Simple Ways I Use to Boost My Facebook Profile Privacy

Although I enjoy browsing Facebook, there are always concerns about who might see my posts or access my profile details. Fortunately, by implementing a few simple strategies, I was able to significantly improve my privacy on Facebook while still enjoying the benefits of the platform.

Keeping your Facebook profile private is essential to protecting your personal information from unwanted access. With more and more users and content being shared every day, it becomes important to control who can see your posts and personal details. Fortunately, there are easy steps you can take to enhance your Facebook profile privacy and make your experience more secure. Check out how to keep your anonymous Facebook profile truly anonymous.

1. Restrict posts to friends only

One way I keep my Facebook profile private is by restricting my posts to friends only. This means that only people on my friends list can see my posts, stories, and reels. This simple change helps limit exposure to strangers and potential trolls.

To limit the visibility of Facebook photos, stories, and reels:

1. Open Facebook in your preferred web browser, click on the profile icon in the upper corner, and select الإعدادات والخصوصية -> الإعدادات.
2. Go to section Audience and appearance On the left side select Publications.
3. Click the button next to “Who can see your future posts” and select Friends.
4. To change your current Facebook posts to friends only, click the button Restrict previous posts.
5. Likewise, you can change the appearance of posts for your Stories and Reels as well.

2. Determine who can see your personal details

By default, Facebook displays basic profile details, such as your birthday, education, and relationship status, to everyone on the platform. However, I prefer to make these details visible only to my Facebook friends so that my personal information remains private. Here’s how to do the same.

1. Open Facebook, click your profile icon in the top corner, and click your name.
2. Go to the About tab.
3. On the sidebar, you'll see several sections, such as Overview, Places I've Lived, Life Events, and more.
4. Go to the information you want to hide, and click the More icon. Next to it, select “Edit.”
5. Click the “General” button, change the visibility to “Friends,” and press “Save.” Repeat this process for all the personal details you want to hide.

3. Keep my friends list private

Facebook also makes my friends list visible to everyone by default, meaning anyone can view my friends list even if I don’t communicate with them. To avoid this, I prefer to hide my friends list on Facebook, which gives me more control over who can see my contacts.

If you want to do the same, follow these steps:

1. Open Facebook, click on the profile icon in the upper corner, and select الإعدادات والخصوصية -> الإعدادات.
2. In the sidebar, go to the section Audience and appearance Determine how people find and connect with you.
3. Click the Friends or Public button next to Who can see your friends list and choose Just me.
4. Click on It was completed To save changes.

Check out how to stop using Instagram without losing access to messages.

4. Hide what I follow on Facebook

To keep my Facebook activity more private, I’ve chosen to hide the people, Pages, and lists I follow. This ensures that my interests and connections aren’t visible to anyone. By restricting this information, I can keep details like my personal interests and social activity private. Here’s how to do the same.

1. Go to menu Settings & Privacy On Facebook.
2. Select the “Followers & Public Content” tab on the side.
3. Click the Public button next to Who can see the people, Pages, and lists you follow, select Friends, and then tap Save.

5. Prevent profile discovery via phone number, email or search engine

I’ve taken more aggressive steps to protect my privacy by preventing others from discovering my Facebook profile through my phone number and email. I’ve also opted out of search engine optimization, ensuring my profile doesn’t appear in Google search results. These simple changes make it harder for someone to find me without my consent.

To make your Facebook profile unsearchable via phone number, email, or search engine:

1. Go to the “Settings & Privacy” menu on Facebook.
2. In the sidebar, go to the Audience & Visibility section and click How people find and connect with you.
3. On the opposite side, click the “Potential Connections” button next to “People who have your email address.”
4. Select “Nobody” and click “Done”.
5. Disable the toggle next to “Do you want search engines outside of Facebook to link to your profile?”

6. Set my activity status to disabled

Although I use Facebook occasionally to chat, I have turned off my active status. This gives me more control over my online presence, allowing me to browse or message without feeling like I'm constantly being watched.

If you want to do the same, tap the Messenger icon at the top. Then tap the More icon. And specify Activity status From the menu. In the next window, turn off the toggle switch next to Activity Status and tap keepAlternatively, you can also choose to keep your activity status on or off for specific people from this list.

7. Use Facebook’s Privacy Checkup tool regularly.

Adjusting each privacy setting on Facebook individually can be overwhelming. Fortunately, Facebook offers a Privacy Checkup tool that simplifies the process by allowing me to review and manage all of my privacy settings in one place.

The tool also allows me to set reminders to use on a weekly, monthly, semi-annual, or annual basis, ensuring I never miss a privacy checkup. Here's how to access it.

1. Open Facebook, click on the profile icon in the upper corner, and select إعدادات الخصوصية -> فحص الخصوصية.
2. Click on Who can see what you share? Follow the instructions to set your profile information, posts, and photos you're tagged in to be visible to friends only.
3. Similarly, click How can people find you to block friend requests from strangers and make your profile unsearchable via phone number, email, and search engines.
4. To set Facebook to remind you of these privacy checks, click the More icon. and specify Setting up reminders.
5. Select one of the following options and click Save: Every week، per month، Every 6 monthsor every year.

That’s it! With a few simple tweaks, I can easily control who sees my information and how they interact with me on the platform. While I’ve covered the steps for the desktop version of Facebook, finding these options on the Android or iOS app is just as easy. Now you can learn how to stop Instagram from tracking your online activity to maintain your privacy.