How to make facebook private

+90 votes
asked Jan 18, 2018 in Relationships by DellaQ898592 (250 points)
edited Mar 31, 2018
I desperately need my profile to be private just for my family, not even for it to appear on the search result. I don’t want people to still be able to see my profile and the comments on the timeline, friends and photos. How do I make Facebook private?

1 Answer

+28 votes
answered Aug 5, 2018 by ChristinF04 (390 points)
edited Jan 26, 2019

Here are some tips that will help you. Some might look familiar but considering how Facebook often change the way things work without telling us (probably in those long terms and conditions no one's reads), some tips of old might be applied differently these days.

1. Update your entire profile.

Click the “About” tab on your profile page, it's under the cover photo. This is all your personal information is stored. Phone numbers, age, sexuality, email address etc., all those things you enter when you create your account. Go through every one of them and make them all viewable only to friends. Do them one by one, every single one. It’s been forever since you made your account so some of that information you thought was set to private were viewable by anyone that visits your profile.

In order to change this, click on the symbol beside each information and change the privacy setting manually one at a time. You can actually customize who is allowed to see which information, so if you want only your family to be able to view it, then just only add them on the list.

2. Clean Facebook logs.

If you didn’t know already, Facebook actually tracked and logged every search you made to a neat history pile. So if you regularly stalk anyone on your Facebook, it's about time you delete that history. Go back to your profile page, into the “Activity” tab. Select the search icon in this tab, which should be on the bottom left-hand side. That will bring you to your search history. “Clear Searches” and you are good to go.

3. Limit photo visit.

Facebook photos are really difficult to deal with since anyone can just tag you as they please. Keep it in control from the beginning and you better want to do this regularly. At the bottom of each photo, click on “Options”. Select “Report/Remove Tag” in the drop window and you now have the option to remove that photo. Done!

4. Be aware of privacy settings.

Privacy settings of your own albums can be changed too, but sadly, for your profile, Timeline and mobile photos, you have to do it one by one. Cover photos are public and that can’t be changed. If want to make sure everything is right, then look at the privacy icon on every photo. Access the drop-down menu and the options will be there.

5. Don't forget your friend list.

If you want to change who could see your friends list, you could do it too. Go the profile page once again, but this time go to the friends tab. With the pencil icon on the top right, go to “Edit Privacy”. From there you can change the privacy settings as you like.

6. Deactivate, if necessary.

If you need to fully lock down your account, go to your account settings. Click the arrow on the top right side of the Facebook page and go onto “Settings”. “Privacy” would be on the left. Click on it. From here, you can adjust everything you see fit, of what they can see, even who can send you requests for anything.

With that said, take your time doing what you need. If you only want your family to see it, then just go to “custom” option whenever you are changing your privacy setting. Add your family members and you should be good.

commented Dec 7, 2015 by MEAStella626 (120 points)
this is the most complete answer to the question how to make facebook private, i've check many many sites
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