What "private" means on Facebook, and why you might want it
Making your Facebook account private means changing who can see your posts, photos, and personal information. When your account is private, only people you approve as friends can view most of what you share. Strangers and people not on your friends list cannot search for you as easily, cannot see your posts in their feed, and cannot message you without your permission.
People often make their accounts private for safety reasons — to keep their location, daily routine, and family photos away from people they do not know. If you use Facebook mainly to stay in touch with people you already know, rather than to build a public presence, making your account private is a straightforward way to control who sees what.
This is different from deactivating or deleting your account. A private account still exists and still works; it just has stricter walls around it. You can still message friends, join groups, and use Facebook normally — you are just limiting who can find you and what they can see.
Key Takeaways
- Facebook privacy settings are found in Settings and Privacy, then Settings, then Privacy on the left menu — the exact path matters because Facebook reorganizes these regularly.
- The three main controls are who can see your posts (Friends Only is the most private option), who can contact you, and who can look up your profile using your phone number or email.
- Making your account private does not hide your name or profile picture from the public — only your posts, photos, and friend list are restricted.
- You can make your account private in about five minutes, and you can change these settings back anytime if you change your mind.
The three privacy settings that matter most
Facebook has many privacy controls, but three of them do most of the work. The first is who can see your posts. By default, this is often set to "Public" or "Friends of Friends." You want to change it to "Friends Only" so that only people on your friends list can see what you post.
The second is who can contact you. You can set this so that only friends can message you, or you can allow messages from anyone but filter them into a separate folder. Most people who want privacy choose "Friends Only" for messages.
The third is who can look you up. Facebook lets you control whether people can find your profile by searching your phone number or email address. If you turn this off, someone would have to know your exact name and search for you by name alone — and even then, they would see less information about you.
Step-by-step: changing your post visibility to Friends Only
Open Facebook on your phone or computer. In the top right corner, click the downward arrow (on a phone, this is usually three horizontal lines). Select "Settings and Privacy," then click "Settings."
On the left side menu, look for "Privacy." Click it. You will see a section called "Who can see your posts?" — it probably says "Public" or "Friends" right now. Click on that dropdown and select "Friends Only."
Once you change this, all future posts will only be visible to your friends. Posts you made before this change will keep their old privacy settings unless you go back and change them individually — Facebook does not automatically update old posts.
Step-by-step: limiting who can message you
In the same Privacy menu, look for "Who can contact you?" or "Messaging." The default often allows messages from anyone. Click the dropdown and select "Friends Only" if you want only people on your friends list to be able to message you.
If you choose to allow messages from non-friends, Facebook will put those messages in a separate folder called "Message Requests" so they do not clutter your main inbox. You can read them if you want, but you do not have to respond.
Some people use a middle ground: they allow messages from anyone, but they check the Message Requests folder only occasionally. This works if you want to stay open to contact but do not want to be bothered by strangers every day.
Step-by-step: controlling who can search for you
Still in the Privacy menu, look for "Who can look you up using the phone number or email you provided?" This setting controls whether someone can find your profile by typing in your phone number or email. Click the dropdown and select "Friends Only" or "No One" depending on how private you want to be.
If you set this to "No One," people can still find you by searching your name directly, but they cannot discover you by accident using your contact information. This is useful if you have a common name and do not want random people with your phone number finding your profile.
What stays public even when your account is private
Even after you make your account private, your name and profile picture remain visible to everyone. Facebook does not let you hide these, because the site needs people to be able to identify who they are talking to. If you want to hide your identity completely, you would need to use a nickname or a blank profile picture, but Facebook requires you to use your real name according to their rules.
Your friend list also stays visible to your friends, even if it is hidden from strangers. This is by design — Facebook assumes you want your friends to see who else you are friends with. If you want to hide your friend list from everyone except yourself, there is a separate setting for that in the Privacy menu.
Your profile information like your job, school, or hometown can be set to Friends Only as well, but this is a separate control from post privacy. Check each field individually if you want to hide specific details.
Checking your privacy settings after you change them
After you make changes, it is worth checking that they actually took effect. The easiest way is to log out of Facebook, or open Facebook in a private browser window where you are not logged in, and search for your own name. See what a stranger would see when they find your profile. If you can see your posts and photos, your settings are not as private as you thought.
You can also ask a friend who is not on your friends list to look at your profile and tell you what they see. This gives you a real-world test of whether your privacy settings are working the way you intended.
Facebook updates its interface regularly, so the exact location of these settings may shift. If you cannot find "Privacy" in the Settings menu, try searching the Settings page for the word "privacy" — most browsers have a search function (usually Ctrl+F on a computer or the search icon on a phone) that will highlight it for you.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I make my account private on my phone and computer at the same time?
Yes. Privacy settings are tied to your account, not to the device you use. When you change a setting on your phone, it changes on your computer too. You only need to do it once.
If I make my account private, can my friends still share my posts with other people?
Yes. When a friend shares your post, they can share it with their own friends or publicly, depending on their settings. Making your account private controls who sees your posts directly from your profile, but not what your friends do with them after they see them.
What happens to old posts when I change my privacy settings?
Old posts keep the privacy setting they had when you posted them. If you posted something as "Public" three months ago, it stays public even after you change your default to "Friends Only." You have to go back and change old posts individually if you want them private.
Can I make my account private for some people but not others?
Facebook does not have a built-in way to show different posts to different friends. You can only choose between "Friends Only," "Public," or a custom list. If you need to hide something from one specific person, you can unfriend them or use the "Restrict" feature, which limits what they see without unfriending them.
If I make my account private, will people still see me in group photos?
Yes. If a friend posts a photo of you in a group, that photo is on their profile, not yours, so your privacy settings do not control it. You can ask them to untag you, or you can adjust your settings so that photos you are tagged in do not appear on your profile without your approval.