Profile & Timeline Privacy
Adjust What People Can See
Here's an overview of who can see what's on your profile and tools you can use to control what you share on your profile and timeline.
Overview
  • To edit things like places you’ve lived or your family and relationships, click About below your cover photo, then click next to the info you’d like to change and click Edit. Use the audience selector next to this info to choose who you're sharing it with.
  • Anyone can see your public information, which includes your name, profile picture, cover photo, gender, username, user ID (account number), and networks (learn why).
  • Only you and your friends can post to your timeline. When you post something, you can control who sees it by using the audience selector. When other people post on your timeline, you can control who sees it by choosing the audience of the Who can see what others post on your timeline setting.
Tools
  • As you edit your info, you can control who sees what by using the audience selector.
  • Before photos, posts and app activities that you’re tagged in appear on your timeline, you can approve or dismiss them by turning on timeline review. Keep in mind, you can still be tagged, and the tagged content (example: photo, post) is shared with the audience the person who posted it selected other places on Facebook (example: News Feed and search).
  • Set an audience for who can see posts you’ve been tagged in on your timeline.
  • To see what your profile looks like to other people, use the View As tool.
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To select the audience for things your friends share on your timeline:
  1. Click in the top right of Facebook.
  2. Select Settings & Privacy > Settings.
  3. Click Timeline and Tagging in the left column.
  4. Next to the setting Who can see what others post on your Timeline? click Edit to the right.
  5. Select an audience (example: Friends) from the dropdown menu.
Note: Posts on your timeline may appear other places on Facebook, like News Feed and Search, for people who are in the audience they're shared with (example: friends, public, custom).
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When you share something on your timeline, you can use the audience selector to choose who it's shared with. If you want to change who can see things you've already posted, you can:
  • Choose a new audience for one of your past posts.
  • Change who can see all of your past posts to Friends at one time with Limit Past Posts.
To choose a new audience for one of your past posts:
  1. Click your profile picture in the top right of Facebook.
  2. Scroll down to the post you want to edit.
  3. Click the audience selector next to the date or time on the post. The icon will be different depending on its current audience settings.
  4. Select who can see the post from the options that appear (example: Public, Friends, Only Me).
To change who can see all your past posts at one time:
If you'd like to limit who can see all of your past posts at one time, you can Limit Past Posts in your account settings. This will change all your past posts visible to more people than just your friends (example: posts shared with Public) to be visible to only your Friends.
  1. Click in the top right of Facebook.
  2. Select Settings & Privacy > Settings.
  3. In the left column, click Privacy.
  4. Next to Limit the audience for posts you've shared with friends of friends or Public?, click Limit Past Posts.
  5. Click Limit Past Posts > Limit Past Posts to confirm.
When you use Limit Past Posts to change the audience of all your past posts:
  • When you Limit Past Posts, you’ll change the audience of all your past posts to Friends. If you want to change the audience of your posts back to what they were, you'll need to change the audience of each individual post. Limiting the audience of your previous posts cannot be reversed in one click.
  • If you have shared a previous post with a custom audience, such as Friends except Acquaintances or Close Friends, Limit Past Posts won’t change the audience for those past posts.
  • If you tagged someone in the post, the audience of the post will still include the person you tagged and people they include in posts they're tagged in. Learn more about how to change the audience of a post to just your friends when you tag someone. You can also remove the tag.
  • Limit Past Posts only controls the audience for posts you've shared. If you've been tagged in someone else's post, they control the audience for their posts.
  • When you share something on someone else's timeline, that person controls the audience for the post.
Learn more about how to control what people can see on your profile and timeline.
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You can see what your profile looks like to people on Facebook who you're not friends with.
To use View As:
  1. Click your profile picture in the top right.
  2. Click below your name.
To exit, click Exit View As in the banner.
Keep in mind that posts and photos you've hidden on your timeline are still visible to the audience they're shared with other places on Facebook, like News Feed and search. Learn more about public information.
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Other Tools and Settings
When a friend tags you in a post on Facebook, it automatically appears on your timeline. If you want to review all posts (including friends' posts) before they appear on your timeline, you need to turn on Timeline Review.
Keep in mind, if someone you're not friends with tags you in a post, you'll be prompted to review it to appear on your timeline, even if you don't have Timeline Review turned on.
To turn on Timeline Review or review your Timeline Review settings:
  1. Click in the top right of Facebook.
  2. Select Settings & Privacy > Settings.
  3. In the left column, click Timeline and Tagging.
  4. Look for the setting Review posts you're tagged in before the post appears on your timeline? and click Edit to the far right.
  5. Select Enabled or Disabled.
Note: Timeline Review only controls what's allowed on your timeline. Posts you're tagged in may still appear in Search, News Feed and other places on Facebook.
Timeline Review for legacy contacts:
You can also choose to add a legacy contact to your account, who looks after your account if it's memorialized. Your legacy contact will be able to turn off Timeline Review so tagged posts can appear in the Tributes section. Learn more about what legacy contacts can do.
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Your email has both a privacy setting (that controls who you share it with) and a setting that controls whether it shows on your profile or not.
For example, you can choose to show your email on your profile, but set its privacy to Friends, so your email is shared on your profile and other places on Facebook with your friends.
To adjust who you share your email with and decide if it shows on your profile:
  1. Click your profile picture in the top right of Facebook.
  2. Click About at the top of your profile.
  3. Click Contact and Basic Info in the left menu.
  4. Click Edit next to your email and click the audience selector next to your email to change the audience it's shared with and save any changes.
Note: When you hide your email on your profile, the people you share it with can still access your email elsewhere, such as in search and other places on Facebook.
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By default, the Friends section of your profile is public, meaning everyone can see it.
To adjust who can see your Friends section:
  1. Click in the top right of Facebook.
  2. Select Settings & Privacy > Settings.
  3. In the left column, click Privacy.
  4. Look for the setting Who can see your friends list? and click Edit to the far right.
  5. Select the audience of people (such as Friends) you'd like to have access to your friends list.
Keep in mind:
  • You can only control who can see your friends list on your profile. Your friends also control who can see their friendships on their own profiles.
    For example, if you set your friends list to Only Me, only you'll be able to see your full friends list on your profile. But, if your friend has their friends list set to Public, anyone can see that you're friends.
  • If people can see your friendship on another profile, they'll also be able to see it in News Feed, Search and other places on Facebook.
  • People may see mutual friends when they visit your profile.
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Only you and your friends can post on your timeline. To prevent your friends from posting on your timeline:
  1. Click in the top right of Facebook.
  2. Select Settings & Privacy > Settings.
  3. In the left column, click Timeline and Tagging.
  4. Look for the setting Who can post on your timeline? and click Edit to the far right.
  5. Click the dropdown menu and select Only Me.
Keep in mind, your friends will still be able to comment on any post they can see (example: a photo you share on your timeline that includes them in the audience).
A few other ways to manage your timeline:
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If you turn on timeline review, you need to review and approve all the posts you're tagged in before they appear on your timeline.
Keep in mind, if someone you're not friends with tags you in a post, you'll be prompted to review it before it appears on your timeline, even if you haven't turned on timeline review.
To get to your timeline review:
  1. Click in the top right of Facebook.
  2. Select Settings & Privacy > Activity Log.
  3. In the left column, click on Timeline Review.
  4. Click Add to Timeline next to an individual post to approve it, or click Hide to ignore it.
Note: Timeline review only controls what's allowed on your timeline. Posts you're tagged in may still appear in Search, News Feed and other places on Facebook.
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