How to deactivate your WhatsApp account

It is almost impossible now to think of having a smartphone without WhatsApp installed in it. Though the popularity of the Facebook-owned app is undeniable it has been facing quite the flak over security breaches.

Just when the issue of Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos' phone being hacked through WhatsApp was dying out, in came another controversy.

Also Read: Your private WhatsApp group chats are on Google search and Facebook knows about it

Private chat groups on WhatsApp can be accessed easily by just a Google search, reported Vice. This means contacts and content are not protected anymore and raises questions on the much-touted WhatsApp's end-to-end encryption.

While WhatsApp claims to have fixed this, the urls are no longer visible on Google, but they still show up on other browsers like DuckDuckGo and Bing.

Also Read: WhatsApp finds a 'partial' solution for its group chat security issue

If you want to let go of WhatsApp over the security concerns, you can just go ahead and delete it.

Delete your WhatsApp account on Android and iOS

• Tap on more options (three vertical dots) on your WhatsApp

• Go to Settings

• Scroll to Account

Tap on Delete my account

• Enter your phone number and press Delete My Account

• You will be asked to select the reason for deleting your WhatsApp account in the dropdown

• Tap Delete My Account

Once you click on Delete My Account, your WhatsApp account will no longer be active. It will erase all your message history; delete you from all the WhatsApp groups and delete your Google Drive backup.

Also, once you delete your WhatsApp account, you can't get back the access immediately. It might take up to 90 days to delete data stored in backup system and you won't be able to access the information on WhatsApp during this time.

Also Read: Fed up of WhatsApp's security issues? Here are 5 alternate messaging apps you can use

The messages that you have sent to your contacts will not get deleted when you delete your account. Also, the information that you have shared with other Facebook-owned companies, including Instagram, will be deleted.

It is advisable to delete your WhatsApp account while changing your number or when you are switching from one telecom service provider to another. This will restrict the other user, who gets your number, from misusing your number.