What you can see on someone else's LinkedIn profile
LinkedIn lets you see a person's connections list if they have made it public — but the visibility depends on whether you are logged in, what tier of account you have, and what the person themselves chose to share. If someone's connections are visible, you can click the "Connections" tab on their profile and scroll through the names. You will see their job titles and current companies, but not their email addresses or phone numbers.
If a profile's connections are hidden, you will see a message saying the list is private instead of a clickable number. LinkedIn does not tell you why someone hid their connections — it could be a privacy choice, a setting they inherited from an old account, or a business decision. Either way, you cannot see the list without their permission.
The ability to see connections also depends on your own account status. Free account holders can see connections on most public profiles. LinkedIn Premium subscribers can see a bit more detail — for instance, they can see how you are connected to someone through a chain of mutual contacts. But neither tier can force open a hidden connections list.
Key Takeaways
- A person's connections are visible only if they chose the public setting; if hidden, you will see "private" instead of a number and cannot view the list.
- You can see connection names and their current job titles, but not their contact information or email addresses.
- LinkedIn Premium shows you the path between you and someone else (mutual connections), but does not unlock hidden lists.
- Your own connections are public by default on LinkedIn, so you should check your privacy settings if you want to hide them.
- Viewing someone's public connections list does not notify them or leave a record they can see.
How to find the connections tab on a LinkedIn profile
Open the person's LinkedIn profile by searching their name or clicking a link to their page. On a desktop browser, you will see tabs below their headline and photo — usually "About," "Experience," "Education," and "Connections." Click "Connections" to see the list. On a mobile app, swipe left through the tabs or scroll down to find "Connections."
The number next to "Connections" tells you how many people are on their list. If the number is there but grayed out or says "private," the list is hidden. Some profiles show a partial count — for example, "500+ connections" — which means the person has more than 500 but LinkedIn does not display the exact number.
Why someone might hide their connections
People hide their connections for different reasons, and none of them are technical failures. A recruiter might hide connections to avoid being contacted by job seekers they have already rejected. A business owner might hide them to keep client relationships private. Someone in a sensitive job — law enforcement, intelligence work, or undercover roles — might hide them for safety.
Some people hide connections because they are concerned about data collection. If you can see who someone knows, you can build a map of their professional network, their clients, or their workplace relationships. That information can be valuable to competitors, scammers, or people trying to impersonate someone. Hiding connections is one way to reduce that exposure.
Others hide connections straightforward because they do not want their network visible to strangers. LinkedIn defaults to public, so some people change the setting once and forget about it. If you cannot see someone's connections, it does not mean they are hiding something — it means they made a deliberate choice about their privacy.
What LinkedIn knows about your connections even when they are hidden
Even if you hide your connections list from other users, LinkedIn itself still has a complete record of everyone you are connected to. The company uses this data to power its recommendation engine, to show you job suggestions based on where your network works, and to build advertising profiles. LinkedIn also sells aggregated data about network patterns to researchers and business intelligence firms — not your individual connections, but trends about how people in certain industries connect.
When you hide your connections from other people, you are not hiding them from LinkedIn. You are only hiding them from other LinkedIn users. If you want to limit what LinkedIn collects about your network, your options are narrower: you can delete connections you no longer want to be associated with, or you can limit what LinkedIn is allowed to do with your data through your privacy settings. But you cannot prevent LinkedIn from storing the connection itself.
How to hide or show your own connections
To change whether your connections are visible to others, go to your profile and click the pencil icon next to your name. Scroll down to "Public profile & URL" and click the pencil icon there. Under "Edit public profile visibility," you will see a dropdown for "Connections." Change it from "Public" to "Private" if you want to hide your list, or from "Private" to "Public" if you want to show it.
On mobile, tap your profile photo, then tap "View profile." Tap the pencil icon, scroll to "Public profile & URL," and tap the pencil again. The same "Connections" dropdown appears. Save your changes and they take effect when ready — but it can take a few hours for LinkedIn's search index to update, so your connections might still appear in search results briefly.
LinkedIn's default is public, which means if you have never changed this setting, your connections are visible to anyone on LinkedIn. If you joined years ago and have not checked, it is worth reviewing. Some people discover their connections are public only when someone tells them they saw the list.
The difference between seeing connections and being connected
Seeing someone's connections list and being connected to them are two different things. You can view a public connections list without being connected to that person yourself. You can also be connected to someone without being able to see all of their connections — if they have hidden the list, you cannot see it even though you are in their network.
Being connected to someone means you can message them directly through LinkedIn, see their updates in your feed, and appear in their network. Viewing their connections list means you can see who else they know. The two permissions are separate, and LinkedIn treats them that way. You do not need permission to view a public connections list, but you do need the person to accept your connection request before you can message them.
What information LinkedIn shares about your connections with third parties
LinkedIn shares data about your network with advertisers, but not in a way that exposes individual names. Advertisers can target you based on where you work, what industry you are in, or what job title you have — all of which LinkedIn knows partly because of who you are connected to. But they cannot see your actual connections list through LinkedIn's advertising tools.
Third-party apps that you authorize can sometimes access your connections. If you sign up for a service using your LinkedIn account, or if you grant an app permission to access LinkedIn, that app may be able to see your connections list depending on what permissions you gave it. Always check what permissions an app is asking for before you authorize it. You can revoke access to any app by going to your LinkedIn settings, clicking "Data privacy," and reviewing "Apps and websites."
Frequently Asked Questions
Does someone get notified if I view their connections list?
No. LinkedIn does not send a notification when you view someone's public connections. You can look at a connections list without the person knowing. However, if you send a connection request to someone you found through their network, they will see that request — but they will not know you viewed their connections first.
Can I see someone's connections if they are not my connection?
Yes, if their connections are set to public. You do not need to be connected to someone to view their public connections list. You can search for anyone on LinkedIn and click their profile, and if they have not hidden their connections, you can see the list.
Why does someone's connection count say "500+" instead of a real number?
LinkedIn caps the displayed number at 500 for privacy and performance reasons. If someone has more than 500 connections, LinkedIn shows "500+" instead of the exact count. The person themselves can see the real number in their own settings, but other users cannot.
If I hide my connections, will people still know who I am connected to?
Not through your profile. If you hide your connections, other users cannot click on your profile and see the list. However, if you are connected to someone and they have a public connections list, your name will appear on their list. Hiding your own connections does not hide you from other people's connections lists.
Can I hide my connections from everyone except certain people?
No. LinkedIn's privacy setting for connections is all-or-nothing: either your connections are public to everyone on LinkedIn, or they are private to everyone. You cannot make your list visible to some people and hidden from others. If you want selective visibility, you would need to manage your actual connections — removing people you do not want in your network — rather than hiding the list.