How Do Edit My Privacy Settings to Hide My Facebook Account?

This article outlines two methods to hide your account on Facebook. The article discusses deactivation and deletion, both of which will hide your content from the public either short-term or permanently. The article also touches on reactivation when you're ready to get back on Facebook. It provides two hyperlinks to Facebook customer service.

Dec 9, 2022

Facebook has been a very popular social media platform since it was made public in February 2012, giving people a chance to connect with others across the globe. There may come a time, however, when you wish to take a break from Facebook (or all social media). How do you edit your privacy settings to hide your Facebook account? You can contact customer service here, or use the steps below to hide or delete your account from public view.

Deactivating Your Account:

If you're just taking a short break from Facebook, and not a permanent break, you can deactivate your account by making it invisible to the public until you reactivate it. To deactivate your account, follow these steps:

  1. From your profile, click on the small circle with the down arrow in the upper right-hand corner.
  2. Select "Settings and Privacy."
  3. Choose "Settings."
  4. In the left-hand column, select "Your Facebook Information."
  5. Click "Deactivation and Deletion."
  6. Choose "Deactivate Account."
  7. Click "Continue to Account Deactivation."
  8. Follow the directions to confirm deactivation.

Completing these steps will completely hide your account from the public without closing the account entirely. When you're ready to jump back on the platform, you can reactive your account and pick up where you let off. Keep in mind, messages in messenger will still be visible, and your name may still appear on your friends' lists. If you have an Oculus attached to your Facebook account, those items accessed on Oculus via Facebook won't be available. If you also have pages attached to your Facebook page, they'll also be deactivated.

Deleting Your Account:

If you want to leave Facebook permanently and delete your account, you can do so by following these steps:

  1. From your profile, click on the small circle with the down arrow in the upper right-hand corner.
  2. Select "Settings and Privacy."
  3. Choose "Settings."
  4. In the left-hand column, select "Your Facebook Information."
  5. Click "Deactivation and Deletion."
  6. Choose "Delete Account."
  7. Select "Continue to Account Deletion."
  8. Click "Delete Account."
  9. Enter your password to complete the deletion process.

These steps will permanently delete your account on Facebook; however, the deletion does not go into effect immediately. If you change your mind within 30 days of requesting the deletion, you can cancel it and reactive your page (making it visible again). If it's after 30 days, the deletion cannot be canceled, and your content will be permanently removed from the platform. Facebook may take up to 90 days to totally delete all of your content.

Hiding your profile on Facebook can be accomplished by following the steps outlined above. Whether you're taking a short hiatus or a long-term/permanent break from Facebook, you have options to control public access to your account. For more information, contact Facebook customer service here.

Further questions?

Ask a followup or related question and we will try to provide an answer in seconds.
Adam has been tirelessly trying to help customers find the best tips and tricks to get through phone trees and writing many guides for prickly customer service problems. He's been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Inside Edition and Bloomberg.

Help from Real People

We partner with a US-based company with live tech support experts available 24/7. Take advantage of a $5 one-week trial membership and chat with an expert now.
Chat with an expert

Why does GetHuman Write How-to Guides for Facebook Problems?

GetHuman has been working for over 10 years on sourcing information about big organizations like Facebook in order to help customers resolve customer service issues faster. We started with contact information and fastest ways to reach a human at big companies. Particularly ones with slow or complicated IVR or phone menu systems. Or companies that have self-serve help forums instead of a customer service department. From there, we realized that consumers still needed more detailed help solving the most common problems, so we expanded to this set of guides, which grows every day. And if you spot any issues with our How Do Edit My Privacy Settings to Hide My Facebook Account? guide, please let us know by sending us feedback. We want to be as helpful as possible. If you appreciated this guide, please share it with your favorite people. Our free information and tools is powered by you, the customer. The more people that use it, the better it gets.

Facebook

Asked 3 years ago
Updated 2 years ago
Viewed 616,797 times
Facebook
Facebook deletion
Facebook account settings
Facebook hiding profile

Speak to An Expert Now

We partner with a US-based expert help site to provide you with tech support 24/7. Enjoy a $5 one-week trial membership and chat with a live expert now.
Get Live Expert Help
Was this page helpful?YesNeeds work
Sharing is what powers GetHuman's free customer service contact information and tools. You can help!