Staying in control of your digital footprint
Close an old account
What you will be able to do In 7 minutes, you'll know how to find a forgotten account, close it for good, and what still has to be kept anyway.
Over the years, we sign up for sites we end up forgetting completely. The account, though, still exists: an old password, an email address, sometimes more. If that site is ever hacked, this forgotten information can resurface without you knowing. Closing an old account isn't just stopping to use it: it's asking for it to really be deleted, which isn't quite the same move. The law gives you a specific right for this, the right to erasure of your personal data. We're going to practice together on an account and a site entirely made up for this exercise. Nothing here is real, no data really exists.
Simulated screen
I practice
This screen was drawn by us. Nothing is sent, nothing is installed, and no real brand is shown.
The situationWhile sorting through your emails, you find the sign-up confirmation for a site you haven't used in years.
The interactive exercise needs JavaScript. The written step by step, just below, says exactly the same thing.
The written step by step
The same steps, in words, to read or print. This sheet works even without the exercise.
Find your way back in
Your turn You no longer remember the password for this account. Tap what you do first.
"Forgot password" resets lost access within moments, usually through the email address linked to the account.
Find the account settings
Your turn You're signed back in. Tap whatever should lead to the account settings.
"Account settings" gathers the settings related to your identity and your data, including closing the account.
Find the right section
Your turn Several sections appear. Tap the one that keeps what you're looking for.
"Privacy and data" is the section that, almost always, leads to closing an account.
Choose the right option
Your turn You want this account to disappear for good. Tap the option that really does that.
Permanent deletion is the option that really removes the account and its content, after a delay shown on screen.
Confirm for good
Your turn One last window asks you to confirm. Tap whatever really validates the deletion.
The button confirming the permanent deletion starts the legal delay, after which the account and its content disappear for good.
The sheet to keep
- A forgotten account you don't close stays an open door: if the site is ever hacked, your information is still there.
- To close an account, you first need to be able to sign back into it: "forgot password" is the normal path when you no longer remember.
- Closing is almost always found in the account settings, under "privacy and data".
- Putting an account "on pause" isn't the same as deleting it: paused, everything remains, ready to come back.
- The right to erasure of your personal data exists in law: an organization must respond within one month, exceptionally three.
- Even after a deletion, some documents may be kept longer, because the law requires it, an invoice for example.
The reflexes in this skill
I stop before I click
Urgency is the sign of a trap. A message that counts down the hours is trying to stop you from thinking. Putting your phone down for two minutes costs nothing, and it is almost always enough.
One account, one door: every door has its own key
A password reused everywhere turns one leak into a break in everywhere. A long passphrase for each important account, written down somewhere safe, holds up better than a complicated password used again and again.
I make a copy of what matters
Photos, documents, contacts: anything that exists in only one place can disappear along with the device. A copy somewhere else turns a breakdown into a minor inconvenience.
Two questions to check
Nothing is graded, and nothing is saved anywhere except in your own browser.
You want to close an account, but you've forgotten the password long ago. What do you do first?
See the answer
I use "forgot password" to reset access, then continue
A second account would leave the first one wide open. To close an account, you first need to be able to sign back into it, and "forgot password" is exactly for that.
What's the difference between "pausing an account" and "permanently deleting it"?
See the answer
"Paused", the account and its data remain, ready to come back; "delete" removes everything for good, after a delay
Pausing erases nothing: the account simply waits for you to come back. For it to disappear for good, you need to choose permanent deletion.
I've done it
Check this box once you can do this skill on your own.
Your progress stays in your own browser.