Facebook allows us to connect with all sorts of people. However, there are some people that you may not want to connect with.
There are many reasons that you may decide certain people should no longer interact with your profile, like friends. In these cases, you’ll likely want to put your friend on restricted mode. Let’s take a look at what this means.
What is Facebook Restricted Mode?
When someone is on your restricted list, it means that they’re still technically friends with you. However, they have none of the permissions of a friend. They cannot see any private posts and can only see public information about you. Therefore, it is like you aren’t friends at all without the other person being notified that something has changed.
For more information on restricting someone on your account (or figuring out if you’re restricted), keep reading.
How Do I Know If I’m Restricted on Facebook?
It can be difficult to figure out if you’re restricted on Facebook. The website will not tell you if you’re restricted, as the act of restricting an account is meant to be private. Therefore, you won’t get notified when it happens.
However, there are some ways you can make an educated guess. For instance, if someone goes from posting a lot to not posting at all, it could be that you just aren’t seeing their posts.
You can also look at the top of their profile. If there is a big gap in time between the last private post and the top of the profile, then you may not be able to see the most recent private posts.
With that said, being restricted still allows you to see public posts. Therefore, you can also look to see if all new posts are public. If they are, you may still not be seeing the private posts.
The only way to know for sure is to ask the person themselves or a mutual friend. If a mutual friend can see posts that you can’t, it means that you have been restricted.
How Do I Turn Off Restricted on Facebook?
If a friend has restricted you, then you cannot change the setting. Each person controls who views their profile on Facebook – not the other way around. However, if you’d like to un-restrict someone and allow them to see your profile, this process is pretty straightforward.
Generally, you can go to the person’s profile that you want to un-restrict and tap the friend icon. Then, you can change the status of that person on your friend list.
You can see your whole friend list if you’re on your computer. From your newsfeed, select friends in the left menu. You may need to select see more to access it.
Once you’re on your friend list, select customer lists and click restricted. You’ll now access a whole list of those you’ve restricted. To remove someone, simply press the “x” next to their name.
Can Restricted Friends See Photos?
Restricted friends can see public posts but not private posts. In other words, it is like they aren’t your friend at all, though they will still appear on your friend list. Plus, they won’t have many ways to tell that they’re restricted.
Photos as a whole aren’t governed by these rules. If your photo is public, they will be able to see it.
However, if it is private, they won’t be able to see it. If you don’t want them to see it, simply change the viewing permissions to “friends.”
Can a Restricted Friend See That You’re Online?
If you’ve restricted someone on Facebook, they won’t be able to see that you’re online or if you’ve read any of their messages.
Furthermore, if you’re about to enter a group chat with a restricted person, Facebook will send you a warning.
However, on the other hand, you also won’t be able to see when they’re online. It goes both ways, for the most part.
If you restrict someone on Messenger, there are even more effects. For one, you won’t get notifications or rings when they message or call you. You also won’t be able to message or call them.
Plus, their chat icon will disappear from your list. Therefore, it is like they don’t exist at all. However, they won’t be told that they’ve been restricted.
What is the Difference Between a Limited Profile and Restricted on Facebook?
You can select to limit someone’s account or restrict it. The main difference is that you can directly restrict the exact content that limited profiles can view.
On the other hand, restricted profiles basically act as if they aren’t your friend at all. These profiles can only see public posts – not any private posts.
Therefore, they are effectively not your friends besides the fact that they still appear on your friend list.
Can a Restricted Friend Message Me?
A restricted friend can message you as if they aren’t restricted. However, you will not see a notification that they’ve done this. You also cannot message them back.
The person won’t be able to see that you’ve read their messages or when you’re online. They also don’t get notified that they’re restricted. Therefore, they may see that nothing is different at all.
From their point of view, it will simply look like you aren’t getting online or reading their messages.
However, from your point of view, it will look like the person has basically disappeared. Their chat bubble will not show up, and there won’t be any notification that they’ve tried to contact you.
To know more, you can also read our posts on Facebook Instant Articles, Facebook ID, and Facebook Impressum.
Conclusion
Individuals on Facebook can restrict certain accounts that they don’t want viewing their posts. These friends will still appear on their friends list and won’t be notified that anything has changed. However, new private posts will be hidden from them.
In this way, Facebook users can control exactly who views their profile without directly unfriending them. If you just want a Facebook friend to stop seeing your posts, this is a great feature.
