# Deactivating team members and deleting accounts

When someone leaves, deactivate them. They can't sign in, but their hours and history stay. Staff can delete their own account in the app; an admin can restore it for 30 days, then its contact and sign-in details are removed.

For: Admins, Managers, Employees · On: Web, iOS, Android · [Help Center](https://www.mays.app/help) › [Team & roles](https://www.mays.app/help/team-roles) · Last updated October 13, 2026 · Mays Team

When someone leaves, deactivate them. They can't sign in any more, but their hours, tasks and history stay. Staff can also delete their own account in the app, and an admin can restore it.

## Deactivate someone on the web

1. Go to **Locations & Users → Users**.
2. On the person's row, click **⋮ → Deactivate**.
3. Confirm *Deactivate (name)? They will lose access.*

![The Team members page with the Show deleted box, the location, role, department and Active status filters, and the menu of Owen South's row open with Edit and Deactivate](https://mays-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/site/help__deactivate-and-delete-users__01-team-members-menu.72672880f0.png)

You can also open the person and click **Deactivate User** on the **Access & security** tab of their page. That button works straight away, without asking first.

They now show as **Inactive**. The list shows active people by default. Pick **Inactive** in the status filter to find them.

## Deactivate someone in the app

1. Tap your picture (top left) to open **Profile**, then tap **Team**.
2. Tap the person and scroll to the bottom.
3. Tap **Deactivate** (under **Danger zone** on iPhone) and confirm.

![The iPhone confirmation Deactivate this person? They will no longer be able to log in or be scheduled, with Cancel and Deactivate, over Owen South's Wage, Kiosk PIN and Danger zone](https://mays-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/site/help__deactivate-and-delete-users__02-deactivate-in-app.c040eb860a.png)

On Android the confirmation names the person, for example *Deactivate Owen South?*

## What deactivating does

|  | After deactivating |
| --- | --- |
| **Signing in** | They're signed out everywhere. They can't sign in on the web, in the app or on a shared kiosk. The app tells them *No account found for this phone number*. |
| **Schedule** | They're no longer offered when you build the schedule. Shifts already assigned to them stay assigned, and in those weeks they're shown with an **Inactive** badge. Reassign their future shifts. |
| **Time clock and payroll** | Their past punches, timesheets and pay-period exports stay as they were. |
| **Checklists** | Recurring checklists stop giving them tasks, and you can't assign them a new one. |
| **Chat** | They're no longer in the list of people to message, and they stop getting messages and notifications from their chats straight away. They're still listed as a member of their group chats until you remove them. See [Group chats](https://www.mays.app/help/team-chat/group-chats). |
| **Notifications** | Their phones stop getting notifications from your business straight away. If you reactivate them, notifications start again once they sign in to the app. |
| **Their information** | Nothing is deleted. You can reactivate them at any time. |

## Reactivate someone

- **Web:** open the person and click **Activate User** on the **Access & security** tab. Or set **Status** to **Active** on the **Profile** tab and click **Save Changes**. Neither works for someone marked **Deleted**: restore them instead (see below).
- **App:** in **Team**, choose the **Inactive** filter, tap the person and tap **Activate**.

They can sign in again straight away. To send them the app link or invitation again, reactivate them first. **Resend Invite** doesn't work for inactive people.

## Who can deactivate people

- **Admins** can deactivate and reactivate anyone except themselves.
- **Managers** can deactivate and reactivate people who work at one of their locations, apart from other managers and admins.
- Nobody can deactivate or reactivate their own account.
- On the web, **⋮ → Deactivate**, **Deactivate User** and **Activate User** only show for people you're allowed to deactivate or reactivate. A manager looking at an admin's page doesn't see them.
- For a **custom role**, the permission is **Invite, deactivate & reactivate users**. On its own, it works as it does for managers. With **Create / edit users in every location + assign roles** as well, it works as it does for admins. Someone whose role has admin-level permissions counts as an admin here, so managers can't deactivate them.

There's no way to delete someone else's account. Deactivate them instead.

## Delete your own account (app)

Anyone can delete their own account from the app, including managers and admins.

1. Tap your picture (top left) to open **Profile**.
2. Scroll down and tap **Delete Account**.
3. Read the message and tap **Continue**. Then tap **Delete My Account** to confirm.

Your account is closed straight away. You're signed out on every phone and stop getting notifications. It only affects the business you're signed in to. If you work for other businesses on Mays, those accounts stay.

