How to Delete a LinkedIn Account: Close It for Good, or Choose a Better Option
By Muhammad Amir, Searcora Digital Ltd · Updated 7 November 2026
Deleting a LinkedIn account takes a couple of minutes, but a few things should happen first — a paid plan has to be cancelled, your data is worth downloading, and pages or groups you own need a new owner. This guide gives the exact steps on desktop and mobile, explains what happens after you close the account, and covers the alternatives: hibernating it, cleaning it up, or starting fresh.
What to do before you delete your LinkedIn account
- Cancel any paid plan first. Premium or Sales Navigator has to be cancelled before the account can be closed; the closing flow does not do it for you. See how to cancel LinkedIn Premium and how to cancel Sales Navigator.
- Download your data. In settings, open Data privacy and choose Get a copy of your data to keep your connections, messages and profile.
- Hand over pages and groups. Make someone else an admin of any company page or group you own.
- Save contacts you want to keep by email or phone, because messages disappear with the account.
How to delete a LinkedIn account on a computer
- 1. Click Me at the top of LinkedIn and choose Settings & Privacy.
- 2. Open Account preferences, then Account management.
- 3. Choose Close account.
- 4. Pick a reason, enter your password and confirm.
How to delete a LinkedIn account on iPhone or Android
In the LinkedIn app, tap your profile photo, then Settings. Open Account preferences, scroll to Close account, choose a reason and confirm with your password. If you pay for Premium through the App Store or Google Play, cancel that subscription in your phone’s store settings first, because LinkedIn cannot cancel store billing for you.
What happens after you delete your LinkedIn account
- Your profile disappears from LinkedIn; search engines can take a while to drop old copies.
- You can usually reopen it within 14 days by signing in and following the prompt.
- Some things do not come back even if you reopen: endorsements, recommendations, group memberships and pending invitations.
- After the reopen window, the account and its connections are gone for good.
Hibernate or suspend your LinkedIn account instead
If you only want a break, LinkedIn’s hibernate option in Account management hides your profile without closing the account, and you can reactivate it after 24 hours by signing in. This is what most people mean when they search how to suspend a LinkedIn account. Hibernating can end a Premium subscription, so check the notice LinkedIn shows before confirming.
Hibernate vs close: which one do you need?
| Hibernate | Close (delete) | |
|---|---|---|
| Your profile | Hidden from members | Removed from LinkedIn |
| Coming back | Sign in again after 24 hours | Reopen within about 14 days |
| Connections | Kept | Kept only if reopened in time |
| Paid plan | Can end when you hibernate | Must be cancelled first |
| Messages you sent | Still visible to recipients | May stay visible to recipients |
Deleting an account you cannot sign in to, a restricted account or a duplicate
- Cannot sign in? You need access first — see LinkedIn account recovery; then close it normally.
- Restricted account? The restriction has to be resolved before you can manage the account — see LinkedIn account restricted.
- Two accounts? Merge the duplicate into the one you keep rather than deleting connections — see how to merge LinkedIn accounts.
- Old account from years ago? See old LinkedIn account.
Alternatives to deleting your LinkedIn account
- Tighten privacy — limit who sees your connections, profile photo and activity.
- Turn off email and push notifications if the noise is the problem.
- Start fresh — rewrite the profile rather than deleting years of connections; our profile writing service does this.
- Cancel the plan, keep the account — if cost is the issue, a free account keeps your network.