If you’ve recently tried to change your Facebook relationship status and it’s stuck as “pending,” don’t worry – there are a few possible reasons why this might happen. The good news is there are also steps you can take to try and resolve it.
Quick answers
Here are some quick answers to common questions about pending Facebook relationship statuses:
- A pending status means your request to change your relationship status has not yet been processed and finalized by Facebook.
- It typically takes less than 24 hours for a new relationship status to be approved, though sometimes it can take longer.
- The most common reasons for a pending status are needing your partner to confirm the change, having privacy restrictions, or it getting stuck somehow.
- To resolve it, first make sure your partner confirms it, check your privacy settings, report the problem, and try things like logging out and back in.
- If it stays pending for more than 48 hours, you may need to contact Facebook support for additional help.
Why does my relationship status show as pending?
There are a few main reasons why your Facebook relationship status may be displaying as “pending” rather than updating right away:
Waiting for your partner to confirm the change
Facebook requires that any change to a relationship status be confirmed by both people in the relationship. This is to prevent one partner from changing it without the other’s consent.
So if you try to change your status to “In a Relationship” and tag your partner, they will get a notification asking them to confirm. Until they do, your status will remain pending.
Similarly, if you try to change from “In a Relationship” to “Single,” your now ex-partner will be asked to confirm the breakup. You can imagine how awkward it would be if people could change a relationship status without their partner’s okay!
Privacy settings and restrictions
Your privacy settings could also be causing your relationship status change to get stuck in pending mode. For example:
- If your privacy is set so only certain friends can see your relationship status, Facebook may require confirmation from one of those friends.
- Age restrictions can also lead to pending changes. In some places, you have to be over 18 to share a relationship status publicly.
- Location settings may also impact it – in certain countries there are limitations around relationship statuses.
Check your privacy settings and any age/location restrictions to see if they might be limiting your ability to change your status.
A technical glitch
In some cases, a pending relationship status is simply the result of a minor technical glitch. Just like any website or app, Facebook can have occasional bugs or issues.
Some common technical reasons include:
- The servers being overloaded when you tried to change it.
- A software bug failing to properly process the status update.
- Your account having an unusual configuration that it gets stuck.
Fortunately, technical pending statuses will usually resolve on their own after some time. It’s annoying to wait, but a bit of patience typically does the trick.
How long does a pending Facebook relationship status last?
How long you’ll be stuck with that dreaded “pending” status depends on the underlying cause.
- If you’re waiting on your partner to confirm the change, it depends on how long it takes them to see the notification and confirm it. This can take anywhere from a few minutes to a few days.
- If it’s related to your privacy settings or age/location restrictions, it should update as soon as you adjust those settings.
- Technical issues are harder to predict. It could be a few hours or potentially 1-2 days in rare cases.
As a general rule of thumb:
- Most pending relationship statuses resolve within 24 hours.
- If it has been over 48 hours, that likely means there is a bigger underlying issue.
If you’ve been pending for over 2 days, it’s worth reporting the issue to Facebook for additional troubleshooting.
How to get your Facebook relationship status out of pending
Here are some tips to try and get your relationship status changed from “pending” to properly updated:
Confirm with your partner
If you’re in a relationship, check with your partner to make sure they confirmed the status change on their end. Politely ask them to confirm it within Facebook as soon as possible.
Double check privacy settings
Go through your privacy settings and any age/location restrictions that could be preventing the change from going through. Make sure your relationship status visibility is set to “Public” or to an audience that includes your partner and close friends.
Report the problem
Use Facebook’s “Report a Problem” tool to notify them of the issue and get troubleshooting help. This can speed up resolution time.
Log out and back in
Sometimes simply logging out of Facebook and logging back in will provide the refresh needed to update a stuck status.
Try changing it again
If all else fails, attempt to re-change your Facebook relationship status. Go through the full flow again as if you were changing it for the first time. This essentially re-submits the request and could dislodge whatever was causing it to stick.
What to do if your status stays pending for a long time
If you’ve tried the usual troubleshooting tips and your relationship status remains stubbornly pending for over 48 hours, it’s time to contact Facebook support.
Here are some steps to take:
- Go to Facebook Help Center.
- Click “Report a Problem” at the bottom.
- Choose the “Login and account access” topic.
- Select “Something is wrong with my account status.”
- Use the form to explain your issue and submit.
This will get your problem directly into Facebook’s help ticketing system. They should follow up within 24-48 hours with specialized troubleshooting or a resolution.
Some things support may recommend:
- Completely logging out of Facebook on all devices.
- Temporarily deactivating your account and reactivating it.
- Adding your partner to an audience that can view your relationship status.
- Checking for any account blocks Facebook may have imposed.
With help from Facebook’s dedicated support team, even the trickiest pending relationship statuses can usually get resolved.
Conclusion
Having your Facebook relationship status stick in “pending” limbo can certainly be annoying. But in most cases it eventually resolves on its own or with some simple troubleshooting.
To quickly recap how to get an accurate non-pending relationship status:
- Confirm your partner approves the change.
- Review your privacy settings.
- Try logging out and back in.
- Report any persistent issues to Facebook support.
With a mix of patience and gradually escalating tips like these, you should be able to change your Facebook relationship status smoothly. Before long you can proudly display your new dating status for all to see!