How to Make Your Facebook Private in 2024

Facebook is one of the most popular social media channels for networking and sharing pictures.

Not only can you connect with friends, but you can also move to Instagram, play games, and connect with people who share similar interests.

But with all this freedom come some consequences. Your profile is default public, so everybody automatically sees everything you do. Whether you know them or not.

Now, is this something you are comfortable with? You may not be doing anything wrong, but it’s not always that you want some posts or pictures to be seen by everyone.

So, in such a case, it’s good to figure out how to make your Facebook private. Because the truth is, you can’t control how much Facebook knows about you, but you can control what the general public knows about you.
Hence, in this article, you’d get to learn how to make your Facebook private.

How to make your Facebook private

• Change the sharing default using privacy settings and tools
• Make your Facebook friends list private
• Review your profile privacy settings
• Change privacy settings on Photo Albums

#1. How to Change the Sharing Default Using Privacy Settings and Tools

One way to make your Facebook private is by locking everything you post by changing your default sharing option to Friends only and not Public.

Doing this limits your posts to being only seen by friends.

Here’s how to change your profile views from public to private.

1. Log in to your Facebook account.
2. Select the arrow on the top right corner of your Facebook screen.
3. Select Settings & Privacy in the drop-down menu
4. Choose Settings
5. Go to Privacy
6. The first item listed is “Who can see your future posts.” If it says “Public,” select “Edit” and choose “Friends” from the drop-down menu.
7. Select close to save the changes

Whatever audience you choose becomes the default audience for all your Facebook posts.

So if you select “Friends,” Facebook will make all your posts visible to only your friends. Facebook has an option that makes old posts more private.

Click the down arrow in the top right corner of Facebook, then select “Settings” from the drop-down menu.

On the Settings screen, click “Privacy” on the left-hand rail, then select “Limit Past Posts” in the “Who Can See My Stuff?” section to change the settings of your old posts.

#2. How to Make Your Facebook Friends List Private

When you register on Facebook, your friend list becomes public by default. This means that everyone can see it, whether they’re your friends or not.

Not to worry, you can change this in settings. Here’s how to do so.

1. On the Settings & Privacy section, select “Who can see your friends list”
2. Select either “Friends” or “Only Me” to keep your friends list private.
3. Alternatively, you can go to your Facebook profile page.
4. Go to the “Friends” tab under your cover photo.
5. Select the three-dot menu in the top right corner of the Friends screen and choose “Edit Privacy.”
6. Select the audience you want to view your friend list. If you want your friends list to be completely private, select the “only me” option under the drop-down menu. If you want to share your Friends list with only your friends, or specific friends, select the appropriate option from the drop-down menu.
   You can also exclude specific friends from viewing your friend list if necessary or desired.
7. Then click “Save”

#3. How to Review Your Profile Privacy Settings

As a Facebook user, your account is set to “public” by default. This means that it’s indexed by Google and other search engines and can be seen by just anyone.

If you want to change this, then you have to review your profile settings for each item in your profile.

Here’s how it works

1. Select your name at the top of your Facebook screen to go to your profile
2. Select “Edit Profile.”
3. Turn off the toggle next to the information you want to remain private. This includes boxes next to education, your current city, your hometown, and other personal information you added to Facebook.

To make your profile invisible to search engines, here’s what to do

1. Select the drop-down arrow on the top right corner of your Facebook screen
2. Select “Settings & Privacy”
3. Choose settings
4. Select “Privacy”
5. Then go to the “Do you want search engine outside of Facebook to link to your profile”? Select “Edit” and clear the checkbox that allows search engines to find you on Facebook.

#4. How to Change Privacy Settings on Photo Albums

When you upload photos to Facebook, you can change the privacy settings by album or individual image.

To change the privacy settings of your photo album,

1. Go to your profile and select “Photos”
2. Select the “More” menu next to the album you want to change and select “Edit Album”
3. Use the “audience selector” to set the privacy setting for the album. The audience selector is the one that shows you Friends, Only me, Public.

How to make your Facebook Private on Mobile

If you constantly use Facebook on your mobile device and you want to make your profile private, here’s how to do so effortlessly.

1. Open the Facebook app on your mobile phone.
2. Tap the three horizontal lines on the right-hand side of your screen and scroll till you get to the “Settings & Privacy” section
3. Tap on “Settings & Privacy,” which will then lead you to “Privacy shortcuts,” where you can customize your privacy options.
4. On the “Privacy shortcuts” menu, you’ll see a list of options underneath the “Privacy” header. Tap the bottom option, “See more privacy settings.” This will lead you to the screen where you can review and change your current settings.
5. To change who can see your activity, including your future posts, tap on the relevant option under “Your activity.” In the dropdown menu that will appear, change your option to “only me.”That way, it’s completely private.
6. Repeat the procedure in number 5 for other options on your profile that you want to make private.
7. Bear in mind that you can also make your birthday, relationship, and other profile information private under the “Manage your profile” section on the “Privacy Settings”

How to make your Facebook Profile Private on Desktop

If you prefer to use Facebook on your PC, here’s hw to make your profile private.

1. Log in to Facebook using your email address and password.
2. On your news feed which is also your home screen, click on the arrow in the upper right-hand corner of the screen.
3. Scroll down and select the “Settings” tab
4. On the left-hand side of your screen, you’ll see a long list of menu options. Locate “Privacy, and click on it to change your privacy settings.
5. Bear in mind that you can change your privacy settings for other individual website features. This means that you can adjust your privacy for some elements on the site, such as who can see your posts, etc.
6. You can make your Facebook even more private by changing who you tag in posts and who can post stuff on your timeline.

Stop People From Messaging You

You can limit who can message you by going to the How You Get Message Requests section. You can also choose to receive certain messages but route them to a separate folder separate from your inbox.

• Under Potential Connections, choose where messages from people who have your phone number and/or mutual friends go. You can choose Chats (your regular inbox), Message requests (a separate folder), or Don’t receive requests (deletes them).
• Under Other people, make the same choice for people you’re not connected to and Instagram users. Here, you can’t choose to receive their messages in your regular inbox — you have to choose either Message requests or Don’t receive requests.

How to Make Specific Facebook Posts Private

The options discussed above control your entire Facebook account. However, whenever you post something, you can customize its privacy settings. That is, you can keep your profile private while making a single post public, and vice versa.

1. When creating a Facebook post, click the dropdown button under your name.

2. In the menu that opens, select how private or public you want the post to be.

Once you post, only the audience that you choose will be able to see it.

How to Set Up Privacy Check Reminders on Facebook

As your privacy needs change, it’s easy to forget to update the Facebook settings mentioned above. Fortunately, you can set reminders through Privacy Checkup to remind you to review them on a regular basis.

1. Open the Facebook website and log into your account.

2. Click your profile picture in the top-right corner of the screen, and then select Settings & Privacy in the menu that appears.

3. In the submenu, click Privacy Checkup.

4. On the next screen, click the three horizontal dots and select Set up reminders.

5. In the pop-up, select when you want Facebook to remind you to do a privacy check, and then click Save.

Bottom Line

As you can see, it’s very easy to make your Facebook private. You just need to select which method best suits you, and you’re good to go.

FAQ on How to Make Your Facebook Private

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