The Amazon-owned Twitch is an excellent platform for livestreaming games, music, cooking, and more, whether you want to watch others or stream yourself.
However, there might come a time when you wish to disable or delete your Twitch account. Perhaps you need a temporary break from the platform or you're moving to another streaming service.
Whatever the reason, we're going to show you how to disable or delete your Twitch profile.
Are You a Twitch Partner or Affiliate?
Before you proceed, are you a Twitch partner, affiliate, and/or developer? If so, the disable and deletion processes outlined below will not initially work for you. That's because you need to offboard from these programs first. To do this, you must contact Twitch Customer Services.
It's an unfortunate extra step. However, once you are offboarded, you should be able to follow the instructions below like everyone else.
How to Disable Your Twitch Account
If you plan to return to your Twitch account at a later date, and just want a break for now, you can disable it. This doesn't delete your account or any data associated with it. When you're ready to return, you can reactivate your account.
However, you can only reactivate your account within 90 days of deactivating it. If you leave your account deactivated longer than this, your account might get deleted. If you want to disable your account for longer than that, you should reactivate your account within 90 days and then disable it again.
Before deactivating, manually remove anything that you don't want Twitch to retain—your linked social media accounts, personal information, payment details, and so on. Your Twitch subscriptions should be canceled automatically, but you may want to do this yourself for peace of mind.
Disabling your account means that you can't chat, follow people, send bits, or do the usual things you would when logged in to your Twitch account. It also hides your profile from public view.
To disable your Twitch account, follow this process on the Twitch website (not the app):
- In the top-right, click your profile picture.
- Click Settings.
- On the Profile tab, scroll down to Disable Your Twitch Account.
- Click Disable Account.
- If you wish, explain why you're disabling your Twitch account. This is optional.
- Click Disable Account.
- A message displays to confirm that Your account has been disabled.
How to Reactivate Your Twitch Account
When it comes time to reactivate your account (which you must do within 90 days), simply sign in via the web or mobile app. A message appears to welcome you back and asks if you want to reactivate your account.
To proceed, select Reactivate > Continue. If you've changed your mind, select the cross icon.
How to Delete Your Twitch Account Permanently
If you want the nuclear option, you can delete your Twitch account permanently.
This is irreversible and deletes everything associated with your account. Twitch only retains some data (like your videos and personal information) if required by law.
Once your deletion request is processed, anyone can sign up with your old username (after a minimum of at least six months), so consider this carefully if you have a brand name to protect.
If you're certain you wish to delete your Twitch account, go to the Twitch delete account page. Unfortunately, there's no easy way to access this page within Twitch, so use that direct link.
Once there, you can optionally explain why you're deleting your account. When you're ready, click Delete Account.
Within 90 days of submitting your request, Twitch will delete your account. If you sign back into your account while Twitch is processing your request, your deletion request gets removed and your account remains active.
Even with your Twitch account deleted, you can still browse and watch the top Twitch streams to your heart's content. Just be wary that some will be "subscriber only" streams, which you need an account for.
Consider an Alternative Livestreaming Service
Now that you've put Twitch on hold, or disconnected from it permanently, you might want to consider an alternative livestreaming service. While Twitch is the top dog, it isn't the only way to watch people do things live. Consider checking out Facebook Live, for example.