Facebook Dating is a new dating feature launched by Facebook in 2018. It allows Facebook users to create a separate dating profile and find potential romantic matches from among their Facebook friends or users they are not already connected to. A common question many Facebook users have is whether their Facebook Dating activity shows up in their regular Facebook profile and is visible to their Facebook friends.
Does Facebook Dating Show Up in Your Main Facebook Profile?
The short answer is no – nothing about your Facebook Dating profile or activity will appear on your regular Facebook profile that your friends can see. Facebook designed Facebook Dating to be completely separate from a user’s main Facebook account.
When you choose to enable Facebook Dating, it creates a separate dating profile for you that only other users of Facebook Dating can see. Your dating profile does not get published on your Timeline or News Feed where your Facebook friends would see it.
None of your existing Facebook friends will be notified that you’ve joined Facebook Dating. The only way they could know is if you directly tell them. But nothing about your dating profile or activity will appear in your main Facebook profile without your explicit permission.
What Parts of Your Facebook Profile Are Visible in Facebook Dating?
When you create your Facebook Dating profile, it will pull some basic information from your regular Facebook account such as your first name, age range, location, and Facebook Page likes. You can then choose to add up to 36 photos from your regular Facebook photo albums to your dating profile.
None of your Facebook posts or other Timeline content will be shared on your dating profile. The only parts of your existing profile that carry over are your name, age, location, and likes. Everything else about your dating profile can be customized separately from your regular account.
Can You Control What Appears in Your Dating Profile?
Yes, you have full control over what appears on your Facebook Dating profile:
- Name – You can choose whether to display your first name only or your full name
- Photos – You pick which Facebook photos are visible to potential matches
- Age – You can hide your exact age and only show an age range
- Bio – You can write your own bio and describe yourself however you want
- Interests – You can choose interests to display from a preset list Facebook provides
The only information that carries over from your regular profile is your name, age range, location and likes. Everything else can be customized for dating only.
Will Your Dating Profile Appear in Facebook Search Results?
Your Facebook Dating profile will not appear in public Facebook search results either. It remains separate from your main account.
When someone who is not your Facebook friend searches for your name on Facebook, your dating profile will not come up in the results. The only parts of your profile visible to non-friends are whatever you’ve set as public in your regular account privacy settings.
Can Strangers See Your Dating Profile?
No, strangers who are not existing Facebook friends or Facebook Dating matches cannot see anything about your dating profile or activity. The only people who can see your dating profile are:
- Matched users who you have mutually liked on Facebook Dating
- Users you have been matched with by Facebook’s algorithm, but have not liked back
Facebook Dating does not share any of your personal information with strangers or make it visible outside of other Facebook Dating users you are interested in or matched with.
Will You Appear as a Recommended Friend in Dating?
Facebook said they took precautions to prevent you from being recommended to your existing Facebook friends who also use Facebook Dating.
When you first enable Dating, it asks if you would like to prevent friends from seeing your dating profile. If you choose yes, Facebook will try to avoid recommending your profile to your friends who use Dating.
However, Facebook admits their technology is not perfect. There is still a chance you could appear as a recommended match to a friend if you have many things in common and are within each other’s dating preferences.
If this happens, Facebook allows you to remove that friend as a potential match. This will ensure you do not get recommended to each other again.
Can You Unintentionally Match With Friends?
Yes, there is a possibility you could match with a friend on Facebook Dating without realizing it if neither of you opted out of being recommended.
To avoid this, pay close attention to the names and photos of your recommended matches before liking them. If you see anyone you know, simply remove them from your potential matches.
Can You Control Who Sees Your Dating Profile?
Yes, Facebook Dating allows you to preemptively block any of your existing Facebook friends from seeing your dating profile.
When you first set up your dating profile, Facebook will automatically block any friends from seeing it as matches. But you can also block connections individually:
- Go to your Dating Profile
- Tap on the three line menu icon
- Choose “Blocked Users”
- Enter the name of the Facebook friend you want to block
This will prevent that Facebook friend from ever being recommended to you as a dating match. And it will also prevent your dating profile from appearing to them.
