Facebook allows users to hide contacts from their friends list for privacy reasons. When a contact is hidden, they won’t show up in your friends list or suggest as a friend to others. Hidden contacts can still message you, but their posts and information won’t show up in your News Feed. There are a few ways to access and manage your hidden contacts on Facebook.
How to View Hidden Contacts
You can view a list of all your hidden contacts by following these steps:
- Click on the arrow in the top right corner and select “Settings & Privacy”
- Go to the “Blocking” tab on the left side
- Click on “Hidden Friends” to view your full list of hidden contacts
This will display a list of all contacts you have hidden. You can scroll through and see their names and profile pictures. Keep in mind you won’t see any of their posts or information here – this just shows you who you have hidden.
Unhiding Contacts
If you want to unhide someone and add them back to your friends list, go through the steps above to access your hidden contacts list. Then:
- Click on the name of the person you want to unhide
- Select “Unhide” to remove them from the list
This will make them visible again in your friends list and News Feed. Their future posts will show up like normal.
How to Hide Contacts
You can hide any friend from your account by following these instructions:
- Go to their profile page
- Click on the three dots next to “Message” in the cover photo
- Select “Hide from Timeline”
This will immediately remove them from your friends list and prevent their posts from appearing in your News Feed. You can still message each other, but their profile will be hidden from view.
Why Hide Contacts?
There are a few common reasons people hide contacts on Facebook:
- Privacy – Don’t want certain people seeing your posts/info
- Filter feed – Reduce updates from some friends
- Take a break – Temporarily hide someone you’re in a fight with
- Remove exes – Don’t want to see former significant others
- Avoid bullies/harassers – Hide abusive or bullying contacts
Hiding is useful if you want to limit what someone can view or reduce their updates without fully deleting them as a friend. It can help clean up your feed or give you space from someone without cutting contact completely.
Things to Know About Hidden Contacts
Here are some key facts to understand about hiding Facebook friends:
- They won’t know they are hidden from your account
- You can still message each other through Facebook
- Their birthday reminders and events won’t show up for you
- They are essentially “unfollowed” from your point of view
- You remain connected as friends on Facebook
In summary, hiding someone simply removes their posts and info from your perspective. But it doesn’t block messaging or fully disconnect you as friends on Facebook. The hidden contact isn’t notified at all.
How to Block Someone Completely
If you want to go beyond hiding and fully block someone, that option is available too. Blocking prevents all communication and disconnects you as friends. Just go to their profile and select “Block” instead of hide.
Blocked contacts:
- Can’t message you or view your profile
- Get fully removed from your friends list
- Don’t show up in searches or suggestions
- Can tell they are blocked from your account
So blocking is more severe if you want to cut off all contact with someone and prevent them from viewing your profile or posts.
Can Hidden Contacts Still Contact You?
Yes, hiding someone does not block messaging between you. They can still:
- Send private messages
- Comment on public posts you make
- Invite you to events
- Tag you in posts and pictures
Hiding only affects what you see from that person in your own Facebook account. It does not prevent them from interacting with your public profile or sending direct messages. Blocking is required if you want to fully cut off contact.
Are Old Messages Still Visible?
Hiding a contact does not delete or remove previous conversations and messages between you. Any old messages will still be intact and accessible in your inbox history.
If you want to delete messages from someone, you will have to manually do this by:
- Going to your messages list
- Opening your conversation history with that person
- Selecting the messages
- Hitting “delete” to remove them
But this does not happen automatically when you hide someone. All previous chats and messages will remain available, even if new ones are prevented by blocking them.
Can You Get Re-Added?
If you hide someone, it is possible for them to send you a new friend request and get re-added to your contacts. Because hiding does not block messaging, they can still contact you to request connecting again.
If you don’t want them to be able to send a new friend request, you will need to fully block them instead of just hiding them. That prevents any new connection requests.
Does Hiding Remove Tag Notifications?
If someone tags you in a post or picture after you’ve hidden them, you will still get notifications about those tags. Hiding does not disable notifications or tags from that person.
The notifications may show up as coming from “Facebook” rather than the individual user. But you will still get notified of any tags. Their posts won’t show up in your feed, but the tags will trigger notifications.
Can Mutual Friends Tell You’re Hidden?
No, there is no indication given to mutual friends that you’ve hidden someone. It is completely private and does not show up to other people using Facebook.
Is Hiding Temporary or Permanent?
Hiding a contact is semi-permanent. It will remain in effect indefinitely until you choose to unhide them again. There is no time limit or expiration on hiding connections.
You have full control to reverse it at any time. It does not automatically time out after a certain period. The contact remains hidden until you unlock them.
Can Someone Re-Hide You?
Yes, if you unhide someone and they choose to re-hide you again, that’s possible. Just like you can hide people repeatedly, they can also re-hide you if you become visible again in their friends list.
This can especially happen if you block someone, and later unblock them so they can send a new friend request. They may re-hide you right away to prevent seeing your posts again.
Can Pages Be Hidden Too?
Hiding on Facebook works for personal user profiles, but not for Pages. You cannot hide or unfollow a Facebook Page using this method.
To control notifications from Pages you’ve liked, you will need to turn off notifications for that specific Page. There is no hide option available, since Pages are public entities.
Is It Possible to Hide From Certain People Only?
Unfortunately there is no way to selectively hide yourself from certain contacts while remaining visible to others. Hiding is an “all or nothing” approach.
If you hide someone, they lose access to your profile entirely. But you cannot pick and choose who to hide from on an individual basis. It’s not possible to isolate specific people.
Can You Hide Without them Noticing?
Yes, when you hide someone they are not notified or given any indication. There will be no obvious signs you’ve hidden them.
The only way they would potentially notice is if they try to view your profile or posts and realize they no longer have access. But there is no alert sent to them and your name remains in their friends list.
Is It Possible to Hide Friends of Friends?
Typically you can only hide people who are direct friends with you on Facebook. However, there is one situation where you can hide a “friend of a friend” from your feed and tags:
- Go to your friend’s list
- Open the profile of one of your friends
- Go to THEIR friend list
- Hover over the name of their friend (your second-degree friend) and a menu will appear
- Select “Hide from Timeline” to hide that person
This lets you hide someone who is connected to your network but not directly friends with you. It prevents their posts or tags from showing up.
Can You Hide Friends List Entirely?
There is no built-in way to completely hide your Facebook friends list from public viewing. It’s always at least partially visible.
If you want to maximize privacy, you can:
- Enable friend list privacy mode in settings
- Uncheck “show people you may know” so friends aren’t suggested
- Remove yourself from public search listings
But there is no true way to fully hide your connections from everyone else on Facebook. Your friends list will always be accessible to at least some people in your network.
Conclusion
Hiding contacts on Facebook simply removes them from your timeline and feed. It is a cleaner option than blocking or unfriending someone completely. Keep in mind hidden friends can still message you and won’t be notified they are hidden.
Use this feature to tidy up your feed or take a break from certain connections. Just access your hidden contacts list to restore them at any time. Now you know exactly where to find and manage those hidden friends!