There are plenty of good reasons to delete your X account, whether it's because of a general desire to not do anything to help Elon Musk, a distaste for the curdled culture of the platform or the allure of greener social pastures like Bluesky or Threads. Whatever your reason, the process of deleting your account is simple, and by design, pretty hands-off. In order to get rid of your X account, you'll first have to deactivate it. Once you go 30 days without logging in, it will be permanently deleted.

How to deactivate your X account

Ian Carlos Campbell for Engadget

Deactivating your X account makes your profile page, posts and associated username disappear, though posts you were tagged in before you shutdown in your account will still be viewable. Deactivating also makes it impossible for you to post or view your timeline, unless you reactivate. It's one of the strongest ways to "take a break" from X, but also the only way you can get your account permanently deleted.

If you need any of your data before you deactivate and delete, you'll want to make sure you initiate that process and receive your archive before you deactivate. X says it can't send an archive from an account that's been deactivated.  

1. Open X.

2. Click on the More section in the sidebar menu.

3. Click on Settings and Privacy.

4. In the Your account section of Settings, click on Deactivate your account.

5. Read through X's warnings and then click on Deactivate.

6. Enter your account password to confirm you want to deactivate, then click Deactivate.

Now just make sure that you don't log in for 30 days, and your account will be permanently deleted. This won't necessarily delete web search results that mention your X account or your posts, but it will eliminate records of you on X itself.

FAQs

How do you reactivate your account?

If you have a change of heart before your 30 days are up, it is possible to reactivate your account so you can use it again. To reactivate your account, head to X.com or the X app and login with your credentials. You'll be asked if you want to reactive your account. Once you confirm that you do, you'll be logged in and be able to post and view your timeline. X notes that some of your account features like followers and likes may take a while to fully restore.

Is all of your information actually deleted when your X account is deleted?

While deactivating your X account and letting it be deleted does remove all of the public-facing parts of your social media presence, X does keep some of your information to "ensure the safety and security of its platform and people using X." The full list of data X collects and how it uses it is available in X's data processing explainer, as far as you should be concerned, though, a deleted account is gone.

After a couple years of having its open-source Llama AI model be just a part of its Connect conferences, Meta is breaking things out and hosting an entirely generative AI-focused developer conference called LlamaCon on April 29. The event is entirely virtual, and you'll be able to watch along live on the Meta for Developers Facebook page.

LlamaCon kicks off at 1PM ET / 10AM PT with a keynote address from Meta's Chief Product Officer Chris Cox, Vice President of AI Manohar Paluri and research scientist Angela Fan. The keynote is supposed to cover developments in the company's open-source AI community, "the latest on the Llama collection of models and tools" and offer a glimpse at yet-to-be released AI features.

The keynote address will be followed by a conversation at 1:45PM ET / 10:45PM ET between Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Databricks CEO Ali Ghodsi on "building AI-powered applications," followed by a chat at 7PM ET / 4PM PT about "the latest trends in AI" between Zuckerberg and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. It doesn't seem like either conversation will be used to break news, but Microsoft and Meta have collaborated before, so anything is possible.

Meta hasn't traditionally waited for a conference to launch updates to Meta AI or the Llama model. The company introduced its new Llama 4 family of models, which excel at image understanding and document parsing, on a Saturday in early April. It's not clear what new models or products the company could have saved for LlamaCon.

LlamaCon will stream live on April 29th through the Meta for Developers Facebook page and we'll be live-blogging the event right here on Engadget so you can get all the details as they happen.

Copilot, Microsoft's AI assistant, appears to be struggling to match its competition in terms of popularity. The number of people using Copilot has remained around 20 million weekly users for the last year, according to tech newsletter Newcomer, while OpenAI's ChatGPT has hit as high as 400 million weekly users.

