How to delete a Reddit account

Deleting a Reddit account is quick and irreversible, and it does less than most people assume. The username goes. The posts and comments stay, attributed to [deleted]. Read the second half of this page before the first.

The steps

1. Open your account settings from the web, since the option is not always exposed in the mobile apps.
2. Find the delete account option at the bottom of the account page.
3. Confirm with your username and password. Reddit asks for both because the action cannot be undone.
4. Expect the sign out to be immediate, and the username to become unavailable to you permanently.

There is no grace period and no recovery window. An account deleted by mistake is gone, and support will not restore it.

What actually disappears

• The username stops resolving. The profile returns an error.
• Your karma, trophies and profile details go with it.
• Your saved, hidden and subscribed lists go too, since they were tied to the account.
• Your private messages stop being readable from your side.

What stays online

• Every post and comment you wrote, with its full text, now signed [deleted].
• The threads you started, including their titles and all their replies.
• Copies in public archives, captured while the content was visible.
• Quotes of your words inside other people's replies.

This surprises people who delete the account precisely to remove something specific. Removing the account removes the attribution, not the content. If a particular comment is the problem, delete that comment.

Do it in this order: delete the content first, then the account. Once the account is gone you can no longer sign in, and therefore no longer delete anything.

Before you click

1. Search your own username and see what a stranger finds. It is often not what you expect.
2. Delete the specific posts and comments you want gone, oldest first.
3. Consider hiding your history instead, which is reversible and keeps the account.
4. Then, if you still want to, delete the account.

The alternative most people should take

If the goal is distance rather than erasure, hiding your history from your profile achieves most of it without destroying the account. It is reversible, it keeps your access, and it stops your profile from presenting years of activity to anyone who opens it.

The full picture is in how to delete your Reddit history and how to make your Reddit account private.