The Facebook story bar is the section at the top of the News Feed that shows friends’ stories, posts, photos, videos, and more. It provides a quick and easy way to see what’s happening with friends and Pages you follow.
However, some users may find the story bar distracting or want to customize their Facebook experience by removing it. The good news is you can hide the story bar on Facebook’s desktop site, Android app, and iOS app with just a few clicks.
In this comprehensive guide, we’ll explain:
- What the Facebook story bar is
- Why you might want to hide it
- Step-by-step instructions to hide the story bar on:
- Facebook desktop site
- Facebook Android app
- Facebook iOS app
- How to show the story bar again if you change your mind
Read on to learn how to easily hide the story bar on Facebook for a more customized social media experience.
What is the Facebook Story Bar?
The story bar (also sometimes called the status bar or news ticker) is the section at the very top of your Facebook News Feed when you access Facebook on desktop or mobile.
It provides a constantly updating list of stories, posts, photos, videos, and more from friends, family, Pages, Groups and more that you follow on Facebook.
The story bar allows you to get a snapshot of what’s happening on Facebook without having to scroll through your entire News Feed. You can quickly see which friends have posted updates, photos, videos and more.
The story bar is different from your main News Feed, which displays a more comprehensive, algorithmically-sorted feed of content.
Some key facts about the Facebook story bar:
- Located at the very top of your News Feed
- Displays a chronological, unfiltered stream of your friends’ updates
- Provides quick access to latest stories without scrolling
- Appears on Facebook desktop site and mobile apps
- Constantly updates in real-time as friends post new content
Now that you know what the Facebook story bar is, let’s look at some reasons you may want to hide it.
Why Would You Want to Hide the Story Bar?
For many Facebook users, the story bar is a useful feature. It provides an effortless way to stay updated on your friends’ activities in real-time.
However, there are a few reasons why you may want to hide the Facebook story bar:
- Find it distracting: The constantly updating stream of stories may be distracting if you’re trying to focus on a specific task.
- Prefer main News Feed only: You may find the main News Feed sufficient for seeing updates from friends.
- Don’t like seeing certain content: Some users don’t like their feeds being filled with game posts, updates from acquaintances, etc.
- Too cluttered: If you follow a lot of friends or Pages, the story bar can become cluttered and chaotic.
- Privacy concerns: You may not want recent stories visible if someone else is briefly using your computer or device.
Fortunately, Facebook allows you to easily hide the story bar in just a few clicks. Next, we’ll provide step-by-step instructions for desktop and mobile.
How to Hide the Story Bar on Facebook Desktop
If you use Facebook on a desktop computer and want to hide the story bar in your browser, here are the steps:
1. Go to Facebook.com and log into your account if you aren’t already.
2. Click on the arrow in the top right corner and select “Settings & Privacy” from the dropdown menu.
3. In the left sidebar, click on “Settings”.
4. On the General Account Settings page, click on “News Feed Preferences”.
5. Uncheck the box next to “Always show message requests in the Jewel above News Feed”.
6. Scroll down and click “Save Changes”.
That’s it! The story bar will now be hidden when viewing Facebook on a computer. The change should happen immediately after saving your changes.
As you can see, it just takes a few clicks to hide the story bar on the Facebook desktop site. Next, we’ll cover how to hide it on mobile.
How to Hide the Story Bar on Facebook Mobile App
You can also hide the story bar on Facebook’s mobile apps for iPhone and Android. Here are the steps for each platform:
iPhone and iPad
1. Launch the Facebook app on your iOS device.
2. Tap the three-line More menu in the lower right.
3. Scroll down and select “Settings & Privacy”.
4. Tap on “Settings”.
5. Scroll down to News Feed Preferences and tap on it.
6. Turn off the switch next to “Always Show Message Requests”.
7. Exit back to the News Feed and the story bar will now be hidden!
Android
1. Open the Facebook app on your Android device.
2. Tap the three-line More menu in the upper right.
3. Select “Settings & Privacy” then “Settings”.
4. Tap on “News Feed Preferences”.
5. Turn off the switch next to “Always show message requests”.
6. Return to your News Feed to see the story bar removed.
As you can see, the process is very similar on both iOS and Android. Just dive into the settings, find the story bar toggle, and turn it off.
This should completely remove the story bar from your News Feed on mobile. Now let’s look at re-enabling it if you change your mind later.
How to Show the Story Bar Again
If you hide the Facebook story bar but later decide you want to see it again, re-enabling it is simple:
On Desktop:
1. Go back to “News Feed Preferences” in your Facebook settings.
2. Check the box next to “Always show message requests in the Jewel above News Feed”.
3. Click “Save Changes”.
On iOS/Android:
1. Return to the same story bar toggle in your Facebook app settings.
2. Flip the switch on next to “Always Show Message Requests”.
The story bar should then be visible again on your desktop or mobile device!
You can toggle this setting on and off at any time to show or hide the story bar based on your preferences.
Conclusion
The Facebook story bar provides quick access to your friends’ latest updates, but it’s not for everyone. Fortunately, Facebook makes it easy to disable the story bar on both desktop and mobile if you find it overwhelming or distracting.
To recap, here’s how to hide Facebook’s story bar:
- On desktop, uncheck “Always show message requests” in News Feed Preferences
- On iOS, turn off “Always Show Message Requests” in Settings
- On Android, disable the “Always show message requests” toggle in Settings
Toggling this one setting is all it takes to remove the story bar from view. And you can always re-enable it by flipping the switch back on.
With this simple trick, you can customize your Facebook feed to best suit your preferences. Hide the story bar for a less cluttered experience, or keep it enabled to stay updated in real-time without scrolling through your News Feed.