By default, Facebook allows visitors to your profile to view your entire list of friends, but you can easily hide your Facebook Friends list from them. While Facebook wants to help people find mutual acquaintances, especially those who recently signed up to Facebook, you may prefer to keep your Friends list private. This tutorial shows you how to hide your Facebook Friends list from your online buddies and others.
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How to Hide Your Facebook Friends List on PC
You can change your Facebook privacy settings for your friends list via the desktop or mobile app. Follow the instructions below if using Facebook in your browser on a computer.
Via Settings
- Head over to Facebook and log in to your account.
- Click on your profile picture in the upper-right corner.
- Select “Settings & Privacy -> Settings” from the menu that pops up.
- Select “Privacy” from the menu on the left.
- On the right, scroll down until you find the following section: “How people find and contact you -> Who can see your friends list.” Click the “Edit” link to the right.
- Use the “Who can see your friends list?” drop-down to specify who has access to this information.
Choose from the following options:
- Public – everyone has access to your Friends list.
- Friends – your list will be accessible to your Friends only. It cannot be accessed by other Facebook users.
- Friends except – do you want to share your Facebook Friends list with everyone except a select few users? In this scenario, it may be easier to specify who shouldn’t have access to your Friends list.
- Specific friends – if you only want to share your list with certain people, select “Specific friends” and enter the names of the lucky few.
- Only me – This hides your Friends list from everyone – even those on your Friends list!
- Custom – if you have very specific requirements, this is the most flexible option. You can use “Custom” to enter the names of anyone who should and shouldn’t have access to your Friends list. You can also use “Custom” to restrict or grant access to entire groups, including “Friends of Friends.”
- More – Click on the “More” option at the bottom to reveal Facebook Lists, including Acquaintances, Close Friends and Love. Facebook allows you to group people under various categories. The three lists mentioned are available by default, but you can also create custom lists.
Directly Through Your Profile
If you don’t want to go through Settings, there’s an alternative path via your Facebook profile that allows you how to hide your Friends list.
- Go to your Facebook profile.
- Find your Friends list on the left of the display and click on “See all friends.”
- In the top right next to the “Find Friends” button, click on the three horizontal dots.
- Select “Edit Privacy.”
- A pop-up window will appear, showing you your current privacy settings. Hit the button next to “Friends List.”
- This will bring up the list of options that we discussed above. Select the desired option.
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How to Hide Your Facebook Friends List on Mobile
If Facebook is installed on your phone, you may prefer to modify these privacy settings via the iOS or Android mobile application.
Unlike on PC, you can only fiddle with these options via Settings and not directly from your profile.
- Launch the Facebook mobile app on your mobile.
- Tap on your profile picture in the upper-right corner if you’re on Android. On iOS, you’ll need to look in the lower right-corner for the profile picture.
- Scroll to “Settings & Privacy -> Settings.”
- Tap on “Profile settings” next to your profile picture at the top.
- On the next screen, select “Privacy.”
- Scroll down until you find the “How people find and contact you” section and tap on “Who can see your friend list” to modify the audience.
- To bring up all of the list options, tap “See all” at the bottom, then select your desired option.
How to Verify that Your Friends List Is Hidden
If you want to ensure the settings changes went into effect, follow the steps below.
- On PC, go back to “Settings” as shown above.
- Go to “Privacy” in the menu on the left.
- Select “Profile and tagging” from the options that appear.
- On the right, scroll down until you see the “Check what your profile looks like to others” option at the bottom. Click the “View as” button to see what the public can see.
- If you set your Friends list audience to “Only Me” or “Friends” (or any of the other privacy options mentioned), your list shouldn’t be visible in Public view (as you can see in the example below.)
- If you’re on mobile, go to “Settings -> Profile settings” as shown above.
- Select “Profile & tagging” from the Privacy section.
- Tap on “Review what other people see on your profile” at the bottom to check what visitors on your profile will be able to see. Your Friends list should be missing from your profile.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Is there any way that people can still see who my Facebook friends are?
To ensure no one can see who your friends are on Facebook, we recommend opting for “Only me” when it comes to setting your Friends list audience. You may have noticed that when visiting a friend’s profile, sometimes you can see a “Mutual friends” list. Depending on their respective privacy settings, this option may not be available. If both parties have “Only me” enabled when it comes to Friends list audience, you won’t see anything when you visit their profile and vice versa.
Keep in mind that people may be able to see you’re friends with someone if the other person hasn’t set their Friends list to private. If they left it on “Public,” for example, you would show up in their Friends list.
How can I create a specific list of people on Facebook?
Creating custom lists of people on Facebook is rather simple and can help you better control who has access to things like your Friends list, as well as posts and comments.
Go to the Friends tab from your Feed and find the “Custom lists” option in the menu on the left. Click on the “Create list” button to start a new list. Alternatively, use Facebook’s predefined options, including “Restricted” or “Acquaintances.” To get started creating a custom list, follow our dedicated tutorial on the matter.
Can you hide certain friends from your Facebook Friends list?
Currently, the option to hide certain friends from your Facebook Friends list is not available. What you can do, however, is go back to “Settings -> Privacy -> Who can see your friends list” and opt for either “Specific people” or “Custom” and create a curated list of people who can view your Friends list, while preventing others from doing so. Other than that, the only option to hide someone from your Friends list on Facebook is to block or delete them. Read on to learn how to block someone on a social app.
How can I stop friends/people from seeing my activity on Facebook?
If privacy is essential to you while using Facebook, know that you have a robust set of options you can take advantage of. For instance, you can review tagged posts before authorizing them to show up on your profile or restrict who contacts you on Facebook. This option is quite handy, especially if you’re not looking to make new acquaintances on the social app but want to keep in contact with friends and family. If that’s the case for you, you can limit the audience that can send you friend requests to “Friends of friends.” You can find this option under the “Privacy” section.
Image credit: Pexels. All screenshots by Alexandra Arici.
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