Complete Privacy Settings Overview for 2026

Facebook’s privacy settings have undergone significant changes in 2026 to comply with evolving global regulations and protect user data. Understanding these settings is essential for maintaining control over your personal information, who can see your posts, and how your data is used. This comprehensive guide walks through every privacy setting available in 2026 and explains how to configure each for maximum security.

Layer 1: Profile and Post Visibility

Go to Settings > Privacy > Who can see your profile. Most users choose “Friends” for basic privacy. “Custom” allows you to exclude specific people or create viewing restrictions. Enable Timeline Review in Settings > Privacy to require approval before posts others tag you in appear on your timeline. When posting, use the dropdown to select post privacy — Public, Friends, Friends Except, Specific People, or Only Me — and change any post’s privacy level after posting by clicking the privacy icon on that post.

Layer 2: Contact and Communication Restrictions

Go to Settings > Privacy > Inbox and choose who can message you — Everyone, Friends, or Friends of Friends. Friends of Friends is recommended to reduce unwanted messages. Control friend request permissions in Settings > Privacy > Friend Requests. Under Settings > Privacy > Calls, you can restrict or disable Facebook Messenger voice and video calls.

Layer 3: Search and Discovery

In Settings > Privacy > Search, control whether your account appears in external search engines and Facebook’s internal search. In Settings > Privacy > Look-up, choose who can find you using your email or phone number — limiting to Friends prevents strangers from locating your account through contact information.

Layer 4: Data Usage and Advertising

Go to Settings > Apps and Websites > Off-Facebook Activity to see websites and apps sharing your activity with Facebook. Clear this history or disconnect specific websites to limit cross-web tracking and reduce personalized ads. In Settings > Ads > Ad Preferences, review what information targets ads to you — remove interests and hide specific advertisers. The new Data Vaults feature (Settings > Privacy > Data Vault) stores sensitive documents encrypted and not used for advertising.

Layer 5: Third-Party App Permissions

Go to Settings > Apps and Websites > Connected Apps and review all apps with access to your Facebook data. Click each app to see what permissions it has — email, friend list, photos, etc. Remove access to any app you don’t actively use. Regular monthly reviews are essential for preventing data leaks through forgotten app permissions.

Layer 6: Location Privacy

In Settings > Location, decide whether to enable location history. You can view stored location data and delete specific entries. Even with location history enabled, you can choose not to share location on individual posts by unchecking the location option when posting.

Layer 7: Face Recognition and Biometrics

In Settings > Privacy > Face Recognition, control whether Facebook uses your face for recognition in photos. Turning off facial recognition prevents auto-tagging features, though other AI identification methods (profile photo, name tags) continue to work. Disabling reduces but doesn’t eliminate identification by Facebook’s systems.

Layer 8: Backup and Data Downloads

Go to Settings > Your Facebook Information > Download Your Information to download all your data including posts, photos, messages, and activity logs. This is useful for backing up memories or auditing what information Facebook holds about you. In Settings > Deactivation and Deletion, choose between deactivating (temporary, reversible) or permanently deleting your account — deleted accounts have data removed after 30 days.

Layer 9: Marketplace and Commercial Privacy

Go to Marketplace Settings and choose whether other users can see your Marketplace activity. You can hide reviews, purchase history, and buyer/seller ratings to keep your buying and selling activity private from other Facebook users.

Layer 10: Birthday and Sensitive Information

In Settings > Personal Information > Birthday, decide who can see your birth date. Keeping your birthday private reduces spam and targeted scams. Each piece of profile information — relationship status, education, workplace, phone number, email — has individual privacy controls that can be adjusted separately.

GDPR and Regional Rights (EU, UK, Ireland)

If you’re in a GDPR jurisdiction, go to Settings > Data Subject Rights to exercise your right to access, correct, or delete your data — Meta must respond within 30 days. European users may see additional privacy consent dialogs required by law. The UK ICO, Ireland’s DPC, and France’s CNIL all enforce these rights and can be contacted if Meta fails to comply with your data requests.

Best Privacy Practices Summary

Set your profile to Friends Only. Limit messages to friends or friends of friends. Disable search visibility to prevent external search engine indexing. Review connected apps monthly and remove unused ones. Turn off facial recognition if concerned about identification. Keep birthday and phone number private. Enable Timeline Review. Manage Off-Facebook Activity regularly. Download your information annually as a backup. These steps together give you robust protection across all of Facebook’s data layers in 2026.