Social media offers a great way to connect with others, but it can also expose us to unwanted attention from strangers. With the rise of online predators and other malicious actors, it is important to know how to protect your personal information on Facebook.
This article will provide practical tips for preventing strangers from seeing your profile and keeping your data safe. We will discuss how to adjust your privacy settings, use other available features, and consider other measures for ensuring that only authorized individuals can access your profile.
Quick Answer
To prevent strangers from seeing your Facebook profile, One of the easiest actions you can take is blocking or restricting individuals you don’t want to see your content. Additionally, limiting who can see your posts and locking your profile are also good measures to take. Other privacy settings, such as setting who can see other details like contact information, should also be set in order to protect your profile from strangers.
#1. Limit who can see your Facebook posts
To make sure only the people you want to see your posts can see them, you can easily limit your audience from the privacy settings. You can set your audience from various options such as Only me, Friends, Friends except, Custom friends, or Public. To limit who can see your Facebook posts:
- Click on the profile icon on the right side of the screen.
- Click on Settings & Privacy and then Settings.
- From the left-hand sidebar, Click on the Privacy option.
- Under the Your activity section, set the Who can see your future posts? Option to Friends.
- Also, go through the Limit The Audience for Old Posts on Your Timeline option and hide your past posts from strangers.
Follow this guide to know: How Do I Stop Someone From Seeing My Facebook Posts Without Blocking Them?
On your Android application:
- Tap the menu in the top right of Facebook.
- Scroll down and tap Settings and privacy, then tap Settings.
- Tap on Profile Setting and tap Privacy.
- Find and tap the “Who can see your future posts?” option under the Your activity section and set the custom audience or set it to Friends.
- Next, Tap Limit past posts, then tap Limit past posts to confirm your decision.
#2. Lock your profile
Although Locking your Facebook profile is not available everywhere at the moment, it’s one of the best ways to hide your profile content from people that they are not friends.
To lock your Facebook profile:
- Go to Facebook.com on your browser and log into your account.
- Go to your profile
- Click on the 3 dots menu just after the profile and cover image section.
- Click on the Lock profile option
- A pop-up will appear, Click on the Lock your profile button to confirm your decision.
#3. Other privacy settings
Beyond the basic privacy settings, there are additional settings that you can use to further limit who can see your profile. You can control who can search for you, who can post on your timeline, who can comment on your posts, who can tag you in posts, and which categories of friends can see each post. Additionally, you can also control who can send you friend requests and messages.
You may also like: How To Prevent People From Tagging You On Facebook
#4. Block or restrict individuals
If you have someone, in particular, you would like to block from seeing your profile, there is an option to do it. Please check the earliest step to know how to restrict a particular person from accessing your profile.
Another way is Blocking a particular person.
Facebook blocking works both ways – users who are blocked will no longer be able to view the profile or content of the person who blocked them, nor can they contact them in any form such as liking their posts, commenting or sending messages, etc.
Check this guide to know: How To Block Someone On Facebook Without Them Knowing
Why do you want to stop strangers from seeing your profile?
One of the primary reasons for this is safety. It’s important to protect yourself, both online and in the physical world. Social media sites are great places to connect with people, share ideas, and express yourself creatively, but it is also a place where dangerous situations can arise.
When strangers have access to your profile, they can learn a lot about you and your life, and this could potentially lead to identity theft, harassment, stalking, and other forms of abuse. Additionally, if your profile is public, it can be easily accessed by potential employers, which could put your career in danger. Therefore, it’s important to protect your profile and keep it private.
We hope, following the tips above will help you avoid being spammed by strangers and will also protect you from people who may try to look you up on Facebook.
Happy Facebooking
