Cant Send a Friend Request Again but Im Not Blocked and Their Privacy Settings Havent Changed

Facebook Privacy Settings: Cheque and alter your privacy settings on Facebook today

It seems there isn't a day that goes by without Facebook and privacy being in the news. Earlier this year, there was the modest matter of Facebook reportedly storing hundreds of millions of user passwords in obviously text, with the data attainable past employees for several years.

And so what's a privacy-witting social media user to practise if they don't want to delete Facebook entirely, but do want to secure their business relationship from outside meddling? Our guide to Facebook's privacy settings explains all yous need to know to proceed using the popular social network safely.

How to change your Facebook password

Just first, it might exist time to change your Facebook password. Fortunately, the procedure is really straightforward.

To change your Facebook password, get to Settings > Security and login > Alter password. Easy.

Related: How to check your password forcefulness

Facebook Privacy Settings: Why they're so of import

The infamous Facebook/Cambridge Analytica affair highlighted just how important information technology is to keep track of the apps that are connected to your Facebook account through Facebook Login. This is because the data was gathered through an app chosen 'thisisyourdigitallife', which immune people to log in to information technology using their Facebook business relationship.

You lot tin can find a list of apps that have admission to your Facebook information, such as your name, pictures, altogether and friends list, on the App Settings page. At that place's a good take a chance the list will exist significantly longer than expected.

Clicking each entry in the list shows you the types of data y'all've given them permission to access. By unchecking each box, you can limit how many of your personal details they tin can become their hands on. You tin also unlink the apps from your Facebook account on this page, by clicking the 'X' that appears next to them.

Even so, every bit Facebook's FAQ notes: "The app or game may have stored info from when you were using it, simply you can contact the developer to ask that they delete any info they may still have."

You can also switch off Facebook'due south integration with apps completely, significant yous won't be able to log into apps, games and other websites using your Facebook account. To do this, go to Settings, Apps and Websites and Plugins, then select Edit and Disable Platform.

If you're concerned about your online privacy in full general, you might as well want to bank check out our roundup of the best VPNs for security and privacy. If you're not familiar with VPNs, they encrypt and anonymise your net use, and tin also allow y'all to appear as if you're in a completely dissimilar country.

Read on for 18 simple ways you can ensure your Facebook privacy settings are exactly what y'all desire them to be.

1) I desire to…go an overview of my privacy settings

Facebook's privacy settings are spread over a number of portions of the site. Nevertheless, you tin can practise a quick health check past clicking the question mark icon that appears at the top of any Facebook page and selecting Privacy Checkup. This volition allow you see privacy settings at a glance over three central areas of Facebook

i) Posts – As explained below, this volition explain how to command your privacy settings for every mail.
2)Contour – Here y'all can limit what personal data (work, age, contact details) is visible to whom.
3)Apps and websites – Who sees your activity within third-political party apps.

These are explained in more detail in the following three sections.

two) I want to… command who sees my posts

This is mayhap the fundamental privacy concern of privacy-conscious Facebook users. No-one wants their dominate spying on their weekend activities, and so it's important to exist articulate near everything you lot post.

Whenever you upload a photograph, fill in a status, or bank check in at a location, Facebook gives you the option to customise who you wish to share it with. The four main options are:

• Public – Anyone can run across it whether they're Facebook friends or not. If you desire to be part of a public discussion that can be viewed past both friends and via Facebook search (like on Twitter), select this.
• Friends – Only people you're friends with can see the post. If you're posting photos of your children or any information y'all'd deem personal then this is what you demand to select.
• Specific Friends − Select this if you'd similar the mail to exist seen by some of your Facebook friends, but not the vast majority. The Custom choice is basically the changed of this, and allows you to select people you lot don't want to share your post with.
• Only You – Perhaps if you lot employ Facebook every bit a repository for personal memories or a web log you lot tin can select Only You to ensure you, the account holder are the only one who sees it.

Information technology's important to note that Facebook remembers the setting from your last postal service, and so if your last post was a Public bluster about X-Factor, that will be the default setting next time.

iii) I want to… command who sees my app action

Y'all're probable to have many tertiary-party services associated with Facebook, whether they're news services, fitness apps, games, dating apps, other social networks, streaming services or photograph-sharing apps. Most of these would have go associated with your Facebook business relationship if you lot used Facebook Connect to quickly create an business relationship on them.

Yous tin utilize the samePrivacy Checkup or become to Settings > Apps and websites to completely disassociate them from your account.

Over the years, Facebook has probably collected a tonne of your personal information. Your electronic mail address, your birthday, political views, phone number, where you lot've studied, your sexual orientation, your political views, where yous're from, where you're worked, who you're married to and who you're related to.

With employers now doing social media checks on potential new colleagues, yous may want to shield some of this sensitive information.

Thankfully, much of this tin can exist controlled via the Privacy Checkup mentioned above. You can modify who sees what by heading to the About section of your contour and selecting Edit nether each section. Switching your privacy settings from Friends to Only Me will hibernate the information from your profile. In some cases you may want to remove it completely.

Related: How to download your Facebook data

five) I desire to… hibernate posts from other people

If you're withal friends with an ex on Facebook and don't want to remove them, but also want to mail service photos of you in a new relationship without potentially aggravating your ex, you can hittingCustom from the "Who should see this?" carte and tag the people you wish to hide the post from.