The data was shared at an annual executive meeting in March by Microsoft's chief financial officer Amy Hood, Newcomer reports, and raise some concerns about the AI future Microsoft is pitching. Microsoft uses OpenAI's models to power Copilot, and the assistant offers similar features to ChatGPT, but they clearly don't draw the same interest from users. The company has also built Copilot into Windows 11, Microsoft 365 and the Edge browser, without apparently reaping the benefit of additional user growth.

The need to revamp Copilot, become less dependent on OpenAI and reimagine the company's assistant as a true consumer product were Microsoft's motivations for acqui-hiring Mustafa Suleyman and his team from Inflection AI. Suleyman's work as CEO of Microsoft AI has culminated so far in a redesign of Copilot, and the launch of several new features, including the ability for the AI to take action for you in certain websites. It's maybe the start of a cohesive vision, but not one that's immediately connected with Windows users or anyone else.

Microsoft invested billions in OpenAI to aid the company's research and gain privileged access to its models, all in the hopes of competing with Google. Even with that access, ChatGPT arriving first seems to have had the biggest impact on turning people into AI users. ChatGPT was the AI assistant people tried first, and it's not clear what new Copilot feature will pull them away.

Google has announced that it will no longer be bringing new Nest Thermostats to Europe due to the "unique" requirements of heating systems in the region. The company launched its redesigned fourth-generation Nest Learning Thermostat in 2024.

"Heating systems in Europe are unique and have a variety of hardware and software requirements that make it challenging to build for the diverse set of homes," Google says. "Therefore moving forward we’ll no longer launch new Nest thermostats in Europe." The third-generation Nest Learning Thermostat and the Nest Thermostat E will continue to function, receive security updates and be sold while supplies last. If you're in the market for a new thermostat that works with Google Home, though, you'll have to turn to a third-party option.

Besides leaving behind a whole continent's worth of customers, Google announced that it's also ending software support for a few older Nest devices. The first and second generation Nest Learning Thermostats, along with the second generation model released in Europe, will no longer receive software updates or connect to the Google Home app starting October 25, 2025. Google says any routines you've programmed will still work and you can manually adjust the temperature on the Nest Thermostat themselves, they'll just otherwise become a bit less "smart" after October. 

As a consolation, Google is offering $130 off a new fourth-generation Nest Thermostat to affected customers in the US, $160 off for customers in Canada, and 50 percent off a Tado Smart Thermostat X for European customers.

All three thermostat models Google is dropping are over a decade old, so on one hand, the decision makes sense. On the other hand, most people don't purchase a thermostat and expect it to have an expiration date. That's one of a few reasons to be skeptical of Google's continued commitment to its Nest products. It's nice that there's a snazzy new Nest Thermostat, but there's been little indication the company will ever make a new Nest Hub or Nest Audio, beyond plans to incorporate Gemini.

Remedy's first foray into co-op shooters, FBC: Firebreak, is officially launching on June 17. Following employees tasked with cleaning up The Oldest House, the mysterious headquarters of the Federal Bureau of Control, the game balances team-based action with the supernatural abilities and enemies that made Control so interesting. 

In our hands-on with the game, the biggest and most positive point of comparison for Firebreak''s chaotic action was Left 4 Dead, but the game's unique collection of "jobs" (Remedy's name for missions) includes plenty of weirder tasks, too, like dealing with ominously multiplying sticky notes. Remedy plans to support Firebreak with new jobs after launch and into 2026. All new playable content will be for free, save for cosmetics, which Remedy plans to charge for.

The developer originally announced it was making a multiplayer game set in the Control universe in 2021, when the game was still being published by 505 Games. Following the success of Alan Wake II, Remedy acquired the rights to the entire Control franchise from 505 Games in 2024.

FBC: Firebreak will be available on June 17 for $39.99 on Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5 and PC. A $49.99 "deluxe edition" will also be available with exclusive cosmetics. If you subscribe to Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass or PlayStation Plus Premium or Extra, you'll be able to download and play the game for no additional cost.

