How to Delete a Pinterest Account After Someone Dies

Pinterest can be easy to overlook after a death because it rarely feels as urgent as banks, benefits or utilities. But for some people it holds years of ideas, recipes, wedding plans, home projects, craft boards, funeral wishes or images that matter to the family.

Pinterest's Help Center says it can delete a deceased family member's account if you contact Pinterest and provide verification, such as an obituary or death certificate. Before you do that, take a moment to decide whether the account contains anything worth preserving.

Why Pinterest matters after a death

A Pinterest account may look casual from the outside, but it can reveal what someone loved, planned or hoped to make. Boards may include:

• recipes they cooked for family
• garden ideas or house renovation plans
• craft, sewing, art or photography inspiration
• wedding, birthday or anniversary boards
• funeral, memorial or remembrance ideas
• small-business inspiration or product research
• private boards visible only when logged in

For many families, this is not legal property in the usual sense. It is memory. Deleting the account too quickly can remove a quiet but meaningful record of the person's tastes and plans.

First decision: preserve, leave alone or delete?

Use this quick test before taking action:

Question	If yes
Do family members want recipes, craft ideas or photos saved?	Preserve boards first
Was Pinterest used for a business or shop?	Check estate/business impact
Is the account public and distressing to see?	Consider deletion
Are you unsure what is in private boards?	Wait until the executor decides
Is there no emotional or practical value?	Deletion may be reasonable

There is no need to make this decision in the first week unless the account is being misused or causing immediate distress.

What Pinterest says about deceased accounts

Pinterest's public guidance on deleting or deactivating accounts says it can delete a deceased family member's account if you get in touch and provide verification, such as an obituary or death certificate.

That means the usual route is not a password-reset exercise. It is a support request where Pinterest checks that there is a genuine death-related reason to remove the account.

Pinterest does not present this as a UK probate process. You will normally be dealing with platform support, not a court. But if there is disagreement between family members, or the account has business value, the executor or administrator should be the person making the decision.

What to save before asking Pinterest to delete the account

If the profile is public, you may be able to save important material without logging in. If boards are private, access may be more limited.

Before requesting deletion, consider saving:

• profile URL and username
• board names and descriptions
• screenshots of boards that feel meaningful
• recipes or project ideas the family wants to keep
• images connected to memorial planning or final wishes
• business-related boards, product research or brand inspiration
• messages or comments only if you have lawful access and a clear reason

Avoid mass-downloading or reusing copyrighted images as if they belonged to the deceased person. A Pinterest board often contains links to other people's images and websites, not owned family photos.

How to request deletion

The practical steps are:

1. Find the Pinterest profile URL or username.
2. Decide whether anything should be saved first.
3. Gather proof of death, such as an obituary or death certificate.
4. Contact Pinterest through its Help Center rather than an unofficial email address.
5. Explain that the account holder has died and that you are asking for deletion of the account.
6. Provide verification only through the route Pinterest gives you.
7. Keep a note of the date, case reference and documents submitted.

If several relatives are involved, agree the decision in writing before submitting the request. It avoids painful arguments later if someone discovers the account has gone.

If you have access to the account

Some families have lawful access because the person left a password manager, written instructions or a shared device. Even then, be careful.

Before logging in or deleting anything, ask:

• Are you the executor, administrator or someone they clearly authorised?
• Could logging in trigger security emails to an address you cannot access?
• Are there private boards other relatives may want preserved?
• Is the account connected to a business, website or advertising account?
• Would a screenshot record be enough instead of full deletion?

If you do delete from inside the account, remember that account deletion is different from simply uninstalling the app or logging out.

Pinterest business accounts and estate administration

A Pinterest account used for a shop, blog, influencer profile or creative business needs extra care. It may drive traffic, hold brand assets or contain marketing research. In that case, treat it like a small digital business asset.

Check whether the account is linked to:

• a Shopify, Etsy or other online shop
• a blog or website
• advertising campaigns
• a business email address
• a brand name or trading name
• shared design files or product boards

If the business is continuing, deletion may be the wrong move. If the business is closing, the executor may still need records before the account is removed.

If the account contains funeral wishes

Some people use Pinterest to collect funeral flowers, readings, music ideas, coffin styles, memorial jewellery or celebration-of-life inspiration. These boards are not legally binding in the way a will can be, but they may help the family make choices that feel personal.

Look for board titles such as "funeral", "memorial", "celebration of life", "flowers", "readings", "music", "ashes" or "remembrance". If you find them, share them sensitively with the person arranging the funeral.

Common mistakes to avoid

• deleting the account before checking boards for family memories
• assuming every image on Pinterest is a family-owned photo
• sending a death certificate through unofficial routes
• ignoring business or creator use of the account
• letting multiple relatives submit conflicting requests
• treating private boards as public property

A simple checklist

• Find the username and profile URL.
• Check public boards for meaningful or practical content.
• Ask close family whether anything should be saved.
• Check whether the account is personal or business-related.
• Gather proof of death.
• Contact Pinterest through the Help Center.
• Record the request and outcome in the estate notes.

The bottom line

Deleting a Pinterest account is usually a low-priority task, but it should still be done in the right order. Save what matters, check whether the account has emotional or business value, then contact Pinterest with proof if deletion is the right choice.

Tools like GetPassage are useful here because digital accounts sit alongside practical tasks: certificates, banks, benefits, utilities and subscriptions. Keeping them in one checklist helps you avoid both extremes — forgetting the account entirely, or deleting it before the family has taken what they need.