How to leave Facebook without losing your photos (the 2026 export guide)

Most people who want to leave Facebook don't, and the reason is almost never the feed. It's the photos. A decade or more of birthdays, trips and old friends is in there, and the fear of losing it is enough to keep an account open that you haven't enjoyed in years.

The good news is that getting your photos out is a solved problem. The bad news is that most people do it wrong: they request the export, never open it, and delete the account anyway. Here's the full version.

Step 1: request the export, and change two settings first

Facebook's own tool is called Download your information. On the website it's under Settings, then Your information (the exact menu wording moves around, but searching Settings for "download" finds it). In the app it's under Settings & privacy.

Before you hit the request button, change these:

• Date range: all time. The default is often a recent window.
• Media quality: High. The default is lower to keep the file small. You want the biggest version Facebook has.
• Format: HTML if you want to browse it like a website, JSON if you want a program to read it later. If you're not sure, pick HTML. You can request both.
• What to include: at minimum Posts, Photos and videos, Messages (if you want them), and Comments. Selecting everything is fine; it just takes longer.

Facebook will email you when the file is ready. For a big account that's hours, sometimes a day, and it may come as several zip files.

Step 2: actually open it

This is the step people skip. Unzip the file and look.

In the HTML version there's an index page that opens in your browser. Click through to Photos and check a few albums from different years. Look for:

• Albums you made (named ones like "Ireland 2019"). These usually come through cleanly.
• Timeline photos (the ones you posted directly). Also usually there.
• Photos you're tagged in but didn't upload. These are often not in your export, because they're someone else's photos. If there are tagged photos you care about, save them by hand now while the account is still open.
• Messages with photos. If you chose to include messages, photos sent in chats are in a separate folder. If you didn't, they're not there.
• Comments on photos. They're in the export as text, not attached to the pictures.

Also check that the photos are the size you expected. If they're all tiny, you left media quality on the default. Request it again.

Step 3: deactivate, don't delete (yet)

Deactivating hides your profile from everyone and keeps all your data. Deleting starts a countdown after which everything is gone. Deactivate first, live without Facebook for a few weeks, and keep the export somewhere safe. If something's missing, you can still go back for it. Delete when you're sure.

Step 4: put the photos somewhere that's yours

The export zip on your laptop is not a backup. One drive failure and the decade is gone again. Put the photos in at least two places you control: an external drive and a cloud folder, or two cloud folders from different companies. Boring, but it's the whole point of the exercise.

Then there's the second question, which the export doesn't answer: where do the photos live now, socially? Facebook's real trick was never storage. It was that your friends could see the album and say something about it.

Step 5: the ones worth sharing

You don't need to re-upload fifteen years. Pick the albums that still matter, the ones people actually ask about, and put them somewhere your friends can see them and comment.

On POINT that's Albums. Each one has a title and a description, is friends-only by default, and shows on your Space. Your friends see new albums in their feed in order, like everything else. The free account has no catch here: no limit that a normal person's photos will hit, and no ads next to your kid's first birthday. Later, the photos you post from your phone go straight to your Space, so the next decade isn't trapped anywhere.

If a lot of the people in those photos are also leaving Facebook, do it together. Every POINT member has an invite link; anyone who joins through it is connected to you automatically, and the album is waiting for them.

What to do about the friends who stay

Some people won't move, and that's fine. Keep a way to reach them that isn't a feed: their phone number, an email, a group chat. The friendships that were only ever a like button weren't being kept up anyway.

Checklist

1. Request the export: all time, high quality, HTML.
2. Open it. Check albums, timeline photos, tagged photos, message photos.
3. Save tagged photos by hand if you want them.
4. Deactivate, not delete.
5. Two backups you control.
6. Re-share the albums that matter where your friends are.
7. Delete Facebook when you're sure, or don't. The photos are yours either way now.