How to Make Photos Private on Facebook

This wikiHow teaches you how to prevent others from seeing your photos or albums on Facebook. You can make photos on both the website and mobile versions of Facebook private. Note: you can’t edit privacy preferences for photos, videos, and albums posted by others.

Table of Contents

Make each photo private on your computer

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Open Facebook. Go to https://www.facebook.com/ using a web browser. The News Feed page will open if you’re logged into Facebook.

If you’re not logged into Facebook, enter your email address and password to continue.

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Go to the profile page. Click your name in the upper right of the Facebook page.

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Click the Photos tab. This tag is located below the cover photo at the top of the Facebook page.

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Select a photo category. Click the category card (example: Your Photos ) near the top of the page.

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Select photo. Click the photo that you want to make private. The image will appear.

Photos must be posted by you and not uploaded by someone else.

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Click the “Privacy” icon. This icon usually has a silhouette of a person or two and is located in the lower right of your name in the upper right of the photo. A drop-down menu will appear.

If when you click this icon there is a pop-up menu with the option to Edit Post Privacy click Edit Post Privacy to go to the post then click the privacy icon at the top of the post before continuing.

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Click More… (More options). This item is in the drop-down menu.

Make each photo private on your phone

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Open Facebook. Tap the Facebook app icon with a white “f” on a dark blue background. The News Feed page will open if you’re signed in.

If you are not logged in, enter your email address and password to continue.

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Tap the ☰ icon in the bottom-right corner of the screen (iPhone) or the top of the screen (Android). A menu will appear.

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Tap your name. This option is at the top of the menu. Your profile page will appear.

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Scroll down and tap Photos . This card is located below the information section.

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Select a photo category. Tap one of the photo categories (example: Uploads ) near the top of the screen.

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Select photo. Tap the photo that you want to make private. The image will open.

Note: the selected photo is uploaded by you, not the one you were tagged in. We cannot adjust privacy preferences for other people’s photos.

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Tap the ⋯ icon in the upper right corner of the screen. A menu will appear.

On Android, you need to long press on the photo.

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Click Edit Privacy . This option is in the menu. A new menu will open.

For some photos, you need to click Edit Post Privacy here.
If you don’t see this option, the photo is in a user-created album and cannot be made private. At this point, you need to make the album private.

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Click More at the bottom of the menu.

Skip this step if there is an Only me option in the menu.

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Tap the Only me option from the menu.

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Tap Done in the upper-right corner of the screen. This will save the photo’s customizations and the image will be hidden from everyone but you.

Make albums private on computer

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Open Facebook. Go to https://www.facebook.com/ using a web browser. The News Feed page will open if you’re logged into Facebook.

If you’re not logged into Facebook, enter your email address and password to continue.

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Go to the profile page. Click your name in the upper right of the Facebook page.

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Click the Photos tab located below the cover photo at the top of the Facebook page.

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Click the Album tab in the upper right of the “Photos” page. A list of photo albums belonging to your Facebook profile will open.

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Find the album that you want to make private.

Some Facebook albums are made available on the Facebook website and so they cannot be made private.
We cannot edit the privacy of the album “Mobile Uploads” – Uploads from Mobile (or “iOS Photos” for previously uploaded photos from Apple phones).

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Click the ⋯ icon in the lower right corner of the album cover photo. A small menu will appear.

If the selected album doesn’t have the three-dot icon, you can’t edit it to be private; however you can make each photo and video in the album private instead.

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Click the Edit option in the menu. The album’s page will open.

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Click the “Privacy” drop-down box at the top of the page. A menu will drop down.

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Click the Only me option located in the drop-down box.

If you don’t see this option, you’ll need to click See all lists… to expand the menu.

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Click the Save button at the top right of the page. The settings will be saved and the album will be viewable only by you.

Make album private on phone

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Open Facebook. Tap the Facebook app icon with a white “f” on a dark blue background. The News Feed page will open if you’re signed in.

If you are not logged in, enter your email address and password to continue.

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Tap the ☰ icon in the bottom-right corner of the screen (iPhone) or the top of the screen (Android). A menu will appear.

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Tap your name. This option is at the top of the menu. Your profile page will appear.