How to make Facebook private
The words “Facebook” and “private” don’t really go together.
But Facebook does offer some privacy settings you can customize—
That is, who can see your profile details, interact with your timeline, and more.
To make your Facebook more private (or rather, less public), you have to adjust these settings.
Now, let’s take a look at how to do it.
In short: To change your privacy settings, go to Facebook > “settings & privacy” > “privacy” > “audience and visibility” and adjust each category.
How to make Facebook private in 3 steps:
Step 1: Go to your Facebook account’s privacy settings
Facebook has a very complex settings panel and it’s easy to get confused by all these different options.
So, here’s a quick guide on how to access the privacy settings page.
| Desktop |
| Go to facebook.com and sign in.Click on your profile icon in the upper-right corner.Select “settings & privacy” and then “privacy.”Scroll down the left panel until you get to “audience and visibility.” |
| Android |
| Open the Facebook app. Tap the three horizontal lines in the upper-right corner. Tap the gear icon. Scroll down until you get to “audience and visibility.” |
| iPhone |
| Open the Facebook app. Tap your profile photo located at the bottom-right corner of the screen. Then, tap the gear icon at the top-right corner.. Scroll down and select “Audience and Visibility”. Adjust your settings. settings. |
Step 2: Walk through each category and adjust your privacy preferences
Once you get to the Audience and Visibility section, you’ll see 8 to 9 categories (depending on whether you’re on desktop or mobile).
Here’s a quick breakdown of these categories:
- Profile details: who can see personal info like your birthday, hometown, and relationship status.
- How people can find you and contact you: who can look you up using your email or phone number, and who can send friend requests.
- Posts: who can view and interact with the posts you share.
- Stories: who can see your 24-hour stories.
- Reels: who can watch and engage with your short-form videos.
- Followers and public content: who can follow you and see posts you share publicly.
- Profile and tagging: who can tag you in posts and who can see those tags.
- Blocking: allows you to block specific users from interacting with you on Facebook.
- Active status: decides if others can see when you’re active on Facebook and Messenger.
Walk through each section and adjust the privacy settings to your liking.
Step 3: Don’t forget about AI models learning from your data
Meta recently introduced AI features to some of its products, including Facebook.
For the AI to work well, it needs to keep learning from real people—including you.
The general rule is simple: anything set to “public” on Facebook can be used as AI training material.
Some things are public by default, like your name, profile picture, and activity in public groups—and these settings can’t be changed.
However, other information—like your timeline, posts, and personal details—can be set to private.
When adjusting your privacy settings, keep in mind that anything marked “public” or “everyone” can be used by Meta to train its AI.
For maximum privacy, set everything to “only me” or “friends.”
An alternative way to access privacy settings
As you go through the steps to find these settings, you might notice an option called “privacy shortcuts.”
While you can adjust a lot from there, it’s really more about learning how Facebook uses your data.
If you’re looking to modify your privacy settings quickly, the “audience and visibility” section is, in our experience, easier to navigate.
Facebook privacy for business pages
While business pages are generally more public, you can still tailor some privacy settings to suit your needs.
You can control who can post or comment, review tagged posts before they show up, and turn on a filter to block bad language.
Just go to the settings to set these up.
- Click “settings” at the top of your Page.
- Click “general” in the left column.
- Go to “visitor posts” or “comments” and edit your preferences.
Want to learn how to make social media profiles more private? Check out these resources:
- How to make Twitter private
- How to make Pinterest private
- How to make Venmo private
- How to make TikTok private
- How to make Instagram private
- How to make Snapchat private
FAQs
Can You Make Your Facebook Private?
Yes, you can make your Facebook profile and posts visible only to specific people or groups or choose to hide them from certain individuals.
How can I make Facebook private on iPhone?
1) Open the Facebook app on your iPhone.
2) Tap your profile photo at the bottom-right corner of the screen.
3) Tap the gear icon at the top-right corner to access settings.
4) Scroll down and select “Audience and Visibility” to adjust your privacy settings.
5) Click on “Posts,” “Followers and Public Content,” “Profile Details,” “Stories,” and “How People Find and Contact You” and tweak your privacy settings according to your liking.
How do I know if my Facebook profile is private?
You can check your Facebook profile’s privacy by viewing your profile as someone else. Simply go to your profile, click on the three dots next to the “edit profile” button, and select “view as.” This allows you to see what your profile looks like to the public or a specific friend, letting you assess your privacy settings.
How do I make Facebook private to non-friends?
In Privacy Settings, you can set all future posts to “friends” or “only me,” limit who can send you friend requests to “friends of friends,” and hide your friends list.
Can everyone see my Facebook profile?
Everyone can see your public information, like your name and profile picture, but other parts of your profile can be private. The visibility of posts, friends lists, and more depends on your privacy settings. You can customize these to be seen by everyone, only friends, or specific people. Check your privacy settings to control who sees what.
How do I make my Facebook completely private to non-friends?
1) Open Facebook, go to “settings & privacy” > “settings” > “privacy.”
2) Scroll to “audience and visibility.”
3) Adjust all settings to “friends” or “only me.”
How do I make my Facebook posts private?
1) When creating a post, click on the privacy icon (in the shape of a globe).
2) Choose who can see that specific post.
3) Alternatively, go to “audience and visibility” under “privacy” options to change the default setting.
How do I make my Facebook private without deactivating it?
1) Open Facebook, go to “settings & privacy” > “settings” > “privacy.”
2) Scroll to “audience and visibility.”
3) Adjust all settings to “friends” or “only me.”
How do I hide everything on Facebook?
1) Open Facebook, go to “settings & privacy” > “settings” > “privacy.”
2) Scroll to “audience and visibility.”
3) Adjust all settings to “friends” or “only me.”
How do I make all my photos private on Facebook?
1) Go to your profile, then “photos” > “albums.”
2) For each album, click on the three dots and pick “edit album.”
3) Set the audience to “only me,” “friends,” or “friends of friends.”
Remember, profile and cover photos are always visible to everyone.
How do I make my Facebook Live private?
1) Before starting a live video, look for the audience icon (typically set to “public” by default).
2) Tap it and choose “friends.”
