# How to Keep Your Facebook Account Private

Facebook is designed for sharing with friends, so you can't make a profile that hides everything from friends too. The closest you can get is:

- Hide everything from non-friends (the public).
- Use the "Only me" setting on individual fields you don't want anyone to see, including friends.
- Put specific friends on a Restricted list so they only see what you make public.

A few things stay visible no matter what: your name, your profile picture, your cover photo, and your activity in public groups.

### Basic protections 

Go to **Settings & privacy** → **Settings** → **Privacy** (or **Audience and visibility** on newer layouts). Set each item below.

**Your posts and stories**
- Who can see your future posts: **Friends** (or **Only me** if you want a quiet profile)
- Limit past posts to friends: **Yes**
- Who can see your stories: **Friends**

**Your profile details** (under **Profile details** or **Profile information**)
- Set each field (birthday, hometown, current city, relationship, email, phone, employer, education) to **Only me**. This hides them from friends too.

**Your friends list**
- Who can see your friends list: **Only me**

**Pages you follow**
- Who can see the pages you follow: **Only me**

**Finding you**
- Who can send friend requests: **Friends of friends**
- Who can look you up by email or phone: **Friends**
- Search engines linking to your profile: **Off**

**Tagging**
- Review tags before they appear on your profile: **On**
- Who can see posts you're tagged in: **Friends** or **Only me**

**Active status**
- Show when you're active: **Off**

### Hide things from specific friends without unfriending them

Add them to your Restricted list: **Settings** → **Privacy** → **Blocking** → **Restricted list**. They stay friends, but only see what you post as Public.

### Check what others actually see

On your profile, click the three dots near your name → **View As**. This shows your profile from a non-friend's perspective. Anything you still see there is still public.

### What you can't hide

- Your name, profile picture, and cover photo are always public.
- Posts you make in public groups are visible to anyone in those groups.
- Comments you leave on public posts are visible to anyone who can see that post.
- Facebook itself sees everything regardless of these settings.

### While you're in there: lock the account

- **Settings** → **Security and login**: turn on **two-factor authentication** (authenticator app, not SMS, if possible) and **login alerts**.
- Use a unique password from your password manager.