How To Make Facebook Private: 3 Quick Tips

Social media allows us to stay connected with friends and family, share life updates, and express ourselves online. However, it also opens up our personal information to the public eye.

With over 2.8 billion monthly active users, Facebook hosts much of our digital social lives. But the platform‘s default settings make profiles, posts, photos and more completely public.

If you value your privacy, you‘ll want to take control by making your Facebook account private. This prevents random strangers from accessing details about your life.

In this comprehensive guide, I‘ll explain exact steps to limit what people can see on your Facebook profile. You‘ll learn how to change privacy settings for your friends list, posts, photos, profile info and more.

I‘ll also cover additional options to lock down your account, troubleshoot issues, and answer common questions on going private. Let‘s dive in!

Why Make Facebook Private?

Before we get into the how, let‘s discuss the why. Here are 5 key reasons to make your Facebook profile and activity private:

Protect Personal Information – Your profile may share your email, job, relationship status, location and other personal details. This info can be used for phishing scams, identity theft or hacking if public.
Limit Unknown Connections – Strangers can send friend requests or message you if your profile is public. Making it private blocks unwelcome contacts.
Control Your Image – Anything you post publicly on Facebook becomes part of your digital footprint forever. Making posts private lets you decide what image to portray.
Secure Photos & Videos – Private profiles prevent others from downloading or sharing your photos and videos without consent. This helps guard against misuse.
Manage Ad Targeting – Facebook tracks activity to target ads. A private profile limits what data can be collected and sold to advertisers.

As you can see, a public profile comes with many risks in our digital age. The good news is taking your account private is straightforward. Now let‘s get into the step-by-step process.

Adjusting Facebook Privacy Settings

Facebook provides granular settings to customize exactly who can see your information. The settings control visibility for your profile, posts, media, friends list, and more.

Here‘s an overview of the key categories found in Facebook‘s privacy settings:

Profile Privacy – Controls what info is visible on your profile like bio, photos, work, education, relationship status, and more.
Post Privacy – Sets the audience for your posts including status updates, shared links, life events, and other content.
Photo & Media Privacy – Defines who can see and share your photos, videos, and other media uploads.
Friends, Followers & Requests – Manages settings for your friends list, followers, and friend requests.
How People Can Find You – Handles whether people can look you up by phone number, email, or in external search engines.
Your Activity – Allows you to manage the visibility of your previous posts and activity.
News Feed & Stories – Customizes what appears in your News Feed and if your viewing activity is shown to others.
Apps & Websites – Controls what information third-party apps and sites can access.
Location – Sets whether your device location is collected and if your location appears on posts.
Face Recognition – Opts out of Facebook scanning and recognizing your face in photos and videos.
Ad Preferences – Limits what data Facebook can use to target and show you ads.

As you can see, the options cover everything from your profile to friends list visibility, post privacy, photo sharing, searchability, location tracking, face recognition, ad targeting, and more.

Now let‘s walk through how to access and modify the privacy settings on both desktop and mobile.

Accessing Privacy Settings on Desktop

To change privacy settings on the Facebook website:

Click the down arrow at the top right and select "Settings".
Choose "Privacy" from the left column.
Select a category like "Profile", "Posts", "How People Find You", etc.
Change the setting toggles or dropdowns as desired and click "Save Changes".
Repeat for additional categories to customize all aspects of your privacy.

Accessing Privacy Settings in Mobile App

To change privacy settings in the Facebook mobile app:

Tap the hamburger menu icon (3 lines) at the bottom right.
Scroll down and choose "Settings & Privacy".
Select "Settings" and tap "Privacy".
Choose a privacy category to edit options like profile, posts, location sharing, etc.
Adjust the toggles or menus and tap "Save Changes" at the top.
Customize additional categories until your privacy preferences are set.

Now that you know how to access the settings, let‘s look at what specific changes to make for a private profile.

Setting Your Profile to Private

Your profile controls what personal info is visible to others. This includes details like your bio, photos, current city, work and education history, relationship status, and more.

Here are the steps to make your profile completely private on Facebook:

Go to your profile page and click on the "Edit Details" pencil icon.
Click on each section such as bio, profile picture, featured photos, family, relationships, work, education, places lived, contact info, etc.
Change the audience for each section to "Only Me" or "Friends" only.
Be sure to also click the individual photos and videos under "Featured" and set to private.
Click "Review" and then "Save Changes" to apply the new profile privacy.

This ensures only your confirmed friends, or just you, can see the personal details on your profile. It‘s hidden for everyone else.

Limiting Who Can See Your Friends List

Your full friends list reveals a lot about your connections and relationships. Make it private to control this info.

On desktop:

Go to "Settings" then "Privacy".
Click "Friends, Followers & Requests".
Under "Who can see your friends list?" select "Only Me" or "Friends".

In the mobile app:

Tap the hamburger menu and choose "Settings & Privacy".
Tap "Settings" and select "Privacy".
Tap "Friends, Followers & Requests".
Choose "Only Me" or "Friends" for friend list visibility.

Now only you, or confirmed friends, will see your connections on Facebook.

Making Your Posts Private

By default, anything you post to Facebook is visible to the public. Here‘s how to make posts private:

For New Posts

Go to "Settings" and choose "Privacy".
Click on "Posts".
Under the "Default Post Audience" heading, change to "Friends" or "Only Me".

