Where to find and change your birthday

Your birthday lives in your Facebook profile settings, not on your main profile page. Go to the top right of Facebook, click the downward arrow, and select Settings and privacy, then Settings. On the left side, click Personal information. You will see a section labeled Basic information — your birthday appears there.

Click on the birthday field to edit it. Facebook will open a dropdown menu where you can change the month, day, and year. Select the correct information and click Save. The change takes effect when ready, though it may take a few minutes to show everywhere on your account.

If you cannot find the Personal information section, you may be on the mobile app. On mobile, tap the menu icon (three horizontal lines) at the bottom right, scroll down to Settings and privacy, tap Settings, then scroll to Personal information and follow the same steps.

Key Takeaways

  • Your birthday is stored in Settings and privacy > Settings > Personal information, not on your visible profile.
  • You can change your birthday as many times as you want, but Facebook limits how often you can hide it from others.
  • Your birthday visibility is separate from the birthday itself — you can change who sees it without changing the date.
  • If you entered your birthday wrong when you created your account, you can correct it at any time using the same steps.

Who can see your birthday

By default, your birthday is visible to everyone on Facebook — your friends, people who search for you, and anyone who visits your profile. You can change this in the same Personal information section. Next to your birthday, look for the privacy icon (it looks like a padlock or a circle with lines). Click it to choose who sees your birthday.

Your options are Public (everyone), Friends (only people you are friends with), or Only me (nobody else sees it). If you choose Only me, Facebook will still use your birthday to send you birthday reminders and to show you birthday notifications from friends, but other people cannot see the date on your profile.

Changing your privacy setting takes effect right away. If you have already shared your birthday with certain people and then hide it, those people cannot see it going forward, but they may remember it from before.

Why Facebook asks for your birthday

Facebook requires a birthday when you create an account because it uses the date to verify you are old enough to use the platform — the minimum age is 13 in most countries. The birthday also helps Facebook prevent fraud and confirm your identity if you lose access to your account.

Beyond those reasons, Facebook uses your birthday to send you birthday notifications, to show your friends that it is your birthday, and to target ads to you based on your age. If you do not want friends to see birthday notifications, hiding your birthday will stop those reminders from appearing on their feeds.

Changing your birthday multiple times

You can change your birthday as many times as you want, but Facebook has a limit on how often you can hide it from others. If you change your privacy setting to hide your birthday, you can only change it back to public or friends-only once every 60 days. This limit exists to prevent people from hiding and showing their birthday repeatedly to control when friends see notifications.

The limit applies only to changing your privacy setting, not to changing the actual date. If you entered the wrong year or month, you can correct it without hitting this limit. However, if you change the date itself and then want to hide it again, the 60-day rule still applies to the privacy setting.

What to do if you cannot edit your birthday

If the birthday field is locked or greyed out, Facebook may have flagged your account for security reasons or detected unusual activity. Try logging out completely, clearing your browser cache, and logging back in. If that does not work, try accessing Facebook from a different browser or device.

If the field remains locked after trying those steps, your account may need to go through Facebook's identity verification process. Go to Settings and privacy > Settings > Personal information and look for a message explaining why the field is locked. Follow the instructions to verify your identity, which usually involves uploading a photo of your ID or answering security questions.

In rare cases, Facebook may have suspended editing on your account temporarily. Wait 24 hours and try again. If you still cannot change your birthday after a full day, contact Facebook's support team through the Help Center by clicking the question mark icon at the top of any Facebook page.

Birthday changes and account recovery

Your birthday is one of the pieces of information Facebook uses to confirm your identity if you get locked out of your account. If you change your birthday, make sure you remember the new date — Facebook may ask you to confirm it when you try to regain access. Write down your birthday in a safe place if you think you might forget it.

If someone else has access to your account and changes your birthday without permission, that is a sign your account has been compromised. Change your password when ready, enable two-factor authentication, and review your login activity in Settings and privacy > Settings > Security and login > Where you are logged in. Remove any sessions you do not recognize.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I hide my birthday from specific people instead of everyone?

No. Facebook's privacy settings for birthday are all-or-nothing — you can show it to everyone, to friends only, or to nobody. You cannot hide it from one person while showing it to another. If you need to keep your birthday private from certain people, your only option is to hide it from everyone.

What happens to my birthday if I deactivate my account?

Your birthday stays in Facebook's system even after you deactivate. If you reactivate your account later, your birthday will be there unchanged. If you permanently delete your account instead of deactivating, your birthday is removed along with the rest of your data after 30 days.

Does changing my birthday affect my age on Facebook?

Yes. Your age on Facebook is calculated from your birthday, so changing the date changes your age when ready. If you entered the wrong birth year when you signed up, correcting it will update your age across your profile and in any ads targeted to you by age range.

Can I see when I last changed my birthday?

Facebook does not show you a history of birthday changes in your settings. You can only see your current birthday. If you need to know when a change was made, check your email for any security notifications Facebook may have sent when the change occurred.