In this publication, I will show you how I hide my Facebook account without deleting it. You might think this is not possible but it is—thanks to Facebook’s flexibility. Perhaps, you feel too exposed and would prefer some anonymity. Facebook offers several privacy options/tools that you can customize to make your account less visible to other users. This means you don’t have to create a fake Facebook account with false information before you can be anonymous.
How to hide my Facebook account without deleting it
This section explains how you can hide your Facebook posts, temporarily deactivate your account, as well as remove your profile from search. That said, below are the various ways I hide my Facebook account without deleting it:
1. Deactivate your Fb account temporarily
According to Facebook, when you deactivate your account temporarily, others can’t see your profile. However, your friends may still see your name in their friends list only. Group admins may still see your name and posts and your pages will also be deactivated (if you don’t transfer the admin to another person’s account).
a. Deactivate your account (mobile)
- Open Facebook mobile
- Click ☰ in the top right of your screen
- Scroll down and click Settings & Privacy
- Click Settings
- Click Personal and Account Information
- Click Account Ownership and Control
- Click Deactivation and Deletion
- Select Deactivate Account
- Click Continue to account deactivation
- Finally, follow the screen instructions to confirm the deactivation
b. Deactivate your account (web)
- Go to your main profile
- Click ☰
- Click Settings & Privacy
- Click Settings
- Select Your Facebook Information
- If you have access to a Facebook page, click Privacy
- Click Your Facebook Information.
- Click Deactivation and Deletion
- Select Deactivate Account
- Click Continue to Account Deactivation
- Follow the screen instructions to confirm deactivation
2. Hide posts/photos you’re tagged
You can hide your tagged posts after they appear on your profile so that only Facebook users you choose know you’ve been tagged. However, that post or photo you’ve been tagged is still visible to the audience they’re shared in News Feed and Search.
On mobile browser
- Tap ☰
- Tap Settings
- Under Privacy, tap Profile and Tagging
- Select Who can see posts you’re tagged in on your profile?
- Set your preferred audience
On desktop
- Click your profile picture
- Click Settings & privacy
- Click Settings
- Select Profile and Tagging
- Find Who can see posts you’re tagged in on your profile? and click Edit
- Choose your audience (only me or friends)
If you set your audience to “only me”, only you can see posts you’re tagged. You can also set it to a set of close friends to block public eyes from seeing your account activities.
You could also set who can see your future posts on Facebook. Just click Edit next to Who can see your future posts? and set your audience to “only me” or “friends”.
Facebook even allows you to create a custom list of people who can see your posts. This means only the person or small group of people you select can see the posts, as well as tags.
Another setting you should consider is limiting your past posts. Just click Limit Past Posts to change your old posts to Friends Only. However, to set the posts to “Only Me” (for you alone to see), you’d have to make the changes on the individual posts and set their audience to “Only Me”—this can be challenging if you have made many posts in the past.
3. Block people from posting on your timeline
If your timeline is being used by other people as their dumb ground, you can moderate this and keep your timeline to yourself. Thus, people will no longer be able to litter your timeline with their posts.
By default, Facebook allows you and your friends to post on your profile. To set it to yourself only, do the following:
On mobile
- Click ☰
- Tap Settings
- Select Audience and Visibility
- Tap Profile and Tagging
- Tap Who can post on your profile?
- Choose Only Me
On desktop
- Click your profile picture
- Click Settings & privacy
- Click Settings
- Click Profile and Tagging
- Find Who can post on your profile? and click Edit
- Click the dropdown menu and choose Only Me.
Going forward, your friends can no longer post on your timeline. But if you still want them to post on your timeline, you can set it to manually review posts before they can appear.
4. Hide your profile from search engines
Another way to hide your Facebook account without deleting it is to block search engines from indexing it. By default, Facebook allows search engines such as Google and Yahoo to index your profile, making it possible for people to search and find your profile.
To turn this setting off, do the following:
- Tap ☰
- Tap Settings
- Under Audience and Visibility, tap How People Find and Contact You
- Tap Do you want search engines outside of Facebook to link to your profile?
- Select No to block search engines from featuring your profile on the web
Note that your profile information and some things you share may still appear in search engine results.
By default, Facebook shares your new posts with the public. However, you can hide your Facebook account visibility without deleting it by sharing the posts with a small audience only.
Mobile
- From your news feed, tap What’s on your mind? If you’re posting from your profile, tap Post a status update, including a status update, photo, video or check into an event.
- Tap the audience selector
- Set your audience to Friends or Only Me
Desktop
Follow the same setup above to set your post privacy or friends or only if you’re on a desktop.
6. Change how people can find you on Facebook
Facebook allows people to find your account using your email address or phone number. You need to turn this setting off to hide your Facebook profile. Do the following:
- Go to Settings
- Under the Audience and Visibility section, click How People Find and Contact You
- You should see a setting for both your email and phone number. Tap both “Who can look you up using the email address you provided?” and “Who can look you up using the phone number you provided?“
- Select friends only to stop others from reaching your Facebook account with your phone number or email address
7. Block some users
If you would prefer to block a particular person or people from seeing what you post or that you’re tagged, use the block feature.
On mobile
- Hit ☰
- Tap Settings
- Under Audience and Visibility, tap Blocking
- Enter the profile name of the person and tap Block
- You can block them on search results as well. Just tap Block and confirm your decision
On desktop
- Go to Settings & privacy
- Click Settings
- Click Blocking
- Enter the name of the profile to block
- Click Block
#updated
Another way you can hide your profile on FB is to post on groups anonymously. Here’s how!
Conclusion
With the various methods above, you can hide your Facebook profile without the need to delete it. Nevertheless, the best option (if you want to be 100% anonymous) is to open an anonymous account. However, note that Facebook Community Standards is against having more than one personal account that are not in the same profile.
Read also: follow these steps for your Facebook recovery without ID
