Having your featured photos be public on Facebook can be concerning for privacy. Fortunately, Facebook provides settings to control who can see your featured photos. In this article, we’ll walk through the steps to make your featured photos private on both desktop and mobile.
What are Featured Photos on Facebook?
Featured photos are the large header photos that display at the top of your Facebook profile. By default, these photos are public and visible to anyone who visits your profile. Your featured photos help showcase your personality and interests.
When you select a featured photo, it will be displayed in a few places:
- The top of your profile
- In search results when people look for your name
- On your timeline when you post updates
Having public featured photos can be great for showcasing your best pictures. However, some users prefer to only share them with friends. The good news is you can customize your featured photo privacy.
How to Make Featured Photos Private on Desktop
Follow these steps to make your featured photos private on the Facebook desktop site:
- Go to Facebook.com and log into your account.
- Click on your profile picture in the top right corner.
- Select “View Profile” to go to your timeline.
- Click on your featured photo to open the photo viewer.
- In the bottom left corner, click the audience selector that says “Public.”
- Change the audience to “Only Me” or customize it to certain friends/groups.
- Click “Done” to save the changes.
Your featured photo privacy is now updated. Only you or your selected audience will be able to see it.
Customizing Featured Photo Privacy
When customizing your featured photo audience, you have a few options:
- Public: Anyone including people off Facebook can see it.
- Friends: Your Facebook friends can see it.
- Specific friends: Select individual friends to view it.
- Only Me: Only you can view your featured photo.
- Custom: Create a custom audience of friends, family, coworkers, etc.
Choose the option that matches your comfort level for who can see your featured photos. For maximum privacy, “Only Me” limits it to just you.
Changing Featured Photo Privacy on Mobile
You can also update your featured photo privacy using the Facebook mobile app for iPhone or Android. Here’s how:
- Open the Facebook app and tap your profile icon.
- Tap the three horizontal lines menu icon.
- Go to “Settings & Privacy” > “Settings”.
- Tap “Profile and Tagging”.
- Tap “Who can see your future posts?”.
- Tap “Featured Photos”.
- Change the audience to “Only Me” or custom options.
- Tap “Done” to save.
The steps may vary slightly between iOS and Android, but the general process is the same. Adjust your featured photo visibility here before posting a new featured photo.
What Happens When You Make Featured Photos Private?
Here are a few things to note after making your featured photos private on Facebook:
- Current featured photos will only be visible to your selected audience.
- When you add new featured photos, they will follow your updated privacy setting.
- People not in your audience will see a blank/gray placeholder image instead.
- You can change the audience again at any time in your settings.
Essentially, limiting your featured photo visibility ensures that only people you trust can view those pictures going forward. Existing public photos will become private as well.
Does Changing Privacy Remove Featured Photos?
Updating your featured photo privacy does not delete or remove the photos. They simply become hidden from people outside of your selected audience. You can change the privacy back to public at any time and your featured photos will display again.
The only way to permanently remove a featured photo is to manually untag it from your profile. But making it private has the same effect while keeping it tagged for future use.
Can People Download Featured Photos?
Whether public or private, people can download and save your Facebook featured photos. Facebook does not prevent photo downloading or offer digital rights management.
If someone is in your audience, they can screenshot or save your private featured photos. The privacy prevents visibility only on Facebook itself. Of course, it’s against etiquette to share someone’s private photos.
Troubleshooting Featured Photo Privacy
Here are some common troubleshooting tips for featured photo privacy:
- Double check your audience selection saved properly after making changes.
- For custom selections, ensure you added the right friends/groups to view it.
- Try logging out and back into Facebook to refresh the privacy settings.
- Mobile app issues may require reinstalling Facebook to reset cached data.
- Still trouble? Contact Facebook support for help debugging your featured photo settings.
Following the steps closely usually resolves most issues. Note that privacy changes can take up to 24 hours to take effect across Facebook.
Conclusion
Featured photos are a great way to customize your profile and showcase meaningful images. But having them be public by default might not suit everyone’s privacy preferences. Thankfully, Facebook provides detailed options to limit your featured photo audience.
By following the steps in this guide, you can successfully control who sees your featured photos on desktop and mobile. Take advantage of the customizable settings to find the right balance of privacy and personal expression.
Did you find this guide helpful? Share how you manage your featured photo privacy on Facebook.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Can I hide my featured photos completely?
Yes, you can hide your featured photos from everyone by setting the audience to Only Me. This will make the photos private and not show them publicly.
Do old featured photos remain public?
When you update your featured photo privacy settings, it applies to both old and new photos. Any previously public photos will become private to your new audience.
Where can I find the featured photos privacy settings?
On desktop, click the audience selector in the bottom left when viewing a featured photo. On mobile, go to Settings & Privacy > Profile and Tagging > Featured Photos.
Can I set different privacy for individual featured photos?
Unfortunately Facebook doesn’t allow setting the audience per featured photo. The privacy setting applies to all your current and future featured photos.
Do my friends get notified when I change featured photo privacy?
No, Facebook does not send notifications when you update your featured photo audience. The change happens silently in the background.
Sharing Photos Securely on Social Media
Beyond just featured photos, here are some tips to safely share photos on social media in general:
- Review tagged photos of yourself and untag unflattering ones.
- Crop out or blur backgrounds with identifying details.
- Watermark images to prevent unauthorized sharing.
- Disable photo tagging permissions for acquaintances.
- Report abusive photo tagging to platforms immediately.
Proactively managing your digital photos and tags helps maintain your online privacy and security.
Alternative Ways to Customize Your Profile
While featured photos are prominent on your profile, here are some other ways to customize your presence:
- Update your profile and cover picture.
- Add profile frames for special occasions.
- Showcase your friendships in your intro section.
- Pin key life events and memories to your timeline.
- Use backgrounds, stickers, and filters in Stories.
Explore all of Facebook’s design options to highlight what’s unique about you!
Summary
Featured photos on Facebook are public by default. To gain more control, you can limit your featured photo audience to friends, family, or just yourself.
On desktop, change the privacy when posting a new featured photo. On mobile, adjust the settings in Profile and Tagging.
Restricting your featured photo visibility lets you express yourself while maintaining privacy. But remember, visible photos can still be downloaded by viewers.
How you customize your Facebook presence is a personal decision. Configure your privacy settings in a way that makes you feel comfortable.