Facebook’s relationship status feature allows users to share whether they are single, in a relationship, engaged, married, in a civil partnership, in an open relationship, widowed, separated, divorced, or “it’s complicated.” This can help friends and family understand a user’s current romantic situation. However, Facebook has made some changes over the years regarding who can see relationship statuses.
What are Facebook relationship statuses?
Facebook relationship statuses are a way for users to share their current romantic situation publicly or with certain audiences on their profile. When adding a relationship status, users can select from the following options:
- Single
- In a relationship
- Engaged
- Married
- In a civil partnership
- In an open relationship
- Widowed
- Separated
- Divorced
- It’s complicated
If in a relationship, engaged, married, or in a civil partnership, users can also link their profile to their partner’s profile. This allows both individuals to display the relationship on their profiles.
Who can see your Facebook relationship status?
In the past, Facebook relationship statuses were visible to anyone who could see your profile. However, in 2014, Facebook made a change to relationship statuses and other sensitive profile fields, restricting visibility to only the following audiences:
- You
- Your friends
- Friends of friends
This means the general public can no longer see your relationship status unless you specifically choose to make it public. You can adjust the audience for your relationship status by going to your profile, clicking the “…” menu in the relationship status box, and selecting “Edit audience.”
Can you hide your relationship status completely?
Yes, you can choose to hide your relationship status from your profile entirely. To do so:
- Go to your profile
- Click the “…” menu in the relationship status box
- Select “Hide from timeline”
This will remove your relationship status from your profile. You can always re-add it later if you change your mind.
Does deleting your relationship status remove it from your profile?
No, deleting your relationship status is not the same as hiding it. If you delete your status, it does remove it from your profile page. However, it does not prevent it from showing up in other places where relationship status is displayed, such as alongside posts you’re tagged in.
To fully remove your relationship status from view, you need to hide it rather than delete it.
Can you show your relationship status to some friends but not others?
Yes, Facebook does allow you to customize your audience for relationship status to show it only to certain friends. To do this:
- Go to your profile
- Click the “…” menu in the relationship status box
- Select “Edit audience”
- Choose “Custom” and type in the names or friend lists you want to be able to see your status
This will override the default “Friends” audience and show it only to the selected individuals or lists.
Will my relationship status display if I’m tagged in a post?
It depends. If your relationship status visibility is limited to Friends, Friends of Friends, or a Custom audience, then your status will only be displayed in tags to people within those selected audiences. If you have hidden your relationship status from your timeline, it won’t show up when tagged.
Can I choose who sees when my relationship status changes?
Whenever you update your relationship status, Facebook allows you to customize the audience at that time who gets notified about the change. The default is Friends, but you can expand it to Friends of Friends or narrow it down to specific groups or friend lists as well.
To adjust who receives notifications about relationship status changes:
- Go to your profile
- Click on your current relationship status
- Select your new status
- Use the audience selector to choose who you want to be notified
This controls notifications, but your customized visibility settings will still determine who can actually see the change on your profile.
Can I see someone else’s relationship status?
Whether or not you can see someone else’s relationship status depends on their privacy settings. If they allow Friends, Friends of Friends, or the Public to see it, then it will be displayed on their profile to you if you’re within that audience circle.
However, if they have customized the audience or hidden the status, then you won’t be able to see it. Relationship statuses are no longer visible to the general public by default anymore unless the user specifically enables that setting.
Will someone’s partner be notified if they change their status?
If two people have their profiles linked as being in a relationship, they will both receive notifications anytime either person updates or removes the relationship status.
For example, if Amy and Brian have listed each other as partners on Facebook, and Amy changes her status to Single, Brian will get notified of the change. This allows partners to be aware of any updates that impact the stated relationship.
Can I see past relationship statuses someone used to have?
In most cases, you cannot see a history of someone’s past relationship statuses. When a user changes their status, their previous status is removed and no longer displayed. The exception is if you were originally in the audience when a previous status was set, it may still be visible to you.
For example, if Bob set his status to “In a relationship” and customized the audience to Friends, and you were friends with Bob at that time, you may still see that status displayed, even though Bob has since changed it. But otherwise relationship histories are not available.
Conclusion
In summary:
- Facebook relationship statuses allow users to share details about their romantic lives
- Statuses are now only visible to your selected audience, not the general public
- You can hide your relationship status entirely if desired
- Customizing the audience for status updates provides more control over who sees changes
- visibility settings determine if your status shows up when tagged
- You can only see someone else’s status if they allow your audience to view it
- Partners get notified of any changes made to a stated relationship
- Relationship status histories are generally not available
Facebook’s approach gives users flexibility in sharing relationship details, while respecting privacy concerns. Adjusting the audience settings is the key to controlling how much or how little is revealed.