Facebook has become one of the most popular social media platforms, with over 2.8 billion monthly active users as of 2020. With so many people using Facebook, it’s common for users to wonder who has been looking at their profile and if there is a way to see a list of recent profile visitors.
Can you see who views your Facebook profile?
The short answer is no, there is no way to see exactly who has viewed your Facebook profile recently. Facebook removed the ability to view your profile visitors in 2014 due to privacy concerns.
Previously, Facebook showed users a list of thumbnails of friends who had recently viewed their profile. However, users expressed concerns over this feature, worrying that it infringed on privacy and made some people feel uncomfortable knowing when specific friends were looking at their profile.
In response to these concerns, Facebook decided to remove the visitor list entirely. While some users were disappointed to lose the feature, privacy advocates praised Facebook’s decision.
Why did Facebook remove the profile visitor list?
There were a few specific reasons why Facebook decided to remove the ability to see profile visitors:
- Privacy concerns – As mentioned, many users worried about others being able to tell when they looked at a profile.
- Misuse – Some users were found to be misusing the visitor list by contacting people who viewed their profile inappropriately.
- Bugs – The feature was prone to bugs and often showed incorrect information about who had viewed a profile.
- Stalking/harassment issues – The visitor list was sometimes used for stalking or harassment purposes.
Overall, Facebook determined the potential for misuse and privacy issues outweighed any benefits of allowing users to see their profile visitors.
What information can you see about profile views?
While you can no longer see exactly who viewed your profile, Facebook does provide some limited metrics:
Profile view metrics
If you go to your profile and click on the “View As” button in the upper right, you will see a module called “Profile Views.” This shows you total views of your profile within various date ranges.
For example, it may show you how many people viewed your profile in the past week or how many viewed it from your home country in the past month. However, it does not show you names of who viewed your profile.
Page Insights
If you have a Facebook Page for a business, brand, organization, or as a public figure, you can access more detailed analytics through Facebook Page Insights. This shows demographic data on your Page viewers such as age, gender, location, and language.
Again, Page Insights will not show you names of specific people who viewed your Page. But it does give you more granular analytics to understand who your Page is reaching.
Can you see who views your Facebook profile on desktop?
No, the ability to see profile viewers was removed from both desktop and mobile versions of Facebook. There is no way to see a list of who viewed your profile recently whether you are accessing Facebook on a desktop computer, mobile browser, or in the mobile apps.
The profile view metrics showing total views over certain time periods are available on desktop and mobile as well. But specific names of viewers are not shown anywhere.
Does Facebook notify someone if you view their profile?
No, Facebook does not notify a user when someone specifically views their profile. The only way you can tell if someone visited your profile is if they interact in some way, like liking or commenting on a post.
For example, if John views Emily’s profile but does not like or comment on anything, Emily will not get any notification. John’s profile view will be anonymous. The only indication Emily will get is the total profile view number going up.
Can you pay to see who viewed your Facebook profile?
Some third-party apps and browser extensions claim they can show you who viewed your Facebook profile. However, these should be avoided as they violate Facebook’s policies and can potentially access your data or spread malware.
Facebook specifically prohibits apps that claim to show your profile visitors. Any app that can actually show this is likely scraping Facebook user data without proper authorization.
You may come across paid services that offer to reveal your profile visitors for a fee. But these are scams and should be avoided, as it is technically impossible for them to access this information.
Does Facebook show who views your Instagram profile?
Instagram, which is owned by Facebook, also does not provide information about who specifically is viewing your profile. As with Facebook, you can only see metrics for your total profile views over certain time periods.
Apps that claim to show your Instagram profile visitors should also be avoided for the same reasons – they violate policies and are often scams harvesting user data.
Can you see who views your profile on other social networks?
Most major social networks do not allow you to view exactly who has visited or looked at your profile. Here are the policies on a few other popular platforms:
- LinkedIn – No viewer list available. You can only see profile view metrics.
- Twitter – No information available on profile viewers.
- Pinterest – No viewer list. Only total profile view count shown.
- Snapchat – No data on profile viewers available. Friends are notified if you screenshot their snaps.
- TikTok – Video view count available but no data on profile visitors.
So across most social networks, full transparency into who is looking at your profile is not provided due to privacy reasons. Apps that claim otherwise typically cannot actually access or provide that data.
What social networks do show profile visitors?
There are a few smaller social networks that do still show some profile visitor data:
- Nextdoor – Shows thumbnail photos of nearby residents who view your profile.
- Tagged – Shows profile thumbnails of visitors to your profile.
- MeetMe – Shows profile photos of visitors to your profile.
However, these platforms are much smaller and designed differently than Facebook. They emphasize visibility among users in a tight geographic community in the case of Nextdoor, or emphasize meeting new people like on Tagged and MeetMe.
For broader social networks designed around friends and family like Facebook, profile visitor lists are viewed as more of a privacy risk than benefit in most cases.
Should Facebook bring back the profile visitor list?
The removal of the profile visitor list on Facebook remains controversial. Some users argue the feature should be brought back, giving the following reasons:
- Useful to see who is interested in you romantically or professionally
- Creates more transparency so you know who is viewing your info
- Can drive engagement as users interact with visitors
- Facebook has many privacy controls so concerned users can opt out
However, there are also strong arguments for why the viewer list should remain off Facebook:
- Prevents stalking and harassment that was enabled by the feature
- Viewers may have innocent reasons for looking at a profile that could be misinterpreted
- Encourages comparing profiles with friends to see who looked at you more
- Provides minimal benefits compared to risks of misuse
Ultimately, Facebook has indicated the profile visitor list is unlikely to return given the privacy and product concerns. But the debate continues around whether benefits could outweigh potential downsides.
How can you tell if someone is viewing your profile?
While Facebook removed the profile visitor list, there are still some signals that can indicate a specific person is viewing your profile:
- They suddenly like or comment on multiple old posts or photos
- Increase in profile views from a certain geographical area
- Higher views from a specific demographic like a certain age range
- They bring up something you recently posted as a conversation starter
However, these signals are not definitive indicators on their own. The only way to confirm if someone viewed your profile is to ask them directly. But without the visitor list, you will not get notifications from Facebook if specific individuals view your profile.
How can you limit who views your Facebook profile?
If you want to restrict access to viewing your Facebook profile, there are a few options:
- Adjust privacy settings – Control who can see your future posts, past posts, friends list and other profile info.
- Block specific users – Prevent individual users from searching for you or accessing your profile.
- Make profile fully private – Only let confirmed friends view any aspect of your profile.
- Deactivate account – Temporarily disable your account to make it inaccessible.
Enabling these privacy options can help minimize random people or vague acquaintances looking at your profile. But they will not hide your profile from determined friends, as Facebook is designed for openness among personal connections.
Conclusion
The ability to see exactly who’s viewing your Facebook profile was removed several years ago for privacy reasons. While some users miss having a visitor list, Facebook has indicated this feature is unlikely to return anytime soon.
You can still see metrics for how many people viewed your profile over certain time periods. But specific names of profile visitors are not provided on Facebook, Instagram, and most other major social networks.
Claims that third-party apps can show your viewers are not credible, as this data is not available through official APIs. While you can’t see who specifically is looking at your profile, you can use privacy settings to limit visibility of your profile to only people you are comfortable with.
| Platform | Can see profile viewers? |
|---|---|
| No | |
| No | |
| No | |
| No | |
| No | |
| Snapchat | No |
| TikTok | No |
| Nextdoor | Yes |
| Tagged | Yes |
| MeetMe | Yes |