The basic steps to add a photo to Facebook
To add a photo on Facebook, open the app or website, go to your profile or a group, and tap or click the photo icon in the post box. Select the photo from your device, add a caption if you want, and tap Post. The photo uploads to Facebook's servers, where it stays until you delete it — even if you remove the post, Facebook may keep a copy.
Facebook stores every photo you upload in your Photos section, organized by album. You can control who sees each photo by changing its privacy settings before or after posting. Photos you tag with other people's names create notifications for them and appear in their tagged photos section.
If you upload a photo to a group instead of your own profile, the group's privacy settings determine who can see it. A photo in a public group is visible to anyone on Facebook; a photo in a closed group is visible only to members; a photo in a secret group is visible only to members and does not appear in search results.
Key Takeaways
- Photos upload through the post box on your profile, a friend's profile, or a group page, and Facebook stores them permanently unless you delete them.
- You can change who sees a photo by adjusting its privacy setting before posting, and you can change it again later without deleting the photo.
- Tagging someone in a photo sends them a notification and adds the photo to their tagged photos section, visible to whoever can see the original photo.
- Photos in groups follow the group's privacy rules — public groups show photos to everyone, closed groups show them to members only, and secret groups hide them from search.
- Facebook keeps copies of photos even after you delete a post, so assume anything you upload may be stored on Facebook's servers indefinitely.
Where to find the photo upload button
On Facebook's website, the photo icon appears in the post box at the top of your News Feed or on your profile. It looks like a small picture frame or mountain shape. On the Facebook app for iPhone or Android, the same icon is in the same location — tap it to open your device's photo library.
You can also upload photos from a friend's profile page, a group page, or an event page. The post box works the same way on all of these — the photo icon is always in the same spot. If you do not see a post box on a page, you may not have permission to post there; group admins can restrict who can post photos.
Choosing privacy settings before you post
Before you tap Post, look for a small icon that shows who can see the photo — it usually says "Friends" or "Public" or shows a lock symbol. Tap or click that icon to change it. Your options are usually Public (anyone on Facebook), Friends (people on your friends list), Friends Except (friends minus specific people you choose), Specific Friends (only people you name), or Only Me (no one but you).
The privacy setting you choose applies to that single photo. If you post another photo later, it uses whatever setting you used last time, not the setting from your previous photo. This means you have to check the privacy icon before every post if you want different people to see different photos.
You can change a photo's privacy setting after you post it. Go to the photo, tap or click the three dots in the corner, select "Edit Post," and change the privacy icon. Anyone who could see the photo before can still see it in their own devices until they refresh their page.
Tagging people in photos
After you upload a photo, you can tag people by clicking or tapping their face in the image. Facebook's face recognition suggests names based on people in your friends list. You can also type a name manually. When you tag someone, they get a notification and the photo appears in their tagged photos section.
The person you tag does not have to approve the tag — it appears when ready. However, they can remove themselves from the tag, and they can adjust their settings so that tags do not post to their timeline without their approval. If someone tags you in a photo you do not want associated with your profile, you can untag yourself.
A tagged photo is visible to whoever can see the original photo's privacy setting. If you post a photo to Friends only and tag someone, that person's friends can see the photo in their tagged photos section only if they are also on your friends list.
Uploading multiple photos at once
To upload more than one photo in a single post, tap or click the photo icon and select multiple images from your device before posting. Facebook lets you arrange them in any order by dragging them around. You can add a caption to the entire post, but not to individual photos within that post.
If you want captions on individual photos, post them separately instead of grouping them. You can also create an album, which is a collection of photos organized by name and date. Albums appear on your profile and let visitors browse through related photos together.
Creating and organizing photo albums
To create an album, go to your Photos section on your profile, tap or click "Create Album," and give it a name. You can then upload photos into that album one at a time or in batches. Albums stay on your profile and are searchable by name, so they are useful for organizing photos by event, location, or time period.
Each album has its own privacy setting separate from the individual photos inside it. You can make an album visible to Friends only while individual photos inside it are visible to Public, or vice versa — the most restrictive setting wins, so if the album is Friends only, no one outside your friends list can see the photos even if they are set to Public.
You can edit an album's name, description, and privacy setting at any time. You can also delete an album, which removes all the photos in it from your profile, though Facebook may keep copies on its servers.
What happens to photos you delete
When you delete a photo from your profile, it no longer appears on your timeline or in search results. However, Facebook may retain a copy of the image on its servers for a period of time, especially if other people have downloaded it, shared it, or tagged themselves in it. You cannot control whether Facebook keeps a backup copy.
If you delete a post that contains a photo, the photo disappears from your timeline but may still exist in your Photos section. You have to delete it from there as well to remove it completely from your profile. Even then, anyone who downloaded or screenshotted the photo before you deleted it still has their own copy.
If someone else tagged you in a photo and then deleted it, the photo is gone from their profile but may still appear in your tagged photos section. You can remove it from your tagged photos by untagging yourself, but you cannot delete someone else's photo.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I upload photos from my computer instead of my phone?
Yes. On Facebook's website, click the photo icon in the post box and select files from your computer's hard drive. The Facebook app on phones and tablets can only access photos stored on that device, so if you want to upload from a computer, use the website instead.
What if I want to post a photo but hide it from one specific person?
Set the photo's privacy to "Friends Except" and type that person's name. They will not see the photo on your profile or in their News Feed. However, if a mutual friend comments on the photo, that person may see the comment in their notifications.
Can I edit a photo after I upload it?
You cannot edit the image itself — you cannot crop, filter, or change colors after posting. You can only change the caption and privacy setting. If you need to edit the image, read it, edit it on your device, delete the original post, and upload the edited version.
Do photos I upload to a group stay there forever?
Photos stay in a group until you delete them or the group is deleted. Group admins can also delete photos. If the group is deleted, all photos in it disappear from the group page, but Facebook may keep copies on its servers.
What does it mean when Facebook says a photo is "backed up"?
If you have Facebook's photo backup feature turned on, copies of photos from your phone are stored on Facebook's servers. This does not change who can see the photos — it is just a backup copy. You can turn this feature off in your phone's settings under Facebook's app permissions.