You can hide your entire friends list, or control who sees individual friends
Facebook lets you choose who sees your friends list in your privacy settings, and you can also hide specific friendships from certain people. The most direct route is to make your entire friends list visible only to you — this hides it from everyone, including people you're friends with. If you want to be more selective, you can hide individual friendships so that only you and that friend know you're connected, while leaving your overall friends list public or visible to friends.
The setting you need is called "Who can see your friends list?" and it lives in your privacy settings, not in your profile settings. Many people look in the wrong place and think the option doesn't exist. The steps are the same whether you're on desktop or mobile, though the mobile app layout is slightly different.
Key Takeaways
- You can hide your entire friends list by changing one privacy setting to "Only Me" — this takes about 30 seconds and hides it from everyone.
- If you want to keep your friends list visible to some people but not others, you can instead hide individual friendships using the three-dot menu on each friend's profile.
- Hiding a friendship does not unfriend the person — you remain connected, but that specific friendship becomes invisible to the audience you choose.
- People you've hidden from seeing a friendship may still figure out you're friends if they see you interact on each other's posts or visit your profile directly.
How to hide your entire friends list from everyone
Open Facebook and go to the down arrow in the top right corner (desktop) or the three horizontal lines at the bottom right (mobile). Select "Settings and privacy," then "Settings." On the left side, click "Privacy." Look for the line that says "Who can see your friends list?" — it usually shows "Friends" or "Public" by default.
Click on that setting and change it to "Only Me." Facebook will ask you to confirm. Once you do, your friends list becomes invisible to everyone except you. You can still see it by going to your own profile, but no one else can view it, even if they're your friend or if they search for you.
This is the fastest way to block all people from seeing your friends at once. The downside is that it hides your friends from everyone — if you want some people to see your list and others not to, you'll need to use the individual friendship hiding method instead.
How to hide individual friendships from specific people
If you want to keep your friends list visible overall but hide specific friendships, go to your profile and find the "Friends" section. Click on a friend's name to open their profile. In the top right corner of their profile, click the three dots (or "More" on mobile), then select "Edit friendship."
You'll see an option that says "Show friendship" with a toggle next to it. Turn off the toggle. This hides that specific friendship from your profile and from the friend's profile — it becomes invisible to the audience you select. You can choose to hide it from "Public," "Friends," or specific people or lists.
The person you've hidden the friendship from will not receive a notification. However, they may still discover you're friends if they see you commenting on each other's posts, if they visit your profile and see you in their mutual friends, or if they search for you directly. Hiding a friendship is about privacy, not secrecy.
Why someone might want to hide friendships
People hide friendships for many reasons. You might not want a former partner, a coworker, or a family member to know you're connected to someone. You might be friends with someone you don't want publicly associated with — a therapist, a lawyer, or someone whose identity you want to protect. You might also want to hide friendships with accounts you use for specific purposes, like a professional account or a hobby account.
Hiding a friendship is different from unfriending. When you unfriend someone, you're no longer connected and they can't message you or see your posts (depending on your other privacy settings). When you hide a friendship, you remain friends — you can still message, see each other's posts, and interact — but the connection is invisible to the people you've hidden it from.
What happens when you hide a friendship
When you hide a friendship, the person you've hidden it from will not see that friendship listed on either profile. They won't get a notification that you've hidden them. However, the friendship itself is not secret — it's just not visible in the friends list.
If the person you've hidden the friendship from visits your profile directly, they may still see signs that you're friends. For example, if you comment on a mutual friend's post, they might see your name and realize you're connected. If they search for you in their friends list, you'll appear. The hiding only removes the friendship from the visible friends list — it doesn't prevent them from discovering the connection through other means.
Controlling who sees your friends list with custom audiences
Instead of hiding your friends list from everyone or hiding individual friendships, you can also set your friends list to be visible only to specific people or groups. In the same "Who can see your friends list?" setting, you can choose "Custom" and then select which friends, friend lists, or specific people can see it.
This is useful if you want your close friends to see your friends list but want to hide it from acquaintances, coworkers, or people you've recently added. You can create a custom list in Facebook (like "Close Friends" or "Family") and then set your friends list to be visible only to that list. This takes a bit more setup but gives you more control than a blanket "Only Me" setting.
Checking your current friends list privacy settings
To see what your current setting is, go to your profile and look at the "Friends" section. If there's a small icon next to the word "Friends" (like a globe for public or a person for friends only), that shows your current setting. You can click on it to change it.
You can also check by going to Settings > Privacy > "Who can see your friends list?" The setting you see there is what's currently active. If you've never changed it, it's probably set to "Friends," which means anyone you're friends with can see your entire friends list.
Frequently Asked Questions
If I hide my friends list, can my friends still see each other?
Yes. Hiding your friends list only hides it from your profile. Your friends can still see each other's friends lists (unless they've also hidden theirs). You're only controlling who sees the list on your profile, not who sees the connections between other people.
Will someone know if I hide a friendship with them?
No, they won't get a notification. However, if they try to look at your friends list or visit your profile, they may notice the friendship is missing and figure out you've hidden it. The hiding is not a secret action — it's just not advertised.
Can I hide my friends list from one person but not others?
Not with a single setting. You can either hide your friends list from everyone, make it visible to everyone, or use a custom audience to show it to specific groups. If you want to hide it from one specific person, you'd need to hide individual friendships with that person instead.
Does hiding a friendship mean we're still friends?
Yes. Hiding a friendship does not change your friend status. You can still message each other, see each other's posts, and interact normally. The only thing that changes is that the friendship becomes invisible to the people you've hidden it from.
What if someone screenshots my friends list before I hide it?
Once you hide your friends list, it won't appear in new screenshots, but someone could have already saved an image of it. Hiding your friends list protects your privacy going forward, not retroactively. If you're concerned about someone having already seen your list, you might also consider unfriending them or adjusting other privacy settings.