The joint ESA and NASA Solar Orbiter mission has delivered a stunning new image of the Sun and its corona. The sun-observing satellite originally launched in 2020, and besides making the Sun look cool, the data it's captured has impacted things like our understanding of solar wind.

Today's photo shows off the spun-sugar-like particles caught in the magnetic field of the Sun's atmosphere, the dark "filaments" of cooler material weaving their way in between and bursting active areas that emit solar flares. The ESA says the photo is technically a composite of 200 separate images taken with the Extreme Ultraviolet Imager, around 77 million km from the Sun. The EUI allows the traditionally unobservable parts of the Sun's atmosphere or corona to be visible in photographs.

ESA & NASA/Solar Orbiter/EUI Team, E. Kraaikamp (ROB)

Solar Orbiter has regularly provided a clear look at our closest star, and even offered insights into Venus as it made its way to its current position observing the Sun. For more details on the image, and interactive labels explaining the different regions of the Sun, check out the ESA website. 

As part of the launch of its new "Moto Things" line of accessories, Motorola is introducing the Moto Buds Loop, the company's first take on wireless open-ear earbuds. Rather than completely cover your ear, the Moto Buds Loops cuff the outside, almost like a piercing, blocking out less of the world around you, while still letting you hear your music.

The Moto Buds Loop are, as their name suggests, large loop-shaped earbuds that come in either a dark "Trekking Green" or a light (and fairly gaudy) "French Oak with crystals by Swarovski." Motorola says the earbuds have 12mm drivers and "Sound by Bose technology," which means they're tuned for clarity and balance, and also support features like spatial audio for immersive listening. If you're worried about call quality, the Moto Buds Loop use a combination of AI and dual-microphones on the earbuds to minimize background noise. When you need to connect the earbuds to other devices, Motorola's Smart Connect feature can quickly swap Bluetooth connections between Motorola and Lenovo devices.

Motorola

The Moto Buds Loop earbuds have eight hours of battery life, and their charging case comes with an additional 37 hours, likely covering you for multiple days of use. Motorola also says the Moto Buds Loop are "water-repellant," but the lack of any kind of official IP rating suggests you might not want to test that.

Open-ear earbuds are definitely less niche than they used to be, with Sony, Bose, JLab and Nothing offering their own take on the concept. That Bose tech is featured in Motorola's earbuds isn't surprising, either. Both companies are using a similar clip-on design to keep the earbuds over your ears.

If you're interested in the Moto Buds Loop, you'll have to wait for now. Motorola hasn't shared a specific price or release date for the wireless earbuds, other than the fact they'll be available "in the coming months."

Discord CEO and co-founder Jason Citron has announced that he's stepping down from his leadership role at the chat app and being replaced by Humam Sakhnini, a former executive from Activision Blizzard. Citron will remain on Discord's board of directors, and fellow co-founder Stanislav Vishnevskiy will continue acting as the company's chief technology officer.

"From the very beginning, our mission has been about bringing people together around games," Citron said in a statement. "It’s a mission I’ve dedicated my career to, and I'm confident that passing the torch to Humam is the right evolution for Discord's future." While initially pitched as a way to talk to friend's before, during and after playing games, Discord has morphed into a much larger and more general social platform, serving "more than 200 million monthly active users worldwide," the company says.

There's an important financial context to Citron's move. The New York Times reported in March that Discord was meeting with investors to take the company public. Sakhnini has experience acting as a leader of a public company. He was also the President of King Digital — the creator of Candy Crush and other popular mobile games — after the company was acquired by Activision Blizzard. A veteran executive could be a natural fit to usher Discord to an IPO. Citron didn't deny the plan when GamesBeat asked if the company would go public: "As you can imagine, hiring someone like Humam is a step in that direction."

Just a few years ago, Discord was reportedly in talks to be acquired by Microsoft, which seemed like a natural fit alongside Xbox. The rumored $10 billion deal fell through, but both Xbox and PlayStation platforms got Discord integration.