Can You Block Certain Friends?
Yes, the block user feature allows you to target specific Facebook friends to block from ever seeing your dating profile.
Even if you and the blocked friend have many common interests and both fit into each other’s dating preferences, Facebook’s algorithm will respect the block and not recommend you to each other.
Will Your Dating Likes and Matches Appear on Facebook?
No, who you like, match with, chat with, and go on dates with through Facebook Dating will not appear anywhere on your Facebook profile.
All dating activity including:
- Liking profiles
- Matching users
- Chatting
- Making plans
Stays completely separate from your Facebook timeline and friends list. None of it is visible to your Facebook friends or posted on your profile.
Can Friends See Your Dating Messages?
No, the messages you send via Facebook Dating exist in a separate messenger that your Facebook friends cannot see. Your dating messages are only visible to you and the recipient.
Facebook designed the Dating Messenger this way intentionally to keep all dating communication private from your social network.
Does Facebook Dating Appear in Your Profile’s About Section?
No, Facebook Dating is not listed anywhere in your general Facebook profile’s About section that is visible to your friends.
Enabling Facebook Dating does not get added to your relationship status, interests, job, education, places lived, contact info or any other part of your profile’s About section.
Your dating activity is kept 100% separate from the profile info visible to friends.
Can You Manually Add It to Your About Section?
There is no setting to manually add Facebook Dating to your about section. Since dating activity is kept private, it does not get added to your public profile details.
If you want to share that you have an active Facebook Dating profile with friends, you would need to directly tell them rather than update it in your About section.
Does the Facebook Mobile App Show Dating?
The Facebook mobile app does not show anything related to your dating profile or activity in the main sections of the app.
Dating exists in a separate tab of the mobile Facebook app that keeps it segmented away from your regular profile.
To access Facebook Dating on mobile:
- Open the Facebook app
- Tap on the Menu tab in the bottom toolbar (the three line icon)
- Tap on the Dating tab
This is the only place where your dating profile and matches will appear within the Facebook mobile app.
Is Dating Visible from the Main Home Screen?
No, the main home screen of the Facebook mobile app will not show anything about your dating profile or matches. You have to specifically navigate to the Dating tab to view that activity.
Can You Post Dating Profile Info on Your Timeline?
While Facebook does not automatically post any dating profile info to your timeline, you do have the option to manually post about it if you want friends to know.
For example, you could write a Facebook post that says:
“I just created a Facebook Dating profile! Let me know if you want me to send you the link to it so we can match.”
This would let your Facebook friends know you have an active dating profile. However, they would only be able to view it if you sent them the direct link or matched with them on Dating.
Can Friends Tag You in Dating Posts?
Yes, since you have the ability to post about your dating profile and matches, friends could also tag you in a post referencing this.
For example, a friend could write:
“I just matched with [your name] on Facebook Dating! So excited for our virtual date Friday night.”
You would then have the option to approve the tagged post before it appears on your timeline. But there is nothing stopping a friend from mentioning your dating activity in a post.
Can You Share Dating Profile Pictures on Facebook?
The photos you add to your Facebook Dating profile can only be seen by others using the dating feature. They do not get shared to your main Facebook photo albums.
However, since the dating photos are pulled from your existing Facebook albums, you do have the option to manually share one as a new post and mention it is your dating profile picture.
For example, you could create a post such as:
“Here’s my main dating profile pic! What do you think?”
As long as the photo already exists in your standard Facebook albums, you can share it outside of just dating. But it won’t automatically appear to friends unless you proactively post it.
Conclusion
Facebook intentionally designed Dating to keep your dating profile and activity separate from your main Facebook account that friends interact with.
Nothing related to your dating profile, matches, likes, chats, or dates will ever appear in your Facebook profile or Timeline without you manually choosing to share it.
The only dating information your friends can see is what you directly choose to post or tell them yourself. So you can rest assured that your dating life won’t be made public to friends unless you want it to be!