How to Lock Facebook Profile and What Does It Do

How to Lock Facebook Profile and What Does It Do

Facebook was keen to provide the utmost confidentiality to the accounts. Three years ago, they launched the profile photo guard function. Now they have introduced a successor to the feature – Facebook profile lock. In this article, we will explain how to lock your Facebook profile on Android, iPhone and PC. We will also find out what Facebook Profile Lock (FB) is and what happens by unlocking the FB Profile.


How to lock the facebook profile

Facebook has already had several privacy options. But you had to customize them manually if you didn’t want people who aren’t your friends to see any of your messages or information. To avoid this, Facebook has launched a unique function to lock your profile.

Let’s see how to lock the profile on Facebook. For some people, Facebook profile lock may not be available. If you are one of them, find out the reason for this in this post.

What is Profile Lock on Facebook

Locking a Facebook profile, in simple terms, limits what users who are not your friends see on your profile. Generally, your public posts, some information in About (depending on privacy settings), cover photos, and profile photos are visible to anyone, even if they’re not on your list. friends. But the profile lock changes everything.

It puts your Facebook profile under a lock where people who aren’t your friends can only see tiny versions of your profile and cover photo, and a few things in the About section of your profile. In addition, these spectators cannot see or enlarge these photos either. Nothing changes for the people on your friends list. They continue to see your information based on their existing privacy settings.


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Note: The profile can be unlocked at any time.

Let’s see in detail what happens when locking a Facebook profile.

What does it mean when a Facebook profile is locked

Let’s check out various things like posts, photos, profile picture, about, etc.

What happens to the chronology publications

When locking a Facebook profile, the privacy setting of your previous posts, which includes photos or albums, will change from Public to Friends. Only people on your friends list can see them. Other people cannot display this data on your profile. Likewise, you cannot publish public stories. They can be set to Custom or Friends and connection privacy settings.

Point: Learn how to use Stories on Facebook.


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For new articles and stories, confidentiality will be automatically kept only as friends. You can further customize it and limit your friends too.

In other words, you cannot post to the public when the profile is locked. If you wish, you must unlock your profile. You can find out what happens when you unlock your profile at the end of the post.

However, this does not mean that everything you have published or commented on public spaces such as pages, groups, market place, etc. will also be hidden. Your messages in these places will always be visible. But messages without privacy settings such as fundraisers, blood donations, etc. will become invisible to people not on your friends list.

Note: Locking a profile will allow the review of the timeline and tags for your profile.

What happens to the profile and cover photos

With Profile Lock, people outside of your friends list will see a thumbnail version of your current profile and your cover photo. Interestingly, they won’t be able to click or zoom on it. For previous photos such as profile, cover and photos, their privacy is set to Friends. If a user who is not on your friends list tries to click on the cover or profile picture, they will be informed that the person has locked their profile.

Note: Your friends can click and enlarge your profile photo.


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What happens to the information

Information in your About section, such as hometown, relationship status, current city, etc., will also be affected by locking your profile. Facebook will only show a maximum of five public information to strangers. If other details also have a public privacy setting, they will only be visible to your friends. Facebook does not specify which five details will be made public.

Note: Locking a profile will not affect search and contact settings for users on Facebook (email or phone number).

What happens to friend requests and messages

Locking the Facebook profile has no effect on your friends’ request settings. People can still send you a friend request based on your previous settings. Find out how to change who can send a friend request to Facebook.

Likewise, anyone can always send you a message. The Message button is visible on your profile after you have locked the profile.

Point: Discover the best tips for using Facebook Messenger.


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Here is an excerpt from the official Facebook support page that breaks down the aftermath of locking a profile.


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Now that you know what’s going on by locking your Facebook profile, here’s how to lock it.

How to lock your Facebook profile

Currently, the ability to lock your profile is only available on the Facebook Android app, Facebook Lite for Android, and the Facebook mobile website – m.facebook.com. The feature is not available on the Facebook iPhone app or the desktop version of Facebook – Facebook.com. Facebook profile lockout is also limited to a few countries at the moment, such as the UK, Bangladesh, India, etc. This is why you cannot see the Facebook profile lock on certain profiles or in certain countries.

If you desperately want to lock your profile from an iPhone or computer, open the Facebook mobile website from your phone or PC browser, and then lock the profile as shown below.

Note: The inability to lock the profile from the iPhone or PC does not mean that anyone who has locked their profile will appear unlocked on these two. Profiles will remain locked.

Lock Facebook profile step by step

There are two methods to lock your Facebook profile from Android mobile apps or from the mobile website.

Also on Guiding Tech

Method 1: Lock Facebook from Your Profile

It’s the fastest way to lock your profile.

Step 1: Open the Facebook mobile app and tap the three bar icon at the top. Then tap on your name.


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2nd step: You will be redirected to your profile. Tap the three-dot icon.


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Step 3: Tap Lock profile. You will get the lock profile screen. Tap Lock your profile.


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Note: If you don’t see the lock profile under the three-dot icon, follow the next method.

Your profile will be locked instantly. Go to your profile and you will see the message Your profile is locked.


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Method 2: Lock Facebook Profile Settings

Step 1: Launch the Facebook app and tap the three bar icon at the top. Choose Settings from the menu.


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2nd step: Scroll down and tap Profile lock. Then tap Lock your profile on the next screen.


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Point: Check out the other hidden features you can use on Facebook.

View profile as someone else

When you have locked your profile, you can invite others to lock their profile or view your profile as someone else to check what your profile will look like for people who are not on your list. friends. To do this, open your profile screen and tap the message Your profile is locked. Press View As to see what it looks like.


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How To Unblock A Facebook Profile And What Happens By Unlocking

To unlock your Facebook profile, open your Facebook profile screen. Press the message “Your profile is locked”. On the next screen, tap Unlock.


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If you don’t see the message, tap the three-dot icon next to your name on the profile screen, then choose Unlock Profile. Tap Unlock on the next screen.


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Pro tip: You can also unlock from Settings> Profile Lock> Unlock.

Now when you unlock your profile your previous privacy settings (before locking your profile) will be restored. For example, if a Facebook article was public, it would become public again. Your current full size profile and cover photo will be visible to everyone. In addition, the ability to publish public publications will be restored. However, any changes to the privacy setting you made to your profile when your profile has been locked will not be affected by unlocking.

Protect your profile

Locking your profile is a useful feature introduced by Facebook. You can be protected from prying eyes of stalkers by using this function. If profile lockout is not available for your account, you must manually change Facebook’s privacy settings to protect your information.

Then:

Facebook offers many ways to disconnect from someone. Find out how features like unsubscribe, friendship and break differ from each other using the following link.

Last updated Jul 16, 2020

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