The Reddit website on a smartphone in someone's pocket.
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If you're no longer interested in using Reddit, you can delete your account. However, you'll need to jump through some extra hoops if you want to delete your Reddit posts and comments, too. Here's how to do it.

What You Need to Know Before Deleting Your Account

Reddit gives you the option to "deactivate" your account. This deactivation is permanent. After you deactivate (delete) your account, your profile will be permanently removed from Reddit, and your username will vanish from Reddit as well.

However, any Reddit posts or comments you've created will remain on the website. They just won't have your Reddit username associated with them. As Reddit puts it, they become "unattributed," and no one knows who posted them. Messages you've sent will become unattributed, too.

Warning: Once you deactivate your Reddit account, there's no way to go back and delete any old posts and comments you might want to be removed from Reddit. You must delete them before you delete your account.

Should You Delete Posts and Comments?

Whether you need to delete posts and comments really depends on how you use Reddit.

For example, let's say that your username is Jane123 and you posted a comment with the contents "lol." When you deactivate your Reddit account, the comment "lol" will still appear on Reddit—but it won't have your username associated with it. People will just be able to see that it came from a deleted account—but not which deleted account it came from. That's probably no big deal.

But let's say that you posted a comment saying, "My name is Jane. I work at [a specific business] and live in [a specific town.]" When you deactivate your account, that comment will remain on Reddit. Even though it won't be linked to your Reddit username, it still has your personal information in it.

So, if you have posts and comments containing personal information, you may want to delete them before you deactivate your account. We'll show you how to delete them—and how to check.

How to Delete Posts and Comments

To view posts and comments you've created on Reddit, head to the Reddit website and sign in with the Reddit account you want to delete.

Click your name at the top-right corner of the Reddit website and select "Profile" to view your profile.

Click your name and select "Profile."

At the top of the page, click "Posts" to view your Reddit posts. Click "Comments" to view your comments.

Click "Posts" and click "Comments."

Go through the lists of posts and comments to see which posts and comments you might want to remove. To remove a post or comment, click the "…" button under that post or comment and select "Delete."

Click "..." and click "Delete."

When you're done, you can move on to deleting your account.

How to Delete Your Reddit Account

To delete your account, head to your Reddit account settings page.

You can find it by clicking your name at the top-right corner of the Reddit website and selecting "User Settings."

Click your name and select "User Settings."

At the bottom of the page, click the red "Deactivate Account" link.

Click the "Deactivate Account" link.

Reddit will ask you for optional feedback about why you're deleting your account. You must provide your username and password, click "I understand that deactivated accounts are not recoverable," and click "Deactivate" to continue.

Warning: This will permanently delete your Reddit account. You won't be able to get it back, and you will never be able to use that username for a new Reddit account in the future. You also won't be able to delete any posts or comments that you haven't already deleted.

Enter your account details, confirm your choice, and click "Deactivate."

Reddit will ask you for confirmation one final time. Click "Deactivate" if you're sure that you want to go through with it.

Click "Deactivate" to confirm your account deletion request.

You're now done—your Reddit account is gone.

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