Whether your circle of friends have migrated over to a new messaging service or you're simply done with using it, there may come a time when you'll want to delete your WhatsApp account. When that time arrives, you'll want to make sure you've backed up your account and saved any important or memorable chats before you do. Because otherwise once you tap delete, it's gone for good.

Once you've got everything backed up and exported that you want to keep, it's time to delete your WhatsApp account.

Note: If you're planning to migrate your WhatsApp account to a new iPhone, do not delete your account on the old phone first. Doing so will delete all back up data from your iCloud, which will prevent you from restoring your account on your new phone.

1. Enter your phone number — it must be the same one you used to set up your WhatsApp account.
2. Tap on Delete My Account.

1. Tap on Next on the optional feedback screen. This will load the final confirmation screen. Heed the warnings here: "It is impossible to reverse this action. If you reactivate your WhatsApp account in the future, your data will not be recovered".
2. Tap on Delete My Account to complete the process.