6) I want to… postal service something, but hibernate it from my timeline

Maybe you have something to say and don't want it as a permanent record on your timeline, such as a thought, a meme, or a joke in context that's, ahem, of its time, you can achieve this by ticking the Hide From Timeline box in the post field.

seven) I want to… stop people sharing my photos and posts

If you've shared a photo or a status on Facebook, it could be open to being re-shared by other Facebook users. That means Friends and, if you've tagged people,  evenFriends of Friends. If the post is Public then anyone in the earth can share it. There's no way around that, other than to set the mail to Only Me in the first identify, which kind of defeats the point in most cases.

8) I want to… check what my Public profile looks like

There's a really piece of cake way to see what your profile looks like to someone outside your network of Facebook friends, who may have stumbled across your contour. To do this you lot can head to your Profile page, click the menu button next to Activity Log and selectView Every bit. If you spot information or posts you do not want to exist public,Edit the privacy settings of individual posts or go to Settings to censor them.

You tin also use this tool to see what a specific Facebook friend sees.

9) I want to… alter who can see quondam posts

In the early days of Facebook many of united states were quite naïve with what nosotros shared. Thankfully, in that location are options inSettingsto rectify some of your past privacy mistakes. You lot tin click Privacy andLimit The Audience for Old Posts on Your Timeline. And then merely clickLimit By Posts to change any posts listed every bit Public or Friends of Friends. ConfirmLimit By Posts, to ensure that only Friends can run across them. This tin be undone at a later date but you may have to switch all of your posts back 1 by one so make sure you lot're certain before you push that 'limit' button.

10) I want to… limit who can ship me friend requests

Tired of strangers trying to add you on Facebook? Click Settings > Privacy and caput to Who can transport you friend requests. You can alter it from Everybody to Friends of Friends but that's about as far as you tin can go, so if you're trying to avoid accepting that friend of a friend's request, you might be out of luck.

eleven) I want to… cake someone

This one's piece of cake (and fun). Go to Settings > Blocking, begin typing the name or electronic mail address of the friend (or ex-friend) yous wish to block from your account. You can also block certain people from sending you letters, but yous take to be friends with them.

It's also possible to cake people people you're not friends with past heading to their profile, clicking the "…" on the right mitt side and selecting Block.

Facebook probably has your telephone number and i or more of your email addresses at this point. If folks (i.due east. potential employers, old flames, stalkers, etc.) were to enter these in search, they may be able to discover your profile. In Settings > Privacy you tin can correct this by clickingWho can look you up using the email address you lot provided and selectingEveryone, Friends of Friends or Friends. The aforementioned process applies if you're trying to go on your phone number private.

13) I want… my Facebook page kept off Google

There's no hiding from Facebook's overarching Search engine. All yous tin can practise is lock downwards your privacy settings and hope you have a common proper name. Withal it'due south unlike in the case of other search engines like Google. OpenSettings > Privacy and selectNo to keep your proper noun off of Google'southward radar.

The right to anonymity was and, in some cases, still is i of the almost cherished tenets of the internet. With Facebook at present showing all profiles within search results, changing to an assumed proper name seems a skillful idea for those who don't want to be discovered, take been harassed, work in sensitive industries, have been discriminated about, etc…

Unfortunately, it's non that easy. Facebook makes you employ your nativity name when signing up and has very strict rules about changing it thereafter. If you're reported for a fake name information technology could suspend your account. The visitor has softened its stance following feedback from victims of corruption and the LGBTQ community.

While you can't hibernate your name, if you'd like to request a name change, y'all can visit Settings, click General > Proper name and then Review Modify.

Related: Best password manager

15) I want to… protect my location

Facebook loves it when y'all check into places. It gobbles up all of that lovely information to attract advertisers and display location-specific ads on your homepage. The virtually obvious step to protecting your location is not clicking the location pin when posting.

However, when you're using the mobile app, Facebook may try to use GPS and Wi-Fi to name your location. You can prevent this from happening by entering the Location settings on your mobile device and denying Facebook access.

In iOS information technology goes: Settings > Privacy > Location > Facebook > Never

Or for Android devices: Settings > Applications > Facebook > Location and toggle Location Services off.

sixteen) I want to… prevent/remove a tag

If you've had Facebook for a few years, your friends have probably tagged y'all in some pretty embarrassing pics. Developed social media etiquette and a full cognition of the consequences mean that it might not happen as much these days. If you lot're looking to go rid of those awkward memories before a potential employer gets in that location outset, help is at manus.

In Settings > Timeline and Tagging you tin can change the options to nether Review to cheque over every tag before it appears on yours or anyone else's timeline.

Yous tin always select Remove Tag within private post settings. If the post is offensive, yous can also Study Mail if you desire it off the site altogether.

17) I want to… brand my contour completely individual

Until October 2015, it was possible to hide your Facebook account and prevent it from popping upwardly when someone searches your name. Withal, this stopped being an selection after the company broadened its Universal Search through the Knowledge Graph initiative.

Now, even if your privacy settings are completely locked downwards you'll announced within search results meaning that there is a certain level of info that anyone can pick up if they click on your contour. This includes your profile picture, your listing of friends and the pages yous've liked. No way around information technology, sadly.

xviii) I want to… tag friends but limit who sees the posts

When yous tag people in posts and photos, the number of people who run across it can take on a life of its own. The friend must corroborate the mail to their timeline but, if they do, all of their friends volition be able to see it likewise. For example, if you tagging a friend in a photograph of your child, you're effectively expressing consent that those exterior of your friendship circle can view it, react to information technology, share information technology and even comment on the photo too.

So, in other words, if yous're concerned nigh who might view the photo, tagging friends is all-time avoided.

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Source: https://www.trustedreviews.com/news/facebook-privacy-settings-2939307

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