Facebook Privacy and Security: The Complete 2025 Guide

You share a photo with “Friends,” only to find out a stranger somehow saw and commented on it. You hear another news story about a massive data breach and feel a spike of anxiety, wondering what information of yours is floating around on the dark web. You feel agitated and powerless, like you have no real control over your own digital footprint on the world’s largest social network.

The good news is that you have more control than you think. While Facebook’s settings can feel like a maze, taking a few deliberate steps can dramatically improve your privacy and secure your account from unauthorized access.

This guide will walk you through a complete Facebook privacy and security checkup for 2025. We’ll show you exactly which settings to change to protect your information and give you peace of mind. This is a critical deep-dive from our main Facebook for Business: The Definitive 2025 Guide.

Your First Step: The Facebook Privacy Checkup

Before you dive into individual settings, start with Facebook’s own guided tool. It’s the easiest way to review your most important settings in one place.

1. Click your profile picture in the top right.
2. Go to Settings & Privacy > Privacy Checkup.

This tool will walk you through five key areas. We will explore these in more detail below.

Part 1: Who Can See What You Share

This is the core of your privacy. It controls the audience for your posts, profile information, and stories.

• Default Post Audience: Go to Settings & Privacy > Settings > Privacy. Under “Your Activity,” you can set the default audience for your future posts (e.g., “Friends,” “Public,” “Only Me”). Setting this to “Friends” is the most common and recommended option for personal use.
• Limit Past Posts: Have you posted publicly for years? You can retroactively change the audience of all your old public posts to “Friends” with a single click. In the same “Your Activity” section, find “Limit the audience for posts you’ve shared…”
• Control Your Profile Information: Review who can see your friends list, your birthday, your contact information, and where you’ve worked. It’s wise to set your friends list and contact details to “Only Me.”

Part 2: How to Keep Your Account Secure

This section is about preventing hackers and unauthorized users from gaining access to your account.

• Use a Strong, Unique Password: Your Facebook password should not be used for any other service. Use a combination of upper and lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols.
• Turn On Two-Factor Authentication (2FA): This is the single most important security feature you can enable. Go to Settings & Privacy > Settings > Security and Login. Under “Two-Factor Authentication,” you can set it up to require a code from your phone (via an authenticator app or SMS) whenever you log in from a new device.
• Get Login Alerts: In the same “Security and Login” section, you can set up alerts to be notified by email or notification whenever your account is accessed from an unrecognized device or browser.

Part 3: How People Can Find You on Facebook

This controls who can send you friend requests and look you up using your email address or phone number.

• Friend Requests: You can change who can send you friend requests from “Everyone” to “Friends of friends.” This will significantly cut down on requests from complete strangers.
• Lookup Settings: Decide if you want people who already have your email or phone number to be able to find your Facebook profile. For maximum privacy, you can restrict these to “Only Me.”

Part 4: Your Data Settings on Facebook

This is about managing how third-party apps and websites interact with your Facebook data.

• Review Your App and Website Permissions: Go to Settings & Privacy > Settings > Apps and Websites. Here you will see a list of every app and website you have ever logged into using Facebook. Remove any services you no longer use or trust. This is critical for preventing data leaks.
• Manage Off-Facebook Activity: This feature shows you a summary of activity that businesses and organizations share with Facebook about your interactions with them (like visiting their app or website). You can review this activity and disconnect it from your account.

Essential Tools for Digital Privacy & Security

• A Password Manager (e.g., 1Password, Bitwarden): These tools generate and store strong, unique passwords for all your accounts, so you don’t have to remember them.
• An Authenticator App (e.g., Google Authenticator, Authy): Using an authenticator app for 2FA is more secure than using SMS, as it is not vulnerable to SIM-swapping attacks.
• A VPN (e.g., NordVPN, ExpressVPN): A Virtual Private Network encrypts your internet traffic, adding an extra layer of security, especially when using public Wi-Fi.

Conclusion: Putting It All Together

Your Facebook privacy and security are not something to be set once and forgotten. It’s a good practice to review these settings every few months to ensure your account is locked down and your data is protected. By taking these proactive steps, you can confidently use the platform while minimizing your risk.

What Should You Do Now?

1. Enable Two-Factor Authentication (2FA): If you do only one thing from this guide, make it this. Go to your security settings and turn on 2FA right now.
2. Run the Privacy Checkup: Go through Facebook’s guided 5-step process to get a quick overview and fix any major issues.
3. Clean Up Your App Permissions: Go to your “Apps and Websites” settings and remove any service you haven’t used in the last year. You’ll likely be surprised by how many you find.

Frequently Asked Questions