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Quitting FB? Learn How to Download Your Facebook Data

Quitting Facebook? Here is how to download your Facebook data before you close your Facebook account.

The last few days, we have covered 2 social media apps that are growing by leaps and bounds after the Election. If you are joining in on the quitting Facebook bandwagon – you will want to read this post.

If you are looking for a Facebook alternative, MeWe social network proclaims itself as the anti-Facebook. With no ads or spyware, it definitely does differ from Mark Zuckerberg’s social media giant, FB.

Before You Quit Facebook

Make sure to read our review to learn what you need to know about this new (to many of us) social network before you jump ship.

before you quit facebook learn how to download facebook data
learn how to download facebook data before quitting facebook

If you are ready to quit Facebook, before you go – perhaps you are thinking about the last 15 years that you have spent online on the platform. I know personally, while I am not leaving Facebook – I do know if the day ever came – I have a multitude of photos and videos on the platform that I would want before saying BYE.

How to Download Your Facebook Data

We are going to show you how to download your Facebook data. From backing up your Facebook profile data or if you are outta here and quitting Facebook – here is what you need to know to download a copy of everything from your Facebook photos you uploaded to videos and more.

Maybe you aren’t quite ready to quit, regardless – it would not be a bad idea to backup your Facebook data. Download your Facebook data like photos and videos and backup to a cloud drive or put into your digital photo library.

Request Your Facebook Data

Here is a quick tutorial (and watch our How to Download Your Facebook Data video) to follow before you officially say goodbye to Zuck and your FB friends.

how to download your facebook data tutorial
Yield: 1

How to Download Your Facebook Data Before Quitting Facebook

Active Time: 2 minutes
Total Time: 2 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Estimated Cost: Free

Quitting Facebook? This easy Facebook quitter tutorial will walk you thru how to download your Facebook data before you close your account.

If you have been a Facebook user for years, and shared many life events - losing this data might be part of the reason that you aren't ready to say goodbye quite yet.

Good news! Facebook allows you to download your Facebook data - including photos and videos. This easy tutorial will show you what to do and how to download your Facebook data before closing your Facebook account.

Materials

  • Facebook Account

Tools

  • Your computer or smart phone

Instructions

Downloading Facebook Data

Let's download your Facebook data before closing your account.

Are you planning on downloading on mobile or on a computer? We will show you how to request your Facebook data both ways. Due to the size of the Facebook data files - you will not be able to immediately access this information. You must request your data and then after it is all compiled, you can download.

Something to note - while you can request your data easily on both computer or mobile - when your data is compiled, we recommend using your computer.

The files that you are requesting most likely contain videos and photos.

These are large files. You most likely will want to download and backup Facebook data to a personal computer (and then to a cloud drive.)

While you can save this data to your phone, unless you have a large amount of mobile storage, we suggest using a computer when doing the final download.

Let's get started on download everything you have ever posted on Facebook. Keep reading, we will talk specifics in regards to what specific data you can download. Here is how you request your data.

  1. First. login to your Facebook account.
  2. Next, you will want to access your settings.

Downloading Your Facebook Account Data on Mobile


request facebook data mobile

Here is the quickest way I have found to access your Facebook account settings on your mobile device:

  1. Login to your Facebook app
  2. Click on the hamburger menu in the bottom right hand side of the app
  3. Next scroll down about 75% to the bottom of the page
  4. You will see a Settings & Privacy Menu
  5. From the Settings & Privacy Menu - click on Settings
  6. Next, let's scroll down about half way on the Facebook account settings page to Your Facebook Information
  7. Under Your Facebook Information, click on Download Your Information
  8. From the Download Your Information you can request a copy of your Facebook data
  9. Select what data you want from the Download Your Information tab by checking a box next to the information
  10. Select the data range in which you want your information from
  11. Select the format you want your Facebook data sent to you in
  12. Select the media quality (we suggest high) of your preference
  13. Last, click on the Create File button

Facebook will compile your stored data into the format you requested. Your Facebook data, especially if requesting a large amount of information - is not available immediately for download - so don't quit Facebook just yet! This will take time to process.

You will be able to download your Facebook data copy after its processed from the same page in the Facebook app (Download Your Information page) - under the Available Copies tab.

Request Your Facebook Data from a Computer (or Web)

Download Facebook Data on Facebook.com

On a computer or on the web (on mobile or a tablet) - here is how you can request your Facebook data.

