How To Lock Facebook Profile- A Step-By-Step Guide

Facebook is undoubtedly a great way to stay connected with your friends and family, and to remain updated with what’s happening around the world. However with billions of active users, you might not understand the true intentions of people. As a result, safeguarding your information on Facebook becomes essential. Even if your information are set to certain privacy, there can be some information that people who are not in your list can access. For instance, taking a screenshot of your profile pic.

That is why it is important to understand the importance of locking profile on Facebook. To be safe from potential stalkers and people who might have some bad intentions, it’s great to know this process. Let us find here how to lock Facebook profile on mobile phones and desktops. Also, by the end of this post, we have answered some of the most-asked questions by users. So, make sure to read it till the end.

So, let us explore here a step-by-step guide on how to lock Facebook profile.

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Why Should I Lock My Facebook Profile?

Before, jumping to the steps, let us first understand the need to lock your Facebook profile. According to Statista, Facebook has 2.83 billion monthly active users globally. That’s a massive chunk of the population. Though it might look like a virtual country, it empowers people and gives them a chance to connect with the world and witness a new virtual world.

But nevertheless, Facebook does have some high privacy issues. This is because a lot of people share their data on Facebook with the risk of it being misused. While the platform can get you latest memes, trends, updates, and much more, it’s just a safe measure to protect your data as well.

Locking Your Facebook Profile Will Have the Following Benefits:

• Restrict Profile Access: Only your friends will be able to see your profile and not any random person. This will also prevent any random person from seeing your photos, details and other information.
• Better Security: Since your personal information will not be visible to everyone, it will enhance security and reduce the chances of data theft.
• No More Random Messages: Any random person will now not be able to send your messages or harass you online.

Solving Privacy Issues

Facebook has developed a new feature that protects the user’s personal information from being shared with unknown persons. It is the Facebook Profile Lock feature, which was recently introduced. With this, Facebook removes the ability to collect personal information, posts, or any other data regarding a particular person from your Facebook account by someone else.

Pretty cool, right?

Recently, Facebook introduced the ‘Profile Picture Guard’ to secure users’ profile pictures. However, considering the other Privacy issues, Facebook has now developed the Profile lock feature.

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What Is The Facebook Profile Lock Feature?

Facebook has introduced a range of privacy options, and their most recent addition is the Facebook profile lock feature. With this feature, users can now safeguard their profile photos and posts.

If someone is not in your friend list, they are no longer able to view, share, or download these photos and posts. Additionally, it limits third parties from accessing posts on your timeline. Any previously shared public posts on your timeline will now exclusively be visible to your friends.

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What Would Your Profile Look Like?

• Once you have locked your profile, a lock icon will be visible to others, indicating that your profile is now locked.
• Your profile image cannot be seen, shared, or downloaded by that individual.
• Neither they nor anybody else will be able to access your profile picture.
• They will not be able to see any of your posts.
• This means that they won’t be able to see the most current or oldest updates on your timeline.
• They won’t be able to see any of your profile pictures or albums.
• Only a small approved portion of your information will be visible to them.

However, if they want to see your profile and get to know you better, they may send you a friend request.

Also Read: How To Create A New Facebook Account: Step By Step Guide It!

What Are The Changes That Occur While Locking The Profile?

• Locking your Facebook profile won’t impact your friend request settings. Anyone can send you a friend request, and you also can send a friend request to anyone. 
• The message settings also remain undisturbed. You can send messages to anyone and also can receive messages from anybody. However, you can restrict users from sending messages that are not on your friend list.
• Information such as hometown, current city, education details, etc., would be invisible to unknown people if you have locked your profile.
• Your profile pictures, cover photos and information about you are also locked to unknown users who are not on your friend list.
• Those not on your friend list cannot view or zoom in on your profile picture. If they try, it will show that your profile is locked.
• You can permanently block unknown friend requests if you feel unsafe.
• Any public post that you have shared on your Facebook profile in the past will now be changed to “Friends,” meaning that only your friends will be able to see those posts.
• Locking your profile will activate the tag review and profile review features. This means that whenever someone tags you in a post, you will receive a request to approve or reject the tag. Additionally, you will also need to approve the post after approving the tag before it can appear on your profile.

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Why is The Facebook Profile Lock Feature Important?

According to Facebook, in December 2020, hackers from Bangladesh and Vietnam corrupted the whole privacy system of Facebook. In addition, they have stolen the data of Facebook users. This Facebook lock profile feature will remove the ability of such groups to abuse the Facebook platform and scrape data from people’s accounts across the world.

To support the Facebook privacy system, people should avoid clicking on suspicious links and accepting friend requests from untrusted sources. Facebook also introduced a Vanish mode to resolve privacy risks. The unique feature of this model is that it deletes all the chats and media files after a certain period once you activate it. In addition, it has another vital safety feature. If someone takes a screenshot of your profile, Facebook will notify you about them instantly. Here are the steps to activate vanish mode. 

• Update your Facebook app to the latest version.
• Open the specific chat.
• Swipe up from the bottom of the chat.
• This will activate the Vanish mode.
• With this, the background colour of the chat changes to a black colour, indicating the mode is now activated.

