix may be changing how you use it rather than leaving. Plenty of founders run their entire pipeline through LinkedIn in a few focused minutes a day with tools like Linkdify handling the repetitive parts. Delete the time sink, not necessarily the asset.
FAQ
How long does LinkedIn keep my data after I close my account?
LinkedIn states that closing your account is the way to delete your account data, and de-personalizes or removes your information as part of the closure process. If you want a record of anything, export your archive before you close.
Can I reopen my account after deleting it?
Yes, but only within a short window after closing (LinkedIn's documentation describes roughly two weeks), and endorsements, recommendations, and group memberships will not be restored. After the window passes, the account is gone for good and you'd start from zero.
Does deleting LinkedIn remove me from Google?
Eventually. Your profile page stops existing immediately, but a cached copy can linger in search results until Google recrawls and drops it.
Can I delete the account from the mobile app?
Yes. Profile picture โ Settings โ Account preferences โ Account management โ Close account. If the app errors out, finish the process in a desktop browser.