When you restrict someone on Facebook, you limit their ability to see your posts and information. Here’s a quick rundown of what restricted friends can and can’t see on your Facebook profile:
What Restricted Friends Can See
- Your public posts and information
- Posts you’re tagged in
- Mutual friends
Restricted friends will be able to see anything you post publicly on your profile, including your photos, videos, check-ins, and other updates. They’ll also see any posts you’re tagged in by friends.
Additionally, restricted friends can see all of your mutual friends. So if you have 100 mutual friends, they’ll be able to see all 100 people you’re both friends with.
What Restricted Friends Can’t See
- Your friends list
- Posts set to Friends only
- Your family relationships
- Pages and groups you manage
- Future posts
Restricted friends won’t be able to see your full friends list. They’ll only see mutual friends you share.
They also won’t see any posts you set to Friends only. So if you post an update and limit visibility to Friends only, restricted friends won’t see it.
Additionally, restricted friends can’t see your family relationships set up on Facebook. So they won’t know who your siblings, parents, grandparents, etc. are.
Restricted friends also can’t see any pages or groups you manage. For example, if you admin a Facebook group, restricted individuals won’t see that group.
Lastly, restricted friends won’t see future posts. So anything you post after restricting someone will be automatically hidden from them.
How Restricted Friends Appear to You
When you restrict someone, their visibility also becomes limited from your end:
- Their posts don’t show up in your News Feed
- You won’t get notifications about their activity
- You won’t see their comments on mutual friends’ posts
Essentially, restricting someone makes it so you see much less of their activity in your own Facebook experience. Their posts and information won’t populate in your News Feed.
Can Restricted Friends Tell They’ve Been Restricted?
No, restricted friends can’t tell that you’ve limited their access to your profile. There’s no notification sent out when you restrict someone.
From their end, your Facebook profile will simply show less activity and information. But there’s no obvious indicator that you’ve restricted them specifically.
Who Can You Restrict on Facebook?
You can restrict any of your Facebook friends. You can also restrict someone who has requested to be your friend before accepting the request.
Restricting someone is different than blocking them. With blocking, you sever the connection completely. Restricting simply limits what they can see.
How to Restrict Someone on Facebook
Restricting a friend is easy to do right from their profile:
- Go to the profile of the person you want to restrict.
- Click on the three dots in the upper right corner of their profile.
- Select “Restrict” from the dropdown menu.
- Confirm that you want to restrict this friend when prompted.
And that’s it! They’ll immediately be restricted from seeing certain parts of your profile.
Unrestricting Friends
You can reverse restricting someone just as easily:
- Go to their profile again.
- Click on the three dots in the upper right corner.
- Select “Unrestrict” from the dropdown menu.
This will give them access to your profile again. They’ll be able to see posts they missed while restricted.
Restrict vs. Unfollow
Restricting is different than unfollowing someone. When you unfollow a friend, here’s what happens:
- Their posts no longer show up in your News Feed.
- They can still see all of your posts.
- They know you’ve unfollowed them.
So with unfollowing, it only affects what you see from them, not what they see from you. Restricting limits their access to your profile too.
Reasons to Restrict Someone
Here are some common reasons you may want to restrict a Facebook friend:
- You want to limit an acquaintance’s access to your personal information.
- Someone is posting too frequently and cluttering your News Feed.
- You want to keep in touch but avoid seeing their political posts.
- You suspect someone may be stalking or harassing you.
- Someone has romantic feelings for you and you want to distance yourself.
In most cases, restricting is preferable to completely unfriending or blocking someone. It allows you to maintain the connection but limit their access if needed.
Conclusion
Restricting on Facebook is a simple way to put some limitations on what a friend can see. They’ll have access to your public posts and info, but won’t see more personal updates restricted to friends only.
Restricted friends also won’t see your friends list, family info, pages you manage, or future posts. And you’ll see less of their activity in return. Restricting is generally preferable to blocking or unfriending someone completely.