How to Secure Your Facebook Account: Complete Privacy & Safety Guide

Facebook has nearly 3 billion monthly active users, making it the world's largest social network. It is also one of the most targeted platforms for scams, data harvesting, and account takeovers. Whether you want to lock down your account or leave the platform entirely, this guide walks you through every step.

Run Facebook's Security Checkup

Before changing individual settings, start with Facebook's built-in Security Checkup tool. This gives you a quick overview of your account's current security status.

1. Open Facebook and go to Settings & Privacy > Settings
2. Select Security and Login (or Accounts Center > Password and Security)
3. Click Security Checkup at the top of the page
4. Facebook will walk you through reviewing your password strength, active sessions, two-factor authentication, and login alerts

This takes about 2 minutes and flags the most important issues first.

Set a Strong, Unique Password

Your Facebook password should be at least 12 characters long and completely different from any other password you use.

1. Go to Settings > Security and Login > Change Password
2. Enter your current password, then create a new one
3. Use a mix of uppercase letters, lowercase letters, numbers, and special characters
4. Do not reuse a password from any other website or app

Use our Password Generator to create a strong password. Store it in a password manager rather than writing it down or saving it in your browser.

Enable Two-Factor Authentication

Two-factor authentication (2FA) is the single most effective step you can take. Even if someone steals your password, they cannot access your account without your second factor.

1. Go to Settings > Security and Login > Two-Factor Authentication
2. Click Edit next to "Use two-factor authentication"
3. Choose your preferred method:
   • Authentication app (recommended) — use Google Authenticator, Authy, or Microsoft Authenticator
   • Text message (SMS) — less secure but better than nothing
   • Security key — a physical device like a YubiKey (most secure)
4. Follow the setup prompts and save your backup codes in a safe place

If you choose an authenticator app, you will scan a QR code with the app and enter the 6-digit code it generates. Save the backup codes Facebook gives you — these let you back in if you lose your phone.

Turn On Login Alerts and Review Active Sessions

Login alerts notify you whenever someone accesses your account from a new device or browser.

1. Go to Settings > Security and Login > Setting Up Extra Security
2. Turn on Get alerts about unrecognized logins
3. Choose to receive alerts via Facebook notification, email, or both

Then review your active sessions:

1. Under Where You're Logged In, review every device and location listed
2. If you see any device or location you do not recognize, click the three dots next to it and select Log Out
3. If anything looks suspicious, select Not You? and follow the prompts to secure your account

Lock Down Your Privacy Settings

Facebook's default privacy settings share more information than most people realize. Here is how to restrict them:

Who Can See Your Posts

1. Go to Settings > Privacy
2. Set "Who can see your future posts?" to Friends (or Only Me for maximum privacy)
3. Click Limit Past Posts to change all previous public posts to Friends-only

Who Can Find You

1. Set "Who can look you up using your email?" to Friends (or Only Me)
2. Set "Who can look you up using your phone number?" to Friends (or Only Me)
3. Set "Do you want search engines outside of Facebook to link to your profile?" to No

Profile and Tagging

1. Go to Settings > Profile and Tagging
2. Set "Who can post on your profile?" to Friends or Only Me
3. Turn on Review tags people add to your posts before they appear
4. Turn on Review posts you're tagged in before they appear on your profile

Friend Requests

1. Set "Who can send you friend requests?" to Friends of Friends instead of Everyone

Remove Unnecessary App Permissions

Over the years, you may have connected dozens of apps and websites to your Facebook account. Each one has access to some of your data.

1. Go to Settings > Apps and Websites
2. Review every app listed under Active
3. Click Remove next to any app you no longer use or do not recognize
4. For apps you keep, click View and Edit to limit what data they can access

Pay special attention to apps that can access your friends list, email address, or post on your behalf. Remove anything you do not actively use.

Limit Ad Tracking and Off-Facebook Activity

Facebook tracks your activity on other websites and apps to show you targeted ads. You can limit this.

Off-Facebook Activity

1. Go to Settings > Your Facebook Information > Off-Facebook Activity
2. Click Clear History to remove past tracking data
3. Turn off Future Off-Facebook Activity to stop Facebook from receiving data about your activity on other sites

Ad Preferences

1. Go to Settings > Ad Preferences
2. Under "Ad Settings," set all options to Not Allowed:
   • Ads based on data from partners: Not Allowed
   • Ads based on your activity on Facebook: Not Allowed
   • Social interactions in ads: Only Me
3. Under "Advertisers," review and remove advertisers you have interacted with

Download All Your Facebook Data

Before making any major changes to your account, download a copy of everything Facebook has.

1. Go to Settings > Your Facebook Information > Download Your Information
2. Click Request a download
3. Select what you want:
   • All available data for a complete archive
   • Or select specific categories: Posts, Photos, Messages, Friends, Profile Information, etc.
4. Choose your format: JSON (machine-readable) or HTML (easier to browse)
5. Choose media quality: High for original-quality photos and videos
6. Click Create File
7. Facebook will notify you when the file is ready (this can take hours or days for large accounts)
8. Download the file from the same page and save it somewhere safe

This is especially important if you plan to deactivate or delete your account.

How to Deactivate Your Facebook Account

Deactivating is temporary. Your profile disappears from Facebook, but your data is preserved. You can come back anytime by logging in.

1. Go to Settings > Your Facebook Information
2. Select Deactivation and Deletion
3. Choose Deactivate Account and click Continue
4. Facebook will ask why you are leaving — select any reason
5. You may need to enter your password to confirm
6. Click Deactivate

While deactivated:

• Your profile, posts, and photos are hidden from other users
• People cannot search for you or view your timeline
• Messenger still works (you can separately deactivate Messenger)
• Your data is fully preserved and waiting for you to return

To reactivate, simply log in with your email and password.

How to Permanently Delete Your Facebook Account

Deletion is permanent. After the grace period, your account and all associated data are removed.

Before you delete, make sure you have:

• Downloaded your data (see the section above)
• Removed Facebook Login from any apps that use it for sign-in
• Saved any photos, messages, or contacts you want to keep
• Transferred admin rights for any Pages or Groups you manage

To delete your account:

1. Go to Settings > Your Facebook Information
2. Select Deactivation and Deletion
3. Choose Permanently Delete Account and click Continue
4. Click Delete Account, enter your password, and confirm

The 30-day grace period:

• If you log back in within 30 days, the deletion is cancelled and your account is restored
• After 30 days, the process is irreversible
• It takes up to 90 days after the 30-day period for Facebook to fully remove your data from all servers
• Some data (like messages you sent to other people) may remain visible to the recipients

What Happens After Deletion

• Your profile, photos, posts, videos, and everything you added is permanently removed
• Other people will no longer be able to find or view your profile
• Some information (like messages sent to friends) remains in their accounts
• Facebook retains some data for legal, safety, and security purposes in anonymized form
• Apps that used Facebook Login will no longer work with your account

If you want to check whether your personal information is still appearing on data broker websites after leaving Facebook, use our GCR Data Shield scanner to find and remove your data from over 500 broker sites.

For additional protection, use our AI Scam Checker to verify suspicious emails, links, and messages you receive on any platform.