Hiding your Facebook friends list is a common request for many users who want more control over their privacy on the social network. While Facebook doesn’t allow you to completely hide your friends list from everyone, there are a few ways to limit who can see it.
Why Would You Want to Hide Your Friends List?
There are a few key reasons why someone might want to hide their Facebook friends list:
- Privacy – To prevent acquaintances, coworkers, employers, etc from seeing your friends and trying to connect with them or make judgments about you.
- Harassment – To stop ex-friends, bullies, or other unwanted connections from targeting your friends.
- Stalkers – To hide from stalkers or abusive exes who may try to access your friends list.
- Limit associations – To avoid guilt by association if some of your friends post offensive content.
Who Can See Your Friends List by Default?
By default, Facebook allows the following to see your friends list:
- Friends
- Friends of Friends
- Public if your profile is public
Your friends are able to see all of the people you are connected to on Facebook. Friends of Friends can see your list of friends as well, although they won’t be able to see any additional information about your friends unless they are also friends with them.
If your profile privacy is set to public, then anyone will be able to see your list of friends. This includes people who are not your friends or connected to you in any way.
How to Check Your Profile Privacy Settings
To check whether your profile is set to public or only friends:
- Go to your profile page
- Click on the three dots in the top right corner
- Select “View As”
- This will show you what people who are not your friends see when they look at your profile
- If they can see your friends list, then your profile privacy is set to public
How to Hide Your Facebook Friends List
While you can’t completely hide your friends list from everyone, there are options to limit visibility including:
Adjust Profile Privacy Settings
Make your profile private so only friends can see your friends list:
- Go to “Settings & Privacy” then “Settings”
- Click on “Privacy”
- Under “How people can find and contact you”, select “Friends” for “Who can see your friends list”
- Click “Review all your privacy settings” and make any other adjustments
- Save changes
Update Relationship Status Privacy
If you add your relationship status, that can expose your friends list. Make sure relationship visibility is set to friends only.
Review Tags and Mentions
Any place you are tagged or mentioned also exposes your profile. Go through and remove tags to hide friends.
Block Specific Connections
You can block certain people from seeing your profile or friends list entirely:
- Go to their profile
- Click on the three dots at the top right
- Select “Block”
Create a Restricted Friends List
Facebook allows you to create a “Restricted” friends list:
- Go to your friends list
- Hover over a friend’s name and click “Add to Another List”
- Select “Restricted”
Friends on your Restricted list will only see limited information about your profile and won’t see your full friends list.
Downgrade Unwanted Friends to Acquaintances
Reduce friends to “Acquaintances” and they will only see minimal information about you:
- Go to your friends list
- Hover over a friend’s name and click “Friends”
- Select “Acquaintances” to downgrade them
How Much Can You Really Hide Your Friends List?
While the above options help reduce visibility, they don’t completely block access to your friends list in all situations. Some things to keep in mind:
- Your friends and close friends of friends will still be able to see your list no matter what.
- Any mutual friends will reveal connections between you and friends.
- Connections can still try to guess your friends if they know their names.
- Facebook’s algorithms can still recommend friends based on connections.
If you want to keep your friends list completely private from someone, the only foolproof option is to block them entirely. But in most cases, the above options can help reduce unwanted visibility into your friends list significantly.
Summary of Who Can See Friends List in Different Scenarios
| Profile Privacy Setting | Level of Connection | Can View Friends List? |
|---|---|---|
| Public | Everyone | Yes |
| Friends Only | Friends | Yes |
| Friends Only | Friends of Friends | Yes |
| Friends Only | Restricted | No |
| Friends Only | Acquaintances | No |
| Friends Only | Blocked | No |
Other Facebook Privacy Settings
In addition to your friends list visibility, here are some other privacy settings to review:
Profile and Tagging
Control who can see posts you’ve been tagged in, view your timeline, and more.
Apps and Websites
Manage what information third-party apps can access.
Location Settings
Limit which connections can see your location in posts and your city/town.
Ads
Opt out of targeted ads and control what info is used for ads.
Face Recognition
Prevent Facebook from identifying you in photos and videos.
Search
Choose who can look you up with email/phone number and control search engine visibility.
Security and Login
Set up two-factor authentication and get alerts about unrecognized logins.
Privacy Checkup Tool
Walk through all key privacy settings in one place and make changes.
Conclusion
While you can’t completely hide your Facebook friends list from all connections, adjusting your privacy settings can help limit exposure. Reducing acquaintances, restricting certain friends, and blocking unwanted connections gives you greater control.
However, some visibility remains unavoidable in many cases. Anyone you accept as a Facebook friend will always have access to your friends list and mutual connections between friends can reveal connections. But overall, Facebook does provide useful tools to reduce the visibility of your friends list and increase privacy if you take time to update your settings.