Facebook has been a part of our lives for so long now, you probably have friends on there you're not really friends with any more. So, with that in mind, here's how to hide friends on Facebook.
Hiding Your Facebook Friends List
It can get a little confusing to understand what exactly you're sharing with whom on Facebook. Frequently changing and complicated settings often result in people sharing a lot more than they intended.
However, hiding your friends list from the prying eyes of people is quite straightforward. Whether you want to hide your list from people you don't know or from people you're already Facebook friends with, the process should take just a few minutes.
How to Hide Friends on Facebook
If you delve into your Facebook privacy settings, you can gain complete control over almost each part of your profile, including who can see your list of friends. Simply go to Settings > Privacy to access your friends list settings.
Under the "How People Find and Contact You" section, look for the setting that says "Who can see your friends list?" Clicking the edit button next to it lets you customize the visibility of your Facebook friends list.
Alternatively, you can get to your friends list privacy settings by going to your Facebook profile and clicking the tab that says "Friends" under your cover photo. You can click the little pencil in the top-right corner of the page and click "Edit Privacy".
By default, everyone can see all your friends on your list, but you can keep most of your friends list hidden and privy only to yourself. There are four options that you can choose from, which are:
- Public: Anyone with a Facebook account can see your list of friends.
- Friends: Only people you've added as friends can see the list.
- Only Me: Only you can see your complete friends list.
- Custom: You can customize exactly which people can and can't see your friends list.
If it's currently set to "Public" and you don't want random strangers to see who your friends are, you should set it to "Friends." Take note that setting it to "Only Me" still allows people to see their mutual friends with you.
Customizing Who Can See Your Friends
However, it's possible that you only want to hide your friends list from specific people and not others. In this case, you should use the "Custom" privacy setting.
If you select "Custom," you'll see two boxes that you can add users to. Above are people who can see your friends list, and below are people who can't. By default, the upper box is set to "Friends," but you can also set it to "Friends of Friends." This allows anyone who has a mutual friend with you to see your friends list.
Instead of adding individual users to these boxes, you can also add friends lists. Facebook automatically generates some lists based on who's in your family, who you work with, and who lives in the same city as you. You can also create your own lists.
To create a list or customize your existing lists, go to the Facebook homepage. On the lower left section, you can access your list options through Explore > Friends Lists. In the upper left, you can create your own list.
Take note that these lists can also be used across the rest of Facebook to customize your privacy settings. If you want to hide your posts, tagged photos, or profile information from certain people, you can exclude them using these lists.
Using the Restricted List
If you don't want to build custom lists for your friends list, you can also use Facebook's built-in restricted list. If your privacy settings are set to "Friends," it automatically limits what a person can see on your profile, including your friends list.
To make someone restricted, you can add them directly from your friends lists settings or add them through their profile.
Securing Your Facebook Friends List
There are a couple of ways to hide your entire friends list from certain people. However, there's currently no way to hide specific friends from your other friends. Hopefully, Facebook will implement this feature in the future.
If you want to learn more about how to manage your profile's privacy, here's our complete Facebook privacy guide. If you also want to make sure that your information on other sites is kept private, here's how to secure your social media privacy.