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How To Lock Facebook Profile On Android Devices:

To lock facebook profile, you need to follow these steps.

Step 1: Open the Facebook app on your device.

Step 2: Next, tap on your profile picture on the home page.

Step 3:  Then, tap on the three dots Menu.

Step 4: There, you will see a Lock profile option. Click on it.

Step 5: Select the “Lock Your Profile” option at the end of the page on the Lock Profile Page.

Step 6: Once done, A pop message will appear on the screen saying, “You locked your profile. Only your friends can see the photos and posts on your timeline.“

Step 7: Tap OK to complete the process.

iPhone Users Need To Follow These Steps:

Step 1: Go to Facebook, and then tap on your name in the three-line menu on the bottom right.

Step 2: Dot your name with three fingers.

Step 3: To lock your profile, use the Lock Profile button.

Step 4: To be sure, tap Lock Your Profile a second time.

Your profile will be locked, and if you want to confirm, just come out from that page. Then, again, log in to your profile. There, you will get the notification that your profile has been locked. 

Also Read: How To Move Facebook Photos To Google Photos!

If the profile lock is not available on your Facebook page, manually modify the Facebook privacy settings to enable lock profile mode. If you want your friend to lock their profile, you can invite friends to lock their profiles to allow them to use this model.

How To Lock Facebook Profile Via Desktop?

If you primarily use your Facebook account on your desktop, don’t worry, we will list the steps to lock your Facebook profile there as well. Here’s the easy step-by-step process to do so:

Step 1: Open Google Chrome, Firefox or any browser on your desktop.

Step 2: Then log in using your Facebook ID and Password.

Step 3: Once that is out of the way, you will see the Facebook Home Page. From here, head over to your profile page by clicking on your picture at the top right corner of your screen.

Step 4: Here, right under the Edit Profile button, you will see three dots. Click on them.

Step 5: As soon as you do that, you will get a bunch of options. Click on the last option, that is, Lock Profile.

Step 6: You will see a popup window. Here, click on the Lock Your Profile button. That’s it!

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With that, you have successfully and easily locked your Facebook profile on your desktop.

Follow These Steps If Lock Profile Feature Is Not Available In Your Country:

If this feature is not yet available where you live, you can still attain some amount of privacy by following these steps:

Step 1: Limit past posts by going to Settings & Privacy – Settings – Posts – Limit Past Posts to friends only. You can also set your future posts to friends only as well from the posts setting.

Step 2: The same limitation can be done for stories too from story settings.

Step 3: Turn On Profile Review & Tag Review manually from settings.

Step 4: Select friends list visibility from public to friends or only me.

Additional Tips To Enhance Facebook Privacy

Now that you know how to lock Facebook profile, you can definitely keep your account safe. In addition to that, here are certain things that you can do to enhance your privacy on Facebook:

Enable Two-Factor Authentication

Two-factor authentication is a great way to protect your account even if someone has got your login credentials. Enabling this option means adding an extra layer of security to your account. You can find this option in the Settings> Privacy section of your account.

Limit Public Posts

Another thing that you can do is to limit the number of public posts. When you are sharing your pictures, any sensitive information or location updates, it is advised to change the privacy for those posts to Friends. This way, only the people in your friend list will have access to your posts.

Regularly Review Privacy Settings

Keep an eye on your privacy settings. You must make a habit of reviewing the privacy settings every now and then. Facebook often introduces new features and updates that can impact your privacy, therefore, reviewing and updating the privacy settings can be beneficial to you.

Review Friend Requests

It was a trend back then to have a long friend list that you can flaunt. Today, with so many online scams and hacking going on, it is advised to not accept every friend requests that you are receiving. You never know what the stranger has in mind.

Final Thoughts

And that is how you lock Facebook profile. Facebook is one of the most opened app on our devices. However, as the world is getting more concerned about data privacy, it is time to protect your Facebook accounts for good. Locking your profile secures your data from hackers and stalkers. 

After locking, you’ll have to re-enter your password on all the devices. Once you have lock Facebook profile, Facebook will add an indication to your profile.

However, bear in mind that once you activate this function, you will no longer be able to publish to the public. Instead, friends can only see the posts and share them. Stay Safe!

FAQs

How to lock Facebook account?

Locking your Facebook account is a great way to save your data from getting exposed to any threat or concerns. You can lock your Facebook account by clicking on the “Lock Profile” option that comes under the three-dot menu option on your Facebook profile page.

How can I unlock my Facebook account?

It can be that your Facebook account is locked or banned for some reasons. In that case, you can try getting it back by visiting the Facebook.com login page. There, you will find an on-screen instruction to recover your account. But keep in mind to use a mobile phone or desktop that you had used previously to log in to your account.

Why is my Facebook account locked?

Facebook locks account to keep the privacy intact. It can be that you have tried multiple login attempts and that has given Facebook an assumption of unidentified access, leading to the lock on your account.

Also Read: How To Create A New Facebook Account: Step By Step Guide

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