This will automatically make any new post private moving forward.

For Old Posts

Go to "Settings", select "Privacy", then click "Posts".
Under the "Previous Posts" heading, click "Limit Old Posts" and change to "Friends" or "Only Me".

This will retroactively make all your past posts private.

How to Make Photos Private

Similar to posts, your photos are public by default. Use these steps to take control:

For New Photos

Go to your profile, click "Photos", then select "Options".
Change the default visibility under "When I post photos" to "Friends" or "Only me".

For Existing Photos

Navigate to the album with the photos you want to make private.
Click the 3-dot menu in the top right and choose "Edit Privacy".
Change the visibility to "Friends" or "Only me" and click "Save".

You can also edit individual photos to customize the privacy. New uploads will follow your global default photo privacy setting.

Limiting Who Can Search and Find You

Even if your profile is private, people can still potentially find you through searches on Facebook or Google. Here‘s how to manage searchability:

On Facebook

Go to "Settings", click "Privacy", then choose "How People Find and Contact You".
Under "Who can look you up using the email address or phone number you provided?" select "No One".

On Google

Go to "Settings", select "Privacy", and click "How People Find and Contact You".
Under "Do you want other search engines to link to your profile?" select "No".

This will remove you from Google and other search engine results.

Controlling the Audience for Life Events

Major life events like getting married, having a child, moving, or getting a new job are often shared on Facebook.

Make these milestones private to choose who learns about them:

Go to your profile page and click on "Life Events" in the intro section.
Hover over an event and click the 3-dot menu to choose "Edit Privacy".
Change the privacy setting to "Friends" or "Only Me".
Repeat for all other life events you want to make private.

Additional Privacy Tips

Beyond the main settings covered above, here are some extra tips for locking down your Facebook privacy:

Review Apps & Websites – Remove any unused third-party services connected to your account granting access to profile and activity data.
Turn Off Location Services – Go to Facebook Settings > Location to disable location collection and appearing in posts.
Opt Out of Face Recognition – Facial recognition allows Facebook to identify you in photos. Disable this in Facebook Settings > Face Recognition.
Limit Ad Targeting – Reduce what personal data can be used to target ads to you under Facebook Settings > Ad Preferences > Ad Settings.
Set Fake Birthday – Facebook may show age-based ads. Use a fake birthday to avoid. Just remember so you can enter it when asked by Facebook to confirm.
Change Password – Update your account password periodically to protect against hacking, especially if re-securing an old or compromised account.
Remove Old Posts and Activity – Delete or limit visibility of outdated posts and activity to protect your current image. You can do this under Facebook Settings > Your Activity.

Making a Private Profile Work

Here are some best practices for operating a private Facebook profile:

Review Friend Requests – Periodically check pending friend requests and delete any from people you don‘t know. Avoid accepting requests from strangers.
Connect with Close Friends/Family – Share your private profile link only with close contacts you want to grant access.
Respond to Messages – You can still receive messages from non-friends that found your profile. Politely respond that you like to keep your account private.
Use Groups, Events & Pages – As alternatives to a public personal profile, create private groups, closed events, and organization pages to share selectively.

While it takes more diligence, a private profile lets you fully control your Facebook content and connections.

Troubleshooting Privacy Settings

Here are some tips if your new privacy settings don‘t seem to be working:

Wait for Changes – Give Facebook time to update all aspects of your account. It‘s not instant. Check again in a few hours or the next day.
Clear Cookies and Cache – Try clearing your browser history, cookies and cache then refresh Facebook to force it to reload your new settings.
Try Different Browsers and Devices – View your profile in multiple browsers and on mobile devices to confirm it appears private everywhere.
Report Issues to Facebook – If settings remain inconsistently public, report specific problems via Facebook‘s Help Center for additional support.
Start Fresh – In extreme cases, you can create a brand new account and slowly transition friends over. This gives you a clean slate with all private defaults.

Facebook Privacy FAQs

Let‘s wrap up with answers to some frequently asked questions about making your Facebook private:

How do I make my Facebook 100% private to people not my friends?

Make your profile, posts, photos and all activity friends-only. Limit past posts visibility. Restrict searchability and remove public info like your email and phone number.

Can someone who isn‘t my Facebook friend see my private profile and send me a message?

People you are not connected with can still potentially find and message you but won‘t see anything in your private profile beyond your name and profile photo.

Why do some Facebook settings keep resetting to public after I save them as private?

This is likely a technical glitch. Try logging out and back in, clearing cookies/cache, or waiting a bit longer for changes to fully apply across Facebook‘s servers.

If my profile is private can my friends still tag me in public posts or share my photos?

No, friends can only tag you or share your private content with other confirmed friends. However, you should still review tags before approving and ask friends not to share photos without permission.

Can I choose specific friends to hide my posts or profile from?

Yes, you can create friend lists under Settings > Friends, Followers & Requests and then limit visibility of content to "Custom" where you can select just certain friends.

Is there a way to have a private profile but still accept friend requests?

Yes, you can go to Settings > Friends, Followers & Requests and set "Who can send you friend requests?" to "Friends of Friends" or "Public" to keep receiving requests while limiting profile visibility.

I hope this guide gives you clarity on exactly how to control your privacy settings on Facebook. Please let me know if you have any other questions!