  1. Login to Facebook.com
  2. Next, let's access your Account Settings. To do this on the web, at the top menu to the far right - click the down arrow (the last option in the header menu)
  3. A drop down menu will drop - select Settings & Privacy
  4. Next, select Settings
  5. You will be taken to a General Account Settings page
  6. From here, on the left navigation menu - select Your Facebook Information
  7. Next, on the Your Facebook Information - you will see a Download Your Information option - click View
  8. From the Download Your Information page, you can request a copy of the Facebook data you are wanting to download
  9. Scroll down and check the data that you are wanting to obtain from Facebook
  10. Select the data range in which you want your information from
  11. Select the format you want your Facebook data sent to you in
  12. Select the media quality (we suggest high) of your preference
  13. Last, click on the Create File button

Remember, your Facebook data is not immediately available. Facebook is processing your information request. You will be able to download your Facebook data from this page under the Available Copies tab on the Download Your Information page.

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Did You See Parler App is NO MORE? Learn what happened to Parler app – riots, bans, suspension, data breech, lawsuit and more. YIKES.

What Facebook Data Can You Download

From our downloading your Facebook tutorial, you were able to see that you can download your Facebook data points from your FB account.

download your facebook information, data, photos, videos and more.
Facebook keeps an incredible amount of data. From everything you do, to post, to comment on – learn what data you can download that Facebook is keeping on your account.

Downloadable Facebook Information

Here is more information as to what exactly you can download from Facebook for your records.

Posts – Posts you’ve shared on Facebook, posts that are hidden from your timeline and polls you have created

Photos and Videos – Photos and videos you’ve uploaded and shared

Comments – Comments you’ve posted on your own posts, on other people’s posts or in groups you belong to

Likes and Reactions – Posts, comments and Pages you’ve liked or reacted to

Friends – The people you are connected to on Facebook

Stories – Photos and videos you’ve shared to your story

Following and Followers – People, organizations or business you choose to see content from, and people who follow you

Messages – Messages you’ve exchanged with other people on Messenger

Groups – Groups you belong to, groups you manage and your posts and comments within the groups you belong to

Events – Your responses to events and a list of the events you’ve created

Profile Information – Your contact information, information in your profile’s About section, your life events, hobbies and music

Pages – Pages you are the admin of, and pages you’ve recommended

Marketplace – Your activity on Marketplace

Payment History – A history of payments you’ve made through Facebook

Saved Items and Collections – A list of the posts you’ve saved, and your activity within collections

Your Places – A list of places you’ve created

Apps and Websites – Apps and websites you log into using Facebook and apps you admin

Other Activity – Activity associated with your account, such as Pokes given and received

Facebook Gaming – Your profile for Facebook Gaming

Interactions – Actions you’ve taken on Facebook

Trash – Items you have moved to trash

Archive – Items you have moved to archive

Short Videos – Your activity with short videos on Facebook

Accounts Center – Accounts you added to Accounts Center

News – Your profile information for Facebook News

Campus – Your campus activity and data

Rewards – Your activity on Rewards

FB Information Associated to You

Here is the information associated with your Facebook account, such as logins to Facebook and what accounts you use.

your facebook data
Before you download your Facebook data, learn what data you can access. This information is great for backing up your Facebook account or if you become a Facebook quitter, keep your photos, videos and more.

Ads and Businesses

Ad topics that are relevant to you, advertisers who have collected information directly from you, information you’ve submitted to advertisers and your interactions with businesses and organizations you visit off of Facebook.

Search History

A history of your searches on Facebook.

Location

Information related to your location.

About You

Information associated with your Facebook account.

Security and Login Information

A history of your logins, logouts, periods of time that you’ve been active on Facebook and the devices you use to access Facebook.

Your Topics

A collection of topics determined by your activity on Facebook that is used to create recommendations for you in different areas of Facebook such as News Feed, News and Watch.

Voice Recording and Transcription

A history of your voice recording and transcription on Facebook.

Before You Quit Facebook

Are you ready to quit Facebook? Did you download all of your Facebook data? Having second thoughts?

before quitting facebook tutorial
before quitting facebook tutorial

Deactivate Your Facebook Account

If you don’t want a Facebook account right now – but there is a chance that you will return to Facebook – here is what we suggest. Deactivate your Facebook account.

Put a Temporary Hold on Your Account

By deactivating your Facebook account, you are basically putting a temporary hold on your account. Here is what happens when your Facebook account is deactivated:

  • No one else can see your profile.
  • Some information, like messages you sent to friends, may still be visible.
  • Your friends may still see your name in their friends list. This is only visible to your friends, and only from their friends list.
  • Group admins may still be able to see your posts and comments, along with your name.
  • You will not be able to use your Facebook account to access Oculus products or your Oculus information.
pause account deactivate facebook

Before You Deactivate – Do This!

