Your Facebook profