How to lock your Facebook profile

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One way to limit people’s access to your Facebook profile is to lock your profile. This greatly limits what is visible to the public on your profile. We’ll show you how to do this on Facebook on desktop and mobile.

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What Happens When You Lock Your Facebook Profile?

When you lock your profile, only your Facebook friends can view the content on your timeline. The full-size version of your profile photo and cover photo is also only visible to your friends. Any messages you have shared with the “Public” setting will become “Friends”.

Facebook will only display certain sections of the About section of your profile. Your Stories will only be visible to your friends. Features such as profile review and tag review will be enabled.

Any new messages you create in your account will only be shared with your friends. Keep in mind, however, that locking your profile doesn’t change the way people find you on Facebook.

Lock your Facebook profile on the desktop

If you’re using a Windows, Mac, Linux, or Chromebook computer, use the Facebook website to lock your profile.

To do this, first open a web browser on your computer and launch the Facebook site. If you haven’t already, log into your account on the site.

In the top right corner of Facebook, click your name to open your profile page.

On the profile page, in the row of tabs under your name, click the three dots (which are at the far right of the tab list).

Click on the three dots on the profile page.

In the menu that appears, select “Lock profile”.

Click on "Lock profile" in the three-dot menu.

You will see a “Lock your profile” window. Here, click on “Lock your profile”.

To select "Lock profile" on the "Lock your profile" the window.

And your Facebook profile is now locked. Close the lock profile window by clicking “OK”.

To select "OKAY."

You are ready. Only certain parts of your profile are now visible to the public.

If you ever want to unlock your profile, click the three dot menu> Unlock Profile> Unlock> Unlock Profile.

Select the "To open" option.

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Lock your Facebook profile on mobile

If you’re using an iPhone, iPad, or Android phone, go to the Facebook app to lock your profile.

Start by launching the Facebook app on your phone.

In the app, tap the three horizontal lines. If you are using an iPhone or iPad, you will see these lines in the lower right corner of the app. If you are on Android, these lines are in the upper right corner.

Tap the three horizontal lines in the Facebook app.

On the “Menu” screen that opens, tap your profile at the top.

Tap the profile on the "Menu" screen.

On the profile page, under your name, tap the three dots.

Tap the three dots on the profile screen.

You will see a “Profile Settings” page. Here, tap on “Lock profile”.

To select "Lock profile" on the "Profile settings" page.

On the “Lock your profile” screen, tap “Lock your profile”.

Faucet "Lock your profile" on the "Lock your profile" screen.

And you have successfully locked your profile against non-friends on Facebook. Enjoy!

To unlock your profile, just tap “Unlock Profile” where you tapped “Lock Profile” in the steps above.

Press the "Unlock Profile" option.

While managing your Facebook privacy settings, did you know that you can to make your past Facebook posts more private? There is an easy way to do this, as explained in our guide.

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