How to View Your Facebook Profile as Public

Find out what other users see on your Facebook page

What to Know

  • Select profile icon > three dots > View As.
  • Use Facebook's public viewing feature to confirm exactly what information you're sharing with the public.

This article explains how to view your Facebook profile as it appears to the public.

How to View Your Facebook Profile as a Public User

Facebook allows you to share certain information publicly, with friends, with specific friends, or just with yourself. If you want to view your Facebook profile as the public sees it, you can do so by using Facebook's public viewing feature.

You can do this on Facebook.com and the official Facebook app for iPhone/Android. Instructions are provided for both, however screenshots are provided only for Facebook.com.

  1. Navigate to Facebook.com in a web browser or open the Facebook app on your device and select your profile icon in the post composer field or the top right corner of the page to go to your profile.

  2. On Facebook.com, select the three dots under your cover photo.

    In the app, select the three dots to the right of the blue Add Story button.

  3. Select View As.

    A screenshot of Facebook.com.
  4. Your profile will be shown to you as if you were viewing it as a public user. This is how non-friends see your profile.

    A screenshot of Facebook.com.

    If you notice something appears publicly that you want to hide from the public, you can adjust the privacy settings for that information.

Why You Should View Your Facebook Profile as a Public User

You should use Facebook's public viewing feature if you want to be able to confirm exactly what information you're keeping private versus public. Remember, anyone who comes across your profile in search or somehow finds the direct link to your profile can see information you've made public.

Viewing your Facebook profile as public is even more important if you've been on the platform for many years. In the past, you may have been more casual with what you shared, which means it could have been very easy to overlook your current privacy settings before you shared or posted something.

By viewing your profile as a public user, you get to see exactly what a non-friend sees on your profile and then decide if you need to adjust the privacy or perhaps delete something altogether.

Viewing Your Facebook Profile as a Friend

Facebook previously allowed users to view their profiles as friends. Once you selected View As, you could select View As Specific Person and type in a friend's name to see how their profile looked from that friend's point of view.

Unfortunately, this feature was removed due to a security breach linked to it back in 2018. There's been no word on whether it will eventually be brought back.

If you want to view your Facebook profile as a specific friend, there's a bit more work involved. Here are your options:

  • Ask a specific friend to view your profile next time you're physically with them. This is perhaps the easiest option.
  • Ask a specific friend to send you a screenshot of your profile. If you can't get together in person, ask a friend to screenshot your profile and send it to you.
  • Create a new Facebook profile. You can set up a brand new Facebook account, send a friend request to your original account and then use the secondary account to view your profile once you've friended it.
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