Where to Find Your Relationship Status Setting

Your relationship status lives in your Facebook profile, not in your main settings menu. Open Facebook and go to your profile by clicking your name or profile picture in the top left. Once you're on your profile page, look for the "About" section — it's usually below your cover photo on the left side of the screen.

Click "About" and you'll see several categories listed down the left side: Work and Education, Places You've Lived, Contact Information, Basic Information, and Family and Relationships. The relationship status field is in the "Family and Relationships" section. Click on that category to expand it and see your current relationship status.

Key Takeaways

  • Your relationship status is stored in the "Family and Relationships" section of your About page, not in general settings.
  • You can set your status to Single, In a Relationship, Engaged, Married, It's Complicated, In an Open Relationship, Widowed, or In a Domestic Partnership.
  • You control who sees your relationship status by choosing a privacy level — only you, friends, or everyone — when you save it.
  • If you list a partner, Facebook will ask if you want to notify them, but you can choose to keep the change private.
  • You can remove your relationship status entirely by selecting "Don't want to say" or leaving the field blank.

The Steps to Change Your Status

Once you're in the Family and Relationships section, look for the line that says "Relationship Status" with your current status next to it. Click the pencil icon or the status itself to edit it. A dropdown menu will appear with these options: Single, In a Relationship, Engaged, Married, It's Complicated, In an Open Relationship, Widowed, or In a Domestic Partnership.

Select the status that matches your situation. If you want to list a specific person as your partner, Facebook will ask you to search for their name and confirm the connection. You don't have to name a partner — you can just select the status without adding a person. After you choose, click "Save" or "Confirm" depending on what Facebook shows you.

Controlling Who Sees Your Relationship Status

Before you save, Facebook will ask you to set a privacy level for this information. You'll see three choices: a lock icon (visible only to you), a friends icon (visible to friends only), or a globe icon (visible to everyone). Choose whichever level you're comfortable with. This setting is separate from your overall profile privacy, so you can have a public profile but keep your relationship status private if you want.

The privacy level you pick applies only to your relationship status — not to other parts of your About page. You can change the privacy level anytime by going back to the same section and clicking the privacy icon next to your status.

What Happens When You Add a Partner's Name

If you search for and select someone's name to add as your partner, Facebook will send them a notification that you've listed them in your relationship status. They can confirm the relationship, which will then show on both profiles, or they can ignore or decline the notification. You won't be able to see whether they've seen the notification, but if they confirm it, both of your profiles will display the relationship.

If your partner doesn't confirm, your profile will still show them as your partner, but their profile won't show you — it will just show that they have a relationship status set. You can remove someone from your relationship status at any time by going back to edit it and clearing their name.

Removing or Hiding Your Relationship Status

If you don't want to display a relationship status at all, you have two options. You can select "Don't want to say" from the dropdown menu, which will hide the field from your profile entirely. Or you can leave the field blank and set the privacy to "Only Me," which keeps the information on your account but makes it invisible to everyone else.

Either way, the field won't show on your profile. You can change your mind and add a status back anytime. There's no permanent record or notification sent when you remove a status — it straightforward disappears from view.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

The most common mistake is not checking the privacy setting before saving. If you want your relationship status private, make sure you click the privacy icon and select "Only Me" before you confirm. Many people accidentally leave it set to "Friends" or "Public" and don't realize it's visible until someone comments on it.

Another mistake is adding a partner's name without thinking through whether you want to notify them. If you're not ready to tell someone you've listed them, don't add their name — just set your status without naming a specific person. You can always add their name later once you've had a conversation about it.

Changing Your Status on Mobile

On the Facebook mobile app, the process is nearly identical. Open the app, tap your profile picture at the bottom right, then tap "About." Scroll down to "Family and Relationships" and tap "Relationship Status." Select your new status from the dropdown, set your privacy level, and tap "Save." The same options and notifications explore whether you're on a computer or phone.

If you're using Facebook on a mobile browser rather than the app, the steps are the same as on a computer — just tap the pencil icon to edit and follow the same process.

Frequently Asked Questions

Will my partner get notified if I change my relationship status?

Only if you add their name to the status. If you just change your status to "In a Relationship" without naming anyone, no notification is sent. If you do add their name, they'll get a notification asking them to confirm the relationship.

Can I hide my relationship status from certain people?

Facebook doesn't let you hide your status from specific people — you can only choose to show it to everyone, friends only, or no one. If you want to keep it from one particular person, set it to "Only Me" so nobody sees it.

What if my partner won't confirm the relationship on their profile?

Your profile will still show them as your partner even if they don't confirm. Their profile won't show you unless they confirm it themselves. You can remove them from your status anytime without their permission.

Does changing my relationship status show up in my friends' feeds?

Yes, by default Facebook will post a story to your friends' feeds when you change your relationship status, similar to other profile updates. You can control this by adjusting your privacy settings for the status itself, though Facebook may still show the change to close friends.

Can I change my relationship status back and forth without people noticing?

Each time you change your status, it may appear in your friends' feeds as an update. There's no way to change it silently. If you're unsure about a status change, you might want to set the privacy to "Only Me" first, then change it to a wider audience once you're ready.