Before you deactivate your account, you will want to make sure that your phone number and email address are accurate. Should you want to reactivate your account in the future, you will need these to access Facebook. So make sure your Facebook contact information is correct!

Here is how to hit pause on your account.

Don’t Forget to Deactivate Messenger

Facebook sees Facebook Messenger as a separate account. You will need to deactivate Facebook Messenger if you don’t want people to be able to message you on Facebook.

Yes, that is correct – you can have a deactivated Facebook account and people can still message you – unless your Facebook Messenger account is deactivated as well. ‘

facebook messenger account
Did you know that your Facebook messenger account is separate from your Facebook account!

Keep in mind that if you choose to keep Messenger active or are logged into Messenger when you deactivate your Facebook account, then Messenger will remain active. Learn how to deactivate Messenger.

When your Facebook account is deactivated, but you still have Facebook Messenger:

  • You can still chat with friends on Facebook Messenger.
  • Your Facebook profile picture will still be visible in your conversations on Messenger.
  • Other people can search for you to send you a message.

Reactivating Your Facebook Account after Deactivating

Let’s say you tried the MeWe social network and the Parler app and they just aren’t the same as Facebook. (Parler app is similar to Twitter, MeWe is similar to Facebook.)

No problem, you can reactivate your Facebook account if you did a Facebook Deactivation (not applicable if you totally close your account.)

deleting facebok meme
quitting facebook meme

Don’t miss all of our funny quitting facebook memes!

To reinstate or reactivate your Facebook account after you deactivated (not closed permanently) – you can reactivate your account at any time by logging back into Facebook or by using your Facebook account to log in somewhere else.

Account Reactivation

To complete your account reactivation, you will need to have access to the email or mobile phone number you use to log into complete the reactivation.

If it’s been less than 30 days since you initiated the deletion, you can cancel your account deletion. After 30 days, your account and all your information will be permanently deleted, and you won’t be able to retrieve your information.

Your FB Data

This ended up being a lot more than I originally thought, but there is a lot of good information here in regards to keeping your Facebook data including photos and videos – before you quit, or as a backup.

download facebook data and info

Personally, I have had account for 12 years or so on Facebook. In that time, I’ve had 2 more kids than I originally had when joining. I’ve also, lost a few dogs, gained a few dogs, moved a few houses and a lot more.

Facebook for me serves as a journal in some sense so if I was to ever leave – I know that I would want to make sure that I had ALL the photos and videos posted over the years that I know I don’t have centralized in a single location (yes, I should get on that.)

Answering Your Questions about Your Facebook Information

Hopefully this tutorial on how to download your Facebook data was useful and insightful to helping you get a copy of the things you’ve posted and information Facebook keeps from over the years.

Here are some common questions about your FB information.

How do I transfer photos from Facebook to MeWe or another social platform?

Here is where Facebook is not going to make it easy for you. While yes, you can easily download your Facebook information, to transform your photos you will need to re-upload them to MeWe or the social network of your choice.

How do I transfer Facebook to MeWe?

Transferring over from Facebook to MeWe involves setting up a new MeWe account. Facebook does not offer an easy solution for transferring since it is not in their best interest.

Why is it taking so long to download your Facebook data?

Compiling all of your Facebook data is not an instant process. You have to first request your Facebook information. Then the waiting game begins. There is unfortunately no way to speed up the process when you download your Facebook data.

How do I quit Facebook?

Read our tutorial above about deactivating your Facebook account. This will give you the details and information you need in regards to how to quit Facebook.

How do I quit a Facebook group?

Here is how to quit a Facebook group.

how to quit facebook group

On desktop – Go to the Facebook group you want to leave. Under the invite button on the right hand side, click the 3 … menu to see the above menu. Click LEAVE GROUP to leave the Facebook group.

On mobile – Go to the Facebook group you want to quit. On the top of your screen to the right, you will see the … menu – click it. Select LEAVE GROUP to quit the FB group.

How do I backup my Facebook account?

The best way to backup your Facebook account is to use the above direction for downloading all of your FB data. Unfortunately, backing up your FB account is not as easy as backing up your hard drive.

Ingrid

Friday 8th of October 2021

As far as I can see, Facebook took this feature away already. I can't find the "Your Information" section in the settings menu. Would love to know if this is still possible, but I can't find it anywhere.

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