If you’ve noticed that your Facebook news feed isn’t updating properly, there could be a few reasons why. Here are some troubleshooting tips to help get your news feed back up and running.
Check Your Internet Connection
The most obvious reason your Facebook news feed isn’t updating is an issue with your internet connection. Here are some things to try:
- Make sure you have a strong WiFi or cellular data connection.
- Try disconnecting and reconnecting to the internet.
- Restart your router if you’re on WiFi.
- Check for any internet outages in your area.
If you have a solid internet connection, move on to the next troubleshooting step. But if you have any issues with your connection, you’ll need to get that resolved before your news feed will update properly.
Update the Facebook App
An outdated version of the Facebook app could also cause problems with your news feed. Make sure you’re running the latest version of the app by checking for updates in your device’s app store. The most current iOS Facebook app version as of October 2023 is 349.0. The most current Android version is 352.0.242. If you aren’t running the newest app version, update and see if that fixes the issue.
Log Out and Log Back In
Sometimes simply logging out of Facebook and logging back in will solve odd issues like a news feed that won’t refresh. On mobile, go to the Settings menu and select Log Out. On desktop, click the account arrow at the top right and choose Log Out. Stay logged out for a minute or two. Then enter your credentials and log back in. This refreshes your login session and reconnects you to Facebook’s servers.
Check Your News Feed Settings
Make sure your news feed settings haven’t been changed. Go to the News Feed Preferences page and check that your feed is set to show posts from friends, pages, and groups as normal. If any settings look incorrect, like you have posts hidden from people or pages you want to see, update them.
Refresh the Page
One quick trick to force your news feed to reload is refreshing the Facebook page. On desktop, hit F5 to refresh. On mobile, pull down on the news feed to refresh. You can also try closing the Facebook app entirely and relaunching it. Reloading the page essentially forces Facebook to look for new stories to add to your feed.
Check Your Connectivity Settings
Facebook includes some connectivity options that could interfere with your news feed if enabled. Go to Settings & Privacy > Settings > Connectivity. Make sure “Use less data” and “Limit mobile data usage” are both turned off. These settings prevent videos and images from loading in your feed.
Clear Your Browser Cache
An overloaded browser cache can cause pages to load improperly or become unresponsive. Facebook recommends clearing your cache to see if it fixes issues like a news feed not updating. Here are instructions for the major browsers:
- Chrome: Go to Settings > Privacy and Security > Clear Browsing Data. Select cached images and files. Clear data.
- Safari: Go to Preferences > Privacy. Under Website Data, click Manage Website Data > Remove All.
- Firefox: Go to Options > Privacy & Security > Cookies and Site Data > Clear Data. Select Cached Web Content. Clear.
After clearing the cache, reload Facebook and see if your news feed begins updating again.
Update Your Browser
Using an outdated browser version can also cause Facebook issues. Make sure you’re running the latest browser version available for your device and operating system. If your browser is very outdated, some features on Facebook’s website may not be supported properly or could malfunction. Installing browser updates usually only takes a few minutes.
Disable Browser Extensions
Some third party browser extensions have been known to interfere with Facebook’s functionality. Try disabling any extensions you have installed, especially ad blockers, privacy extensions, or download managers. Reload Facebook without any extensions running. If the news feed starts working, turn extensions back on one-by-one until you identify any problem extensions.
Test on Multiple Devices
See if your Facebook news feed works properly when accessed from other devices. Try loading Facebook on your mobile using cellular data rather than WiFi. Or access it on a computer instead of your phone. If the news feed loads fine on other gadgets, the issue is isolated to one device. You may need to uninstall and reinstall the Facebook app on that device or clear away any corrupt cached files.
Check Your Account Activity Log
Take a look at your Facebook activity log, which shows your recent logins, posts, and changes. Look for any suspicious activity like unknown logins or changes to your account settings around the time your news feed stopped working. If you see anything suspicious, change your password immediately and set up two-factor authentication if you haven’t already.
Reconnect with Hidden Friends and Pages
If you’ve hidden people, pages, or groups that you want to see updates from again, try reconnecting with them. Go to Settings & Privacy > Settings > Hidden from Timeline. Click the drop downs to reveal any hidden connections and remove them from the list. Reconnecting may help resuscitate your news feed if you’ve hidden posts from a lot of friends.
Make Sure Close Friends See Your Posts
Check that your posts are set to be visible to close friends. Go to Settings & Privacy > Settings > Audience and tagging. Make sure “Who can see your future posts?” is set to either Public or Friends, unless you have a specific reason to exclude close friends. If your settings are very restrictive, your friends may not be interacting with your posts, leading to stale content in your feed.
Report a Problem to Facebook
If you’ve tried all the troubleshooting steps and your Facebook news feed still isn’t updating normally, report the problem directly to Facebook. Go to the Help Community and post about the issue or use the Report a Problem tool. The Facebook team may be able to provide additional support or escalate the issue.
Wait for a Few Hours
Sometimes server-side glitches cause temporary Facebook issues that resolve on their own after a little time. If your news feed has stopped updating, wait an hour or two and check again. If the issue persists for more than a few hours, try the troubleshooting tips above. But short-lived problems typically clear up as Facebook’s engineers work to resolve them.
Conclusion
A Facebook news feed that won’t refresh is usually fixable with a little troubleshooting. The most common solutions are checking your internet connection, updating the Facebook app, clearing cached browser files, and making sure your account settings are configured correctly. Persistent issues may require help directly from the Facebook team. But in most cases, a little time and effort can get your news feed flowing again.