How to Delete an AOL Account Permanently: Step-by-Step Guide

Do you want to learn “How to delete an AOL account”? If so, this is the ultimate guide for permanently deleting an AOL account from any device. The whole process of closing an AOL account is fairly simple. AOL mail account deletion can be simply done by signing in to the AOL Account Termination page, verifying your identity as the AOL account holder, and following the steps on the screens. 

But what happens to the email data after you close the AOL account? So if you’re looking for a way, “How to shut down AOL email account without the loss of data?” Look no further, in this guide, we will guide you on “How to delete an AOL account step by step,” and what to do after submitting the request for AOL account deletion, and what are some pointers to keep in mind as a Free or a Paid subscriber of the AOL account.

Reason To Close AOL Email Account 

You may need to delete an AOL account for various reasons. Let us discuss some of the most common reasons “Why would an AOL user consider closing their account?”

• The AOL user may consider deleting an AOL account when they are migrating to a new email service provider. 
• Some AOL users close off their AOL accounts as they find their AOL email addresses outdated, especially in professional settings. 
• Their AOL email account is no longer active, and users want to prevent their AOL email data from data breached by reducing their digital footprint. 
• Users also delete AOL accounts due to AOL’s inactivity policy, which automatically deactivates the AOL account after 12 months, and thus, to prevent data loss against this arbitrary deletion, they take an AOL account backup and then shut down their AOL accounts. 
• Account holders also close AOL email accounts when they transition from the  AOL subscription service to a free service. 
• Users go for AOL account deletion for someone else, in case of a family member or a loved one’s passing away. 

Quick Guide: How to delete an AOL account? 

Deleting an AOL account can be quick and simple. Just follow the steps given below to properly shut down the AOL email account: 

1. Log in to your AOL email account.
2. Navigate to My Account. Click on Account Security.
3. Scroll down and click on Account Termination.
4. You will be prompted to confirm your identity. Enter your Password to verify.
5. Check the terms and conditions. Press Continue, delete my account.
6. Finally, click Yes to delete the AOL account. 

Note: Your AOL account will not be permanently deleted instantly. It takes 30-90 days in case you want to reactivate your AOL account. 

What to Consider When You Delete An AOL Account? 

Before you delete your AOL email account. Here are some important pointers that you need to keep in mind before AOL account deletion. 

• Your AOL account will not be permanently shut down instantly. AOL keeps your data for 30-90 days after you submit the AOL account deletion request in case you want to reactivate. 
• If you need to ensure that there is absolutely no email data loss when you close AOL email account. Make sure to back up your AOL email data beforehand. To make this task easier for you, use the AOL backup Wizard. 
• Before you permanently shut down your AOL account, make sure you update your email address on all online accounts.
• Remember to cancel AOL paid subscriptions. You will not be able to close your AOL account until you have paid for outstanding balances for services. 
• To ensure that your contacts can connect with you even after you delete AOL account. Notify them beforehand and update them with your new contact email account. 

Also Read: Best Alternative to Yahoo and AOL 

How To Delete an AOL Account Permanently? Step-By-Step Guide

AOL users access their AOL account on multiple platforms, such as computers, Macs, iPhones/iPads, or Android devices. The process for closing an AOL email account can vary slightly for each device. 

How to Remove AOL Account on iPhone and iPad?  

If you need to delete an AOL account from your iPhone or iPad, follow the steps: 

1. Go to iPhone/iPad Settings.
2. Look for the Mail option.
3. Click on Accounts.
4. Tap on your AOL account.
5. Click on the Delete Account option at the bottom.
6. Confirm by clicking on Delete from My iPhone/iPad. 

Your AOL account will be successfully deleted from your iPhone and iPad. Your AOL will no longer sync emails to your iOS device. 

Note: You can not delete AOL account from iPad/iPhone permanently. This method, Mail App (iOS Settings), will only remove the AOL account from the iOS device.

Delete AOL Account From Android 

If you want to close AOL Account from your Android device. This process only allows you to remove the AOL account from the Android device instead of deleting the AOL account permanently. Follow the steps to delete/ remove your AOL account from your Android device: 

1. Go to the Settings app on your Phone.
2. Look for Accounts.
3. Find and tap on your AOL account from the list.
4. At the bottom, click on the Remove Account button.
5. Finally, confirm to remove the AOL account.

Note: In case you were accessing your AOL on Android via AOL App. You simply need to uninstall the app to remove the AOL email account for the android device. 

We hope you now understand “How to delete AOL account on Phone.”

How To Delete AOL Account On Computer?

You can only close AOL email accounts permanently by going to the account termination page of AOL on a computer web browser. Follow the steps for deleting an AOL account via a computer browser: 

1. Sign in to your AOL email account.
   • Go to your browser and then https://account.aol.com/.
   • Sign in to your AOL account using your AOL email address and password. 
2. Go to the AOL Account Termination Page
   • In the top right corner, click on My Account (Profile Icon).
   • Click on Account Info >>Account Settings.
   • Hit the Delete Account button. 
3. Verify Identity
   • You need to verify that you are the AOL account holder to protect against malicious deletion of your account.
   • AOL will prompt you to enter your AOL email ID, password, and if you have 2-factor authentication ON, you may also need to enter a verification code to delete AOL account. 
4. Acknowledge Account Termination Details
   • Read and review the terms of AOL account deletion.
   • Click in the checkbox and continue.
5. Confirm AOL account deletion by clicking Yes, Terminate This Account.

