How to Hide Phone Number on Facebook

In today’s digital age, our online identities are becoming increasingly intertwined with our real lives. Sometimes, it feels like being a goldfish in a digital bowl where everyone can see every move we make. 

If you have your personal phone number added to your Facebook account, people can find your profile by searching with the number. Not just that, anyone can also have direct access to your phone number from your profile. 

Here, anyone means literally ANYONE. Even people who are not in your Fb friend list. Although Facebook allows anybody to find you by a reverse phone number lookup by default, you may easily avoid this by adjusting your settings. 

Keep reading to learn more about how to make your phone number disappear from Facebook’s prying eyes. Below, we have provided a complete guide for both mobile devices and PCs. 

Steps to Hide Phone Number on Facebook

The following are the steps to hide your phone number from your Facebook profile. We have discussed how to do the same for both mobile devices as well as PCs. Follow along.

How to Hide your Phone Number on Your Facebook Mobile?

If you want to adjust the settings from a Mobile Device, follow the steps:

1. First, login to your Facebook account.

2. Click on those three horizontal lines at the top right.

3. Click on your profile.

4. After that, you will notice three dots with “See your About info.”

5. While checking your about info, scroll a bit downward and you will find the phone number connected to your account.

6. Tap the “edit” option next to your phone number. The menu icon will appear depending on your phone number’s current privacy status. For example, if it is Public, a globe will appear here.

7. Next, select “only me” from the drop-down menu and you are done. 

Even after adjusting your phone number’s privacy to “Only me,” it stays on your profile, so you can continue to use Facebook and Messenger. 

But the most important part is, only you will be able to see it. Anyone else is now barred from viewing or accessing your phone number on your profile.

How to Hide Your Phone Number from Your PC or Macbook?

You can also adjust the settings on a PC or your Macbook. The process is somewhat similar too. 

But some of us still may get confused at points. This is why we are here to have your back. 

Follow the steps below to hide your phone number from a PC or Mac: 

1. If you are not logged in to your account, go to Facebook’s website and log in using your email and password,

2. After logging in, click on your profile picture from top right and go to your account’s profile,

3. Locate “Edit profile” and click on it,

4. Next, you need to scroll downward and select the last option named “Edit Your About Info”,

5. This will open a drop-down menu. Locate your phone number and adjust the privacy to “Only me.”

After saving the changes, this will restrict the phone number’s visibility only to you. 

You can also remove the phone number entirely. By following these simple steps, you’ve taken a significant stride towards protecting your online privacy. 

Why Should I Hide My Phone Number on Facebook?

There are multiple reasons to hide your phone number on Facebook.

1. Prevent Yourself from Having Unwanted Online Interactions and Safeguard Your Online Privacy

You should hide your phone number on Facebook to avoid unwanted interactions and to save your privacy online. 

2. Prevent Yourself from Getting Trapped by Hackers Online

It also reduces your exposure to potential scams. For instance, hackers can send you sensitive emails or messages that appear to be from legitimate sources, such as banks or social media platforms.

3. Avoid Sketchy Online Service Providers

Sometimes there are sketchy online service providers that try to spam random profiles by hacking your phone numbers. You will get texts inviting you to watch random Instagram live for their monetary benefits and some even encourage you to get Facebook promotion services to increase your metrics.

However, most of these providers offer bots and counterfeit accounts and you should vet them carefully before you make a purchase. 

4. Save Yourself from Deals that are Too-good-to-be-true

Beyond those that we already listed above, we might also get fooled by potential scamsters selling us services online. These scammers know how to play with our emotions and our online persona. They craft deals that seem highly lucrative for many of us.

Sometimes they pitch us to buy scam services or tools that show us how to view private Instagram followers, how to know who stalks our account online, or other out-of-the-world stuff that is simply impossible nowadays.

The unfortunate matter is, every year millions of users fall for this and lose their sensitive information to the scammers and hackers. So, we should really be concerned about who has access to our sensitive information online. 

Conclusion

Hiding your phone number is a good first step, it’s important to be vigilant and take additional precautions to protect yourself from spam and online scams. 

You can also go through our other articles to get a thorough knowledge of similar topics.