What happens next:

| When | What happens |
| --- | --- |
| **The first 30 days** | Nothing else is removed. An admin at your company can restore your account. Signing in again doesn't reopen it, and you can't be added again with the same email address. |
| **After 30 days** | Your contact and sign-in details are permanently removed: email, phone, photo, password and PIN, plus your date of birth, notes on your profile and notification settings. The account can't be restored any more. |
| **Kept** | Your name and your work and pay records stay with your employer, as the law requires: shifts, punches and hours, breaks, time off, pay and tips, completed tasks and photos, chat messages, certificates and waivers. Managers still see your name on past schedules and timesheets, marked *(deleted account)*. |

To come back within the 30 days, ask an admin at your company to restore your account. After that, you can be added again as a new team member with the same email address or phone number.

**Admins:** make sure someone else in your company is an admin before you delete your own account.

## Restore a deleted account (admins)

1. Go to **Locations & Users → Users**.
2. Tick **Show deleted** and set the status filter to **All**. Deleted accounts only appear with both.
3. Find the person. They're marked **Deleted**.
4. Click **⋮ → Restore** and confirm *Restore (name)?*

They're active again and can sign in. Only admins can restore an account. Managers see **Restore** too, but nothing happens when they click it.

You can restore an account for 30 days after it was deleted. After that, its contact and sign-in details are removed for good: the row shows the person's name with *Contact details removed* under it, and **Restore** is gone. Their past shifts, punches and pay stay, and the timesheet shows their name followed by *(deleted account)*. To have them back, add them again as a new team member.

## Good to know

- **Integrations:** if you connect 7shifts or Square, people who are no longer active there are deactivated in Mays at the next sync.
- **Merging duplicates:** when you merge duplicate people, the extra accounts are marked **Deleted**. You can restore one the same way within 30 days, but what the merge moved stays with the account you kept. After 30 days their contact and sign-in details are removed like any other deleted account's. See [Merging duplicate users](https://www.mays.app/help/team-roles/merge-duplicate-users).
- **Kiosk PINs** of deactivated and deleted people stop working. See [Shared kiosk devices and PINs](https://www.mays.app/help/time-clock/kiosk-mode).
- **Deactivating isn't the same as taking someone off a location.** To move someone to another store, change their **Assigned Locations** on the **Locations & pay** tab. See [Location access for managers and multi-location staff](https://www.mays.app/help/team-roles/location-access-for-managers).

## Related articles

- Team & roles: [Add and invite team members](https://www.mays.app/help/team-roles/add-team-members) — Add people on the web or from the app. Employees get a text with a link to the app; managers and admins get an email to set a password. Plus resending invites and checking delivery.
- Team & roles: [Managing your team from the app](https://www.mays.app/help/team-roles/manage-team-on-mobile) — Managers and admins can run their team from the Mays app. Add people, change roles, positions, pay and kiosk PINs, resend invitations and deactivate people under Profile → Team.
- Team & roles: [Roles and permissions](https://www.mays.app/help/team-roles/roles-and-permissions) — What the built-in Admin, Manager and Employee roles can do, how location access works, and how to build a custom role from individual permissions.
- Mobile apps: [Your profile in the app](https://www.mays.app/help/mobile-apps/mobile-profile-and-account) — Tap your picture in the Mays app to open Profile. Change your photo, switch organization, see your kiosk PIN, choose notifications, sign out or delete your account.
- Team chat: [Group chats](https://www.mays.app/help/team-chat/group-chats) — Chat with several coworkers at once. Anyone can start a group, its admins decide who's in it, and managers and admins can rename or delete it.
- Time clock: [Shared kiosk devices and PINs](https://www.mays.app/help/time-clock/kiosk-mode) — Turn a store tablet or phone into a shared kiosk where staff sign in with a 4-digit PIN to clock in, take breaks and do their tasks — and manage kiosks from the web.
- Team & roles: [Merging duplicate users](https://www.mays.app/help/team-roles/merge-duplicate-users) — Find people who were added twice, by email, phone or name, and merge the extra accounts into the one you keep. Check what moves first, because it can't be fully undone.

## Still need help?

Send us a support request and a real person on the Mays team will get back to you.

[Contact support](https://www.mays.app/contact?topic=support) · [Call +1 (561) 286-3939](tel:+15612863939)

Canonical: https://www.mays.app/help/team-roles/deactivate-and-delete-users