With over 2 billion monthly active users, Facebook is one of the most popular social media platforms for sharing photos and updates with friends and family. However, many users have concerns about their privacy on Facebook, especially when it comes to sharing personal photos.
The good news is that Facebook provides a variety of privacy settings and tools to control who can see your photos. Here are some tips on how to keep your photos private on Facebook:
Adjust privacy settings for all photos
The first step is to adjust your overall privacy settings for photos posted on Facebook. This controls the default audience for any new photos you post:
- Go to Facebook Settings > Privacy
- Click on “Who can see my stuff?” under Privacy Settings
- Under the Photos heading, choose who you want to be able to view your photos by default: Public, Friends, Friends except acquaintances, Only Me, etc.
Setting your default photo privacy to Friends, Only Me, or a Custom group is a good way to limit access. Remember this applies to new photos only – you’ll also need to update existing photos if you want those to be private.
Limit old photos visibility
For photos you’ve already posted on Facebook, you can limit visibility by adjusting the audience. Here’s how:
- Click on the photo to open it
- Click on the audience selector (Public, Friends, etc) below the photo
- Choose a more private audience like Friends, Close Friends, or Only Me
Do this for any old photos you want to limit access to. It can be tedious, but gives you full control over all your existing Facebook photos.
Create friend lists for sharing
Another option is to create friend lists on Facebook. You can make lists for different groups like close friends, family, coworkers, etc. Then when sharing a photo, choose to show it to only a specific friend list rather than all friends.
To make friend lists:
- Go to your Facebook profile and click Friends
- Click Create List and name it (Close Friends, Family, etc)
- Search for and select the friends to add to this list
- Click Create to finish the list
Now when posting photos, you can pick Close Friends, Family, or any other list to share with just that group.
Hide from certain friends
If you just want to hide photos from specific friends, use the audience selector when posting:
- Create your post with the photo(s) as usual
- Click the audience selector and choose Friends
- Then click the Hide From link and select the friends to hide this post from
- Finish posting the photo as normal
The selected friends will not be able to see that photo post on Facebook. You can also hide stories from friends this same way.
Block people completely
For individual Facebook friends you want to hide all your photos from, you can block them completely:
- Click the three dots next to their name and choose Block
- Select Block User Everywhere to block them from all Facebook content
Now they will not see any of your Facebook photos or posts. You can also unblock them later if you change your mind.
Use Facebook Photo Viewer
Facebook offers the Photo Viewer tool for looking through all your photos privately:
- Go to the Photos section of your profile and click Photo Viewer
- Here you can view all your uploaded photos in one place, even ones no longer on your timeline
- You control who sees your photos – just don’t share any direct links to viewers
Photo Viewer provides a simple way to privately browse and manage your Facebook pictures.
Share photo albums selectively
Instead of posting photos individually, you can share full albums selectively:
- Create a new photo album with the pictures you want to share
- With the album open, click the audience selector and choose Friends, Close Friends, or a friend list
- You can also hide it from certain friends like individual posts
Photo albums let you easily share multiple photos while controlling who can view the entire set. Just be sure to limit access to any albums with private pictures.
Reviewtagging
When friends tag you in photos on Facebook, this allows the photos to appear in your profile. To keep untagged:
- Go to Settings & Privacy > Settings > Timeline and Tagging
- Disable Timeline Review to avoid needing approval for tags
- Disable Tag Review to decline facial recognition tags
With these settings, photos won’t show on your profile unless you manually approve the tags. You can also untag yourself from photos at any time.
Disable profile photo tagging
Having your profile photo tagged can link an unflattering photo to your public profile. To disable:
- Go to Settings & Privacy > Face Recognition
- Toggle off “Allow friends to suggest tags with my public profile picture”
This prevents friends from tagging you in their photos using your profile picture. The photo could still appear on their own timeline, but not connected visibly to you.
Remove EXIF data
The EXIF data stored in photos can reveal the exact date, time, and geographic location a photo was taken. To remove this sensitive information before uploading photos to Facebook:
- Use an EXIF removal tool to strip EXIF data from photos
- Many websites and apps offer quick EXIF removal before downloading photos
Without the EXIF data, your photos won’t reveal those details to whoever views them on Facebook. It provides an extra level of privacy protection.
Avoid facial recognition
Facebook’s facial recognition can automatically identify people in your uploaded photos based on other profile pictures and suggest tags. To disable:
- Go to Settings & Privacy > Face Recognition
- Select No next to “Do you want Facebook to be able to recognize you?”
This stops Facebook from identifying you in photos. However, friends can still tag you manually so it’s not a foolproof privacy protection.
Use temporary stories
Instead of permanently posting photos on your timeline, use Facebook Stories for sharing temporary images:
- Stories disappear after 24 hours rather than staying on your profile
- You can still choose who views your story just like normal posts
Stories enable sharing some photos more privately since they aren’t permanently public on your timeline. Just be cautious about screenshotting.
Conclusion
Keeping your photos private on Facebook involves carefully adjusting your privacy settings, limiting tagging, using friend lists and stories, and occasionally removing tags or blocking access. With the right settings and tools, you can share photos selectively while maintaining control over your privacy.
Some key tips include:
- Restrict default photo audience to Friends or Close Friends
- Limit visibility of old posts with new privacy settings
- Create lists for sharing with specific groups only
- Disable/limit tagging and facial recognition
- Review all tags before approving
- Use Photo Viewer and Stories instead of full albums
Facebook’s privacy settings may seem complex, but give you granular control over photo sharing. Take the time to customize based on your comfort level. Your privacy is worth the effort.