How to Delete Reddit Account

On a good day, Reddit is a great popular social news site, full of information. On a bad day, they follow the multitudes of social media sites, who have privacy issues.

One of the most significant, being the controversy a couple of years ago, and the US general election. The Reddit CEO saw there were numerous comments where it was his name the posts were about.

All of these were in response to Reddit shutting down a conspiracy theory post on Reddit regarding Hillary Clinton.

Steps on Deleting and Deactivating Reddit Accounts

Users of Reddit at the time were unaware it was possible for Reddit to edit any post or part of the site. They inserted code to remove Huffman’s name and replace it with the username of the critic. All the insults then pointed to the critic instead of Huffman.

The above is one example, and since then, they have been involved with removing a ‘warrant canary,’ a celebrity nude photo hack, and the re-enabling of tracking users to share data with third parties (tracking is enabled by default).

Because of this, and much more, many thousands want to delete Reddit account, rather than carry on being tracked and possibly exploited.

Here, we will show how to delete a Reddit account, and any other information you may need to know to remain private.

Deleting and Deactivating Reddit Accounts

Deleting your Reddit account will permanently delete everything related to that account. It will wipe all your favourite links as well.

If you don’t individually delete your comments before deactivating your account, then these are still visible after account deletion. The only difference being, the author of the comments, will now show as deleted rather than your name.

You do need to understand that deactivated accounts are not recoverable. You will need to check a box during the process to confirm you understand this. Additionally, you can’t sign up for a new Reddit account using the same log in details you have used previously.

One final thing to note is there is no automatic feature in Reddit, which allows you to download your data before you delete your Reddit account.

To download any data before you delete a Reddit account, you have to contact the company directly and ask for this.

Deleting Reddit Tips

When you are pondering over giving Reddit the elbow, there are a couple of things to know before you proceed.

Reddit allows you to close your account. However, the process doesn’t automatically remove shared posts and comments.

If you need to delete something you have posted previously, you do need to go through these, one-by-one, and delete them before you move on to close your Reddit account.

If you are one of the users who have multiple Reddit accounts, and you only want to deactivate one of them. You do need to double-check you are in the right one before proceeding with the deactivation process.

If you make a mistake and log into one of your accounts you don’t want to close, as soon as you hit the button to deactivate, there is no going back, and you will lose access to everything.

Delete Reddit Account on Desktops

Steps to Delete Reddit Account on Desktops

If you are a Reddit user who wants to delete your account, you can follow these easy to follow steps.

  1. On a desktop web browser, navigate to the reddit.com website and log into the account you want to delete.
  2. You’ll see your main front page with the latest trending posts. In the top-right corner of your screen will be the username for that account.
  3. Click the small down arrow, which sits next to the username.
  4. Now, Select User Settings, and it will take you to the user settings page.
  5. Click the Account tab. Now, scroll to the bottom of the page until you see Deactivate Account. Click this to start deleting your account.
  6. There will be a pop-up box containing information about deactivating your account. It comprises notes on the alternatives to deleting Reddit accounts. It also has a warning about your posts remaining on the platform. You can also find an optional comment box to add feedback, followed by username and password fields.
  7. To proceed with shutting down your account, enter your Reddit username, followed by your password in the appropriate fields. Check the box next to; I understand that deactivated accounts are not recoverable and click the Deactivate account button.
  8. The last pop-up box asks if you want to deactivate the Reddit account. There is another warning saying the action can’t be reversed. You now have two options: Cancel the action or click deactivate account option.
  9. Click Deactivate account option to complete your account shutdown procedure.
  10. Once the deletion of your account is complete, you’re automatically re-routed to Reddits sign-in page.
  11. To make sure your Reddit deactivated accounts are closed, try to log in with your Reddit username and passcode. The site should show an error, informing you you’ve entered an incorrect Reddit username.
  12. If you can’t log in, your Reddit account is deactivated.

How to Delete Reddit Account on Mobile Devices

Many of the steps are quite similar to mobile devices. The main thing that catches many users out is the information in step one. Attempting to end Reddit any other way will fail.

  1. Before you try and remove Reddit via the app, you can only do this through a browser such as Google Chrome
  2. Head to https://www.reddit.com in your browser.
  3. Tap the Log in/Register button. It’s the text in blue in the right upper corner of the Reddit app.
  4. Enter username and your password and tap to Log In.
  5. Tap the three-line hamburger icon in the upper corner. This shows a drop-down menu.
  6. Tap on Settings. This will be the fourth item on the menu and sits next to a gear icon.
  7. Tap on the Deactivate tab. It is the last tab toward the top of the page.
  8. Tap the “username” and the “password” spaces and enter the details associated with your Reddit account. This confirms you are the owner who wants to remove your Reddit account.
  9. Tap the checkbox toward the bottom. You can see this next to “I understand deactivated accounts are not recoverable.” This confirms you understand deleting an account on Reddit is permanent, and cannot be recovered.
  10. Tap the deactivate account button. This confirms you wish to deactivate Reddit; delete account follows as soon as you hit the button.

how to change your Reddit username

Changing Reddit Usernames

There are occasions your many users create an account and then decide they don’t like their user name.

This leaves them wondering, ‘can you change your Reddit username?’

One thing Reddit doesn’t let you do is to change your username. Once you have created a new Reddit username, which is allocated to that particular account, and it can’t be changed.

There is a workaround for this, although you do lose your karma points you have amassed.

All you need to do is to follow the steps above and deactivate your account on Reddit, change username and other login details and start a new account.

Once you do this, you can create a new account on Reddit, but make sure to use a different password and username.

When it comes to the email address, there is no problem because you can have multiple Reddit accounts that are all tied to the same email account.

Saving Reddit Data

The principal thing you need to remember is that unlike Facebook and other social platforms, there is no way to save your data automatically. You will have to scroll down to the subreddit, which contains the post.

  1. If it is a subreddit you are subscribed to, then in the My Subreddits menu to the upper left.
  2. Scroll to the post you want to save and bring it into view.
  3. Under the post’s title, you can click on save.

One other thing to note with this is that if you close your Reddit account, you need to save this data in a way you can view it later. It does take an active account to see it.

Conclusion

If you have reached the stage where you have had enough of Reddit, you are not alone, and you can find there are many thousands like you.

While Reddit is an excellent source of information, this comes at the expense of retaining your privacy and the tracking of your personal information.

You can choose many alternatives, and these will deliver the same experience, without all the worry they are editing your posts, or watching everything you are doing.

How to Delete Reddit Account