Your AOL account will be permanently deleted from all your devices after a 30-90-day hold period.

Delete AOL Account From Mac 

You can follow the steps to close AOL email account from your Mac device. 

1. Go to Apple Menu >> System Settings/ Preferences.
2. Proceed to Internet & Accounts.
3. On the left, you can see all the accounts. Select the AOL account for deletion.
4. Click Delete/Remove Account at the very bottom.
5. Hit Confirm to delete AOL account from Mac device. 

To remove the AOL account from Mac permanently. You need to go to a browser (Safari, Chrome, or any other browser) on your Mac and follow the steps to shut down AOL email account permanently. 

1. Open a browser on your Mac. 
2. Sign in to your AOL account. 
3. Go to your Profile/ My account section.
4. Navigate to Account Info >> Account Security >> Delete Account. 
5. Verify your identity as an AOL account holder by entering your password and verification code. 
6. Confirm to permanently delete your AOL account on Mac. 

How to Delete an AOL Account Without Email Data Loss?  

Whenever someone chooses to close their AOL email account, their primary concern is losing out on all important information like tax records, legal documents, and other financial records. But deleting your AOL account does not necessarily mean losing all your AOL email data. You can safeguard all your AOL email data using the AOL Backup Tool.

Using an advanced AOL Backup Tool, you can ensure accessing all your AOL email with attachments and complete data integrity easily. This advanced tool allows you to transfer all AOL emails to another account or save AOL emails on your PC within minutes without any technical glitches. Download the tool and give the advanced Email Backup Tool a try today.

Steps to Prevent AOL Email Data Loss When Delete AOL Account

Using the tool to ensure you do not lose your AOL email data when you delete an AOL account permanently is fairly simple. The tool is intuitively designed even for the non-technical person. Simply follow along the steps to use the robust tool to safeguard AOL email data. 

1. After downloading the AOL backup tool, install and launch the robust tool for safeguarding your AOL email data when closing the AOL account. 
2. Select AOL from the email source panel on the left. 
3. Enter your AOL email ID and password in the credentials section. 
4. Once logged in, on the left, you can see all your AOL email and folders. Select the desired AOL emails you need to safeguard. 
5. Choose the Final email saving format. If you want to save AOL email on a PC, you can choose from various file formats. You can also choose to transfer AOL emails to another account. For this, you also need to know the credentials of the email account you are transferring AOL emails to. 
6. You can also selectively choose AOL emails that you need to keep even after you delete AOL account. Choose the destination where you need to have AOL emails saved on your PC after AOL account deletion.
7. Hit Backup, and the process is completed.

Advantages of Using AOL Backup Wizard To Prevent AOL Data Loss

• AOL emails downloaded/migrated with attachments and complete data integrity when closing an AOL account.  
• A secure way to backup and migrate AOL emails, managing AOL data in a streamlined way. You don’t have to worry about data breaches or other cyber attacks. 
• Offers to migrate AOL email data to any other IMAP account when you delete AOL account. 
• Save AOL email into multiple universally accepted formats like PDF, EML, HTML, and many more. 
• You do not need to have any additional technical knowledge to save AOL emails in the desired format. 
• The process of saving/ migrating AOL emails becomes quicker and less manual. 

FAQs: Delete AOL Account Permanently 

Q1: How do I delete my AOL email account permanently? 

You can only delete your AOL email account permanently through a web browser not from a mobile app. Sign in to your AOL account >> Go to My Account >> Account Info >> Account Security >> Delete Account. Verify your identity as the AOL email account holder. Confirm and Close the AOL account.

Q2: How long do deleted emails stay in AOL?

After you have deleted an email from AOL it will stay in the trash folder for 30 days.

Q3: Can I reactivate my AOL account after I delete it?

Once you have closed your AOL account, it is not permanently deleted from AOL instantaneously. Your AOL email account and data stay on the AOL server for 30-90 days before permanent deletion of the AOL account. In this hold period of AOL you can reactivate your AOL account. 

Q4: Why am I not able to delete my AOL account? 

You will not be able to close your AOL account if your subscription fee is pending or if you are trying to shut down your AOL email account through a mobile app. You can only shut down AOL accounts through a web browser. 

Q5: Why should you stop using AOL email? 

Users often consider deleting their AOL accounts as they find AOL accounts outdated for professional use. For easy integration with other services, users consider closing their AOL account and shifting to other clients like Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc. 

Q6: How to delete an AOL account without a password?

You will not be able to shut down your AOL email account officially if you forgot the password to your AOL email account. You can first retrieve your AOL account password using recovery account or other methods, and then consider deleting your AOL account.

Also Read: How to Import AOL to Outlook? 

Conclusion 

We hope you now understand, “How to delete an AOL account?” The complete process of closing an AOL account can be fairly seamless. You just need to sign in to your AOL account and verify your identity using your password and verification code. Just make sure you cancel the AOL paid subscription separately, and before you shut down your AOL email account, you update the email ID for all important online accounts, and you notify all the contacts of your AOL account about the deletion.

After a 30-90 day hold period, your AOL account data will be permanently deleted from the AOL server, too. If you need to make sure that you can access your old AOL emails even after deleting your AOL account. You can save/migrate your old AOL emails to another account or your PC. The best way to safeguard your AOL email data is to use the AOL backup Wizard. It is an easy, non-technical, quick, and secure way to preserve AOL email data. Give it a try today. A free trial version is also available so that you can understand its amazing features before fully committing to the tool.