How to Delete a Pinterest Account
The confirmation email is the real step, and the two weeks afterwards are easier to interrupt than most people expect.
To delete a Pinterest account, use the web: open Settings, go to Account management, and choose Delete account. Pinterest sends a confirmation email, and the deletion does not begin until you click the link in it.
After that, a fourteen-day window runs before anything is permanently removed. Signing in during those two weeks cancels the deletion and restores the account intact.
Your pins stop being visible to others almost immediately, but they are not destroyed until the window closes.
If what you want is a pause rather than an ending, deactivation does the same hiding and is reversible with no deadline at all.
The fourteen-day window is the detail worth knowing, because it works in both directions and people are caught by each.
In one direction it is a safety net. Deleting an account in frustration is recoverable for two weeks by doing nothing more than signing in, which is a far gentler arrangement than most platforms offer.
In the other direction it is a trap. Anything that signs you in during those two weeks cancels the deletion, and plenty of things sign you in without your noticing: a browser restoring a session, a phone app that was never signed out, a scheduling tool with an active connection, a browser extension that saves pins.
So people confirm the deletion, wait a fortnight, and find the account still there — not because Pinterest ignored them, but because something kept the session alive.
The reliable way through it is to sign out everywhere first. Remove the app from every device, sign out of every browser, and revoke any third-party tool connected to the account. Then confirm the deletion and leave it entirely alone.
And if the account is connected to a business account or a linked site, disconnect those first too. A linked analytics connection is one of the quieter things that can keep an account active.
The path, step by step
Sign in at pinterest.com. Open Settings from the menu under your profile picture.
Find Account management. The deletion control is at the bottom of that page, below the options for changing your email, password and account type.
Pinterest asks why you are leaving and offers alternatives, which can be skipped. Confirm, and the email goes out.
The email is the step that counts. Until you click the link in it, nothing has started, and this is the most common point at which the process quietly stalls — the message lands in a promotions folder and is never opened.
Deactivating instead
The same Account management page offers deactivation, and for most people arriving here it is the better option.
A deactivated account disappears from view: your profile, your pins and your boards stop being visible to anyone else, and you stop receiving email.
It is reversible at any time by signing back in, with no deadline and no loss. Everything returns as it was.
The reason to prefer it is that Pinterest accounts accumulate value in a way that is not obvious while you are using one. Pins published years ago keep being found, and the account's history is what makes them findable.
What happens to your pins and boards
On deletion, your pins and boards are removed. Pins other people saved from you remain on their boards, because a save is a copy, but the link back to your profile breaks.
Secret boards go with everything else.
Pins that pointed at your website stop sending traffic. For an account used commercially this is the real cost, and it is usually larger than people expect, because Pinterest traffic tends to come from old pins rather than recent ones.
Comments you left on other people's pins are removed along with the account.
Downloading your data first
Pinterest offers a data export in the privacy section of settings, and it is worth requesting before anything else.
The archive includes your boards, your pins, your profile information and your activity. Preparing it takes time and Pinterest emails a link when it is ready, so start it days before you intend to delete rather than minutes before.
The export is also the only way to recover the image files for anything you uploaded directly and no longer have elsewhere, which for a long-running account is often more than you remember.
Once the account is gone the export is not available, and the files are not recoverable.
Business accounts, linked sites and connected tools
A business account can be converted back to a personal one, and a personal account can be deleted without touching a linked business account if they were set up separately.
Claimed websites should be unclaimed first. A claim left in place on a deleted account can make reclaiming the same domain on a new account awkward.
Scheduling tools, analytics connections and anything using Pinterest's API should be disconnected, both because they can keep the session alive through the deletion window and because they continue attempting to post into nothing afterwards.
If advertising ran on the account, check for an outstanding balance. Billing is handled separately from the account itself.
Starting again afterwards
A new account begins with nothing, and on Pinterest that is a longer road than on a timeline platform.
The reason is that distribution here runs on accumulated signal. A pin is surfaced because it has been saved, and an account is surfaced because its pins have been. A new account has neither, and nothing in the system pushes new accounts at anybody — there are no follower suggestions doing that work.
The same email address can be reused once the deletion has completed, though not during the two-week window.
Which is the practical argument for deactivating rather than deleting whenever the reason is temporary. The account costs nothing to leave dormant, and it cannot be recreated.
Questions people ask about leaving Pinterest
How long does it take to delete a Pinterest account?
Fourteen days after you confirm by email. During that window, signing in cancels the deletion and restores everything.
Why is my account still there after two weeks?
Something signed you in and canceled the deletion — a browser session, an app left installed, or a connected scheduling tool. Sign out everywhere and revoke connected apps before confirming.
What is the difference between deactivating and deleting?
Deactivating hides your profile and pins and is reversible at any time with no deadline. Deleting removes everything permanently after the two-week window.
Do pins other people saved from me disappear?
No. A save is a copy on their board and it stays, though the link back to your profile stops working.
Can I get my data out first?
Yes, through the data export in the privacy settings. It takes time to prepare and arrives by email, so request it days in advance.
Can I use the same email on a new account?
Yes, once the deletion has fully completed. During the fourteen-day window the address is still attached to the old account.
Keep reading
- followers on a new Pinterest account — A fresh account has no accumulated signal and nothing in the system pushes it at anybody, which is what followers on a new Pinterest account is aimed at.
- where Pinterest traffic actually comes from — The cost of deleting is mostly the old pins, and where Pinterest traffic actually comes from explains why they matter more than recent ones.
- removing individual pins instead — If the problem is a handful of old posts rather than the account, removing individual pins instead is the smaller operation.