Where to find Facebook privacy controls

Facebook privacy settings live in one place: the Settings & Privacy menu in the top right of your screen. Click the downward arrow or three horizontal lines (depending on whether you're on desktop or mobile), then select Settings & Privacy, then Settings. From there, click Privacy in the left sidebar. This is where you control who sees your posts, who can contact you, and who can find your profile.

On mobile, the path is the same but the menu icon looks different. Tap the three horizontal lines at the bottom right of your screen (on iPhone) or top right (on Android), scroll down, and tap Settings & Privacy, then Settings. Tap Privacy and you're in the same control panel as desktop.

Key Takeaways

  • Your main privacy controls are in Settings > Privacy, where you set who can see your posts, send you messages, and find your profile by name or phone number.
  • Post-by-post privacy is set when you create the post using the audience selector (the icon showing a person, people, or globe), and you can change it later by editing the post.
  • Facebook's default settings share more than most people want, so you should review and tighten them even if you don't think you've changed anything.
  • Blocking and unfriending are different: unfriending removes someone from your friends list but they can still see your public posts, while blocking prevents them from seeing anything.
  • Your profile information (phone number, email, birthday) has separate privacy controls from your posts, and you should check these individually.

Controlling who sees your posts

When you create a post, Facebook shows you an audience selector — usually a small icon near the bottom of the compose box that shows a person, multiple people, or a globe. Click or tap that icon to choose who sees the post: Public (anyone on or off Facebook), Friends (only your friends), Friends except (everyone except specific people you choose), or Specific friends (only certain people you name). You set this for each post individually.

If you want to change the privacy of a post you already published, click the three dots in the top right corner of that post, select Edit privacy, and choose a new audience. Facebook will not notify people that you changed it, but the new setting takes effect when ready.

You can also set a default audience for all your future posts. In Settings > Privacy, look for Who can see your posts? and choose your preference. This becomes the pre-selected option every time you create a post, though you can still override it for individual posts.

Managing who can contact you and find your profile

In Settings > Privacy, you'll see Who can send you friend requests? — you can limit this to friends of friends or keep it open to everyone. You'll also see Who can contact you?, which controls whether strangers can message you. If you set this to Friends, only people on your friends list can send you messages; anyone else's messages go to a separate "Message Requests" folder that you can ignore.

The setting Who can look you up using the phone number you provided? and Who can look you up using the email address you provided? control whether people can find your profile by searching your phone number or email. The default is usually Everyone. If you want to make yourself harder to find, change these to Friends or Friends of friends.

You can also control whether your profile appears in search engines outside Facebook. In Settings > Privacy, scroll down to Do you want search engines outside of Facebook to link to your profile? and uncheck the box if you don't want Google or other search engines to index your Facebook page.

Controlling what information appears on your profile

Your profile contains information beyond posts — your birthday, phone number, email, workplace, education, and relationship status. Each of these has its own privacy setting. Go to your profile, click Edit profile, and look for the small privacy icon (usually a person or globe) next to each field. Click it to choose who can see that specific piece of information.

Birthday is a common one to restrict. By default, Facebook may show your birthday to friends or the public depending on what you set. If you don't want people knowing your birthday, click the privacy icon next to it and change it to Only me. The same applies to your phone number and email — if you don't want these visible to anyone, set them to Only me.

Your friends list is also controllable. On your profile, find the Friends section, click the three dots, and choose Edit the privacy of your friends list. You can make it visible to Public, Friends, Friends of friends, or Only me.

Blocking and unfriending: what's the difference

Unfriending removes someone from your friends list. They can no longer see your posts set to Friends only, but they can still see anything you've marked as Public. To unfriend someone, go to their profile, click the three dots, and select Unfriend. They won't receive a notification, but if they visit your profile or look at their friends list, they'll notice you're gone.

Blocking is stronger. When you block someone, they cannot see your profile, find you in search, message you, or see your posts anywhere on Facebook — even public ones. To block someone, go to their profile, click the three dots, and select Block. They won't be notified directly, but they may figure it out if they try to visit your profile and can't.

If you want to unfriend someone but don't want them to know, unfriending is quieter. If you want to completely cut off contact and visibility, blocking is the right choice. You can unblock someone later by going to Settings > Blocking and finding their name in your blocked list.

Reviewing and tightening default settings

Facebook's default privacy settings often allow more visibility than people expect. Even if you haven't changed anything, it's worth reviewing what the defaults are. Go to Settings > Privacy and check each setting: Who can see your posts? (often defaults to Public or Friends), Who can send you friend requests? (often Everyone), and Who can contact you? (often Everyone).

If you want more privacy overall, change Who can see your posts? to Friends, set Who can contact you? to Friends, and change the phone number and email lookup settings to Friends or Only me. These changes don't affect posts you've already published — only new posts and incoming contact requests.

You should also check Apps and websites in Settings. This shows which apps and websites can access your Facebook data. Remove any you don't recognize or no longer use by clicking the three dots next to each one and selecting Remove.

Controlling who sees your activity and story

Facebook Stories — photos or videos that disappear after 24 hours — have their own privacy control. When you post a story, you see an audience selector at the bottom. Tap it to choose Public, Friends, Close friends (a list you create), or Specific people. You can also hide your story from specific people without blocking them by tapping the three dots and selecting Hide story from.

Your activity status — whether people can see when you're online or when you last used Facebook — is also controllable. In Settings > Privacy, look for Who can see your active status? You can set it to Friends, Only me, or Everyone. If you set it to Only me, no one will see when you're active, though you also won't see when others are active.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I make my Facebook profile completely private?

You can make most of your profile private to non-friends, but Facebook doesn't offer a fully invisible mode. Your name, profile picture, and cover photo are always visible to some degree. If you want maximum privacy, set all posts to Friends only, restrict your profile information to Only me, and block people you don't want to interact with. Alternatively, you can deactivate or delete your account entirely.

If I change my post privacy from public to friends only, will people see the change?

No. When you edit a post's privacy, Facebook doesn't notify anyone. The post straightforward becomes visible only to your new audience. People who could see it before but can't now won't receive a notification — they just won't see it if they look for it.

What happens to my old posts if I change my default privacy setting?

Changing your default privacy setting only affects new posts you create going forward. Your old posts keep whatever privacy setting you gave them originally. If you want to change the privacy of old posts, you have to edit them individually or use Facebook's Limit past posts feature in Settings > Privacy, which changes all past posts to Friends only.

Can someone see my profile if I unfriend them?

Yes, if your profile or posts are set to Public. Unfriending only removes them from your friends list and hides posts you've marked Friends only. If you want to completely hide from someone, you need to block them instead.

Does Facebook notify people when I block them?

Facebook doesn't send a notification, but people may figure it out if they try to visit your profile and see a message saying they can't. They can also check by searching for you — if they can't find you in search and previously could, they may suspect they're blocked.