Quick Answer
There are a few different ways to get Facebook to show the most recent posts in your News Feed:
- Go to the News Feed Preferences page and select “Most Recent”
- On the mobile app, tap the three line menu > Settings & Privacy > News Feed Preferences > Prioritize who to see first > Recent posts
- On desktop, click the down arrow at the top right of News Feed > Most Recent
Selecting “Most Recent” will override any other News Feed sorting preferences and show posts in strict reverse chronological order.
Explanation
By default, Facebook’s algorithm doesn’t show posts in strict chronological order – instead, it uses machine learning to predict which posts you might be most interested in seeing towards the top of your News Feed.
The algorithm takes into account things like:
- How often you interact with certain friends
- The type of posts you typically engage with
- How old a post is
While this ranking system is designed to save you time and effort by showing “your best stories first”, as Facebook describes it, some users prefer to browse posts in simple chronological order without algorithmic curation.
If you want to see new posts first regardless of other factors, you can change your News Feed view to Most Recent. Here are step-by-step instructions for doing this on both desktop and mobile:
Desktop
To view most recent posts on desktop:
1. Go to your News Feed by clicking Home on the left sidebar or navigating to https://www.facebook.com/
2. Click the down arrow at the top right of your News Feed
3. Select “Most Recent” from the dropdown menu
This will immediately change your view to a strictly reverse chronological feed showing newest posts first.
Mobile App
To view most recent posts on the Facebook mobile app:
1. Tap the three line (hamburger) menu icon
2. Tap “Settings & Privacy”
3. Tap “Settings”
4. Tap “News Feed Preferences”
5. Tap “Prioritize who to see first”
6. Select “Recent posts”
7. Tap “Done”
Your mobile News Feed will now be ordered with the newest posts at the top.
Customizing News Feed Preferences
Switching your default News Feed view to Most Recent is the simplest way to see newest posts first. However, you can also customize your feed in other ways:
- Prioritize posts from certain friends and pages
- See more or fewer posts from certain sources
- Snooze people or pages for 30 days to temporarily hide their posts
To access these News Feed control options:
- On desktop: Click the three dot More menu at the top right of a post, then choose “News Feed Preferences”
- On mobile: Tap the three line menu, Settings & Privacy > News Feed Preferences
Here you can customize your feed by:
- Favoriting specific friends and pages to see more of their posts
- Unfollowing friends or pages to see fewer of their posts
- Snoozing people or pages to take a 30 day break from their posts
These controls allow you to filter your News Feed without fully unfriending or unfollowing someone. You can snooze annoying friends or pages for a while, or make sure you always see updates from your close friends and favorite pages.
Other Ways to View New Posts
In addition to the Most Recent feed view, there are a couple other ways to easily see the latest posts from friends and pages on Facebook:
Recent Stories
Tap the Recent Stories shortcut at the top of your mobile News Feed to quickly view the latest stories from the past 24 hours.
Activity Log
Use the Activity Log to view a chronological list of all recent stories and activity. To access on mobile, tap the hamburger menu > Activity Log. On desktop, click the down arrow at top right > Activity Log.
This shows a complete reverse chronological feed of everything that’s happened recently, including posts, comments, reactions, and life events. It’s a great way to catch up on everything you might have missed.
Troubleshooting Problems with Most Recent
For the most part, switching your News Feed view to Most Recent is straightforward. However, sometimes you may encounter issues like:
- Feed doesn’t seem to be ordered correctly
- Keeps reverting back to algorithmic view
- Option is greyed out
Here are some troubleshooting tips for common Most Recent problems:
Feed Not Ordered Properly
If your News Feed still seems algorithmically ordered even after selecting Most Recent, try:
- Refreshing the page/app
- Double check that Most Recent is actually selected by clicking the News Feed drop down again
- On mobile, also make sure you tap “Done” after selecting Recent Posts
Sometimes the change doesn’t take effect immediately. Try manually refreshing to load the new view.
Reverting to Algorithmic Feed
The Most Recent setting will persist unless you manually change it back to the default algorithmic sorting. However, sometimes the app or site may encounter an error and revert to the default. If this happens, simply re-select Most Recent from the News Feed drop down. On mobile, make sure you have “Recent posts” highlighted and tap Done.
Most Recent Greyed Out
In some cases, the Most Recent sort option might be greyed out and unselectable. This is typically caused by a technical glitch. Try:
- Force quitting and relaunching the Facebook app
- Logging out and back into your Facebook account
If the issue persists across devices, contact Facebook support for help troubleshooting.
Conclusion
Viewing Facebook posts in chronological order provides an unfiltered, unbiased feed of the most recent updates from your connections. While Facebook’s algorithmic sorting has its benefits, the Most Recent setting gives you complete control.
To see new posts first on both desktop and mobile:
- Select Most Recent from the News Feed drop down
- On mobile, tap Recent Posts and Done in News Feed Preferences
Customize your view further using News Feed controls like favorites, unfollows and snoozes. And take advantage of Activity Log and Recent Stories to catch up on the latest happenings.
With Most Recent selected, your Facebook feed will always show the newest posts first, keeping you up-to-date in real time.