Facebook Privacy Settings, Updated: Where Everything Lives Now
Facebook's privacy settings keep moving. This updated map shows where audience, tagging, search, security and data settings live now, and what to choose.
If you've ever followed a Facebook privacy guide and found that the menu it describes doesn't exist, you're not alone. Facebook reorganizes its settings every few years, and many controls have moved from Facebook itself into Meta's shared Accounts Center. This guide is an updated map: where each important privacy setting lives in 2026, and what we suggest choosing.
Menu wording can vary slightly by device, country and account type. When in doubt, the search bar at the top of Facebook's Settings page is the fastest way to find any setting by name.
Three places to know
Facebook privacy now lives in three main areas:
- Settings (Settings & privacy > Settings): who sees your posts, profile and friend list, how people find you, tagging, blocking, and notifications.
- Accounts Center: password and security, personal details, ad preferences, your information and permissions, and account deletion. It's shared across Facebook, Instagram and Messenger.
- Privacy Checkup and Privacy Center: guided tours of the most important settings, plus explanations of how Meta uses data.
If you're short on time, start with our 5-minute Facebook Privacy Checkup. The rest of this guide is for when you want to see everything.
Audience and visibility settings
These control who sees what on your profile. In Settings, look for the section about audience and visibility.
Profile details
Each piece of profile information, such as phone number, email, birthday, hometown, current city, relationship status, workplace and school, has its own audience. Our suggestions:
- Phone and email: Only me.
- Birthday: Only me for the year; Friends for the day and month if you like birthday wishes.
- Hometown, city, school, workplace: Friends or Only me.
Your name, profile picture and cover photo are always public, so choose images you're comfortable with anyone seeing.
Posts
- Who can see your future posts: Friends.
- Limit who can see past posts: a one-time switch that changes old Public and Friends of friends posts to Friends.
- Who can see posts you're tagged in on your profile.
Stories and Reels
Stories and Reels have their own audience settings. Stories can be hidden from specific people. Reels may default to Public on adult accounts, so check them.
Friend list and followers
- Who can see your friends list: Friends or Only me. A visible friend list helps scammers clone accounts and target your contacts.
- Who can follow you: If set to Public, people who aren't your friends can see your public posts in their Feed. Friends is the more private choice.
Profile and tagging
- Review tags people add to your posts before they appear.
- Review posts you're tagged in before they appear on your profile.
- Who can post on your profile.
Tag review is especially worth turning on for parents, so you can see photos others post of you and your family before they show up on your profile.
How people find and contact you
- Who can send you friend requests: Friends of friends.
- Who can look you up using your email or phone: Only me or Friends.
- Search engines outside Facebook linking to your profile: off, if you'd rather a name search didn't lead to your profile. Our guide to keeping your Facebook profile off search engines explains what this does and doesn't hide.
- Message delivery: choose who can message you directly and whose messages go to requests.
Blocking
Blocking stops someone from seeing your profile, tagging you, messaging you or adding you. You'll find the block list in Settings; see how to block someone on Facebook or Instagram for the steps.
Accounts Center: security and data
Password and security
Turn on two-factor authentication and login alerts, check Where you're logged in, and set up a passkey if your app offers one. Facebook began rolling out passkeys on iPhone and Android in 2025.
Your information and permissions
- Download your information to get a copy of your data.
- Activity from other businesses, the 2025 replacement for Off-Facebook Activity, controls whether Meta uses information from other websites and apps to personalize your experience.
Ad preferences
Review which profile details can be used for ads and reduce ad topics you don't want to see.
Apps and websites
Back in Facebook's Settings, Apps and websites lists every service you've signed in to with Facebook. Remove the ones you don't use. Our guide to Facebook app privacy walks through it.
For teens: Teen Accounts
Since April 2025, Facebook users aged 13 to 17 are placed in Teen Accounts, starting in the US, UK, Australia and Canada. Many of the settings above are already set protectively: audience defaults to Friends and messaging is limited to people they're connected with. Teens under 16 need a parent's approval to loosen those protections. It's still worth reviewing profile details, tagging and friend-list visibility with your teen.
Recommended settings at a glance
| Setting | Our suggestion |
|---|---|
| Future posts | Friends |
| Past posts | Limit to Friends |
| Phone and email | Only me |
| Friend list | Friends or Only me |
| Who can follow you | Friends |
| Friend requests | Friends of friends |
| Lookup by email or phone | Only me |
| Search engine linking | Off |
| Tag review | On |
| Two-factor authentication | On |
| Login alerts | On |
The bottom line
Facebook's settings move, but the principles don't: share with Friends by default, hide your contact details and friend list, review tags, keep search engines out if you prefer, and lock the account with two-factor authentication. Run through this list once a year, and again whenever Facebook announces a redesign.
Frequently asked questions
Where are Facebook's privacy settings now?
Most audience and visibility settings are under Settings & privacy, then Settings. Security, personal details, ad preferences and data downloads are in Meta's Accounts Center.
How do I make my Facebook profile private?
Facebook doesn't have a single private switch for personal profiles. Set your posts, friend list and profile details to Friends or Only me, limit who can find you, and turn off search engine linking.
Can people see my Facebook profile if we're not friends?
They can always see your name, profile picture, cover photo and anything else you've set to Public. Everything else depends on the audience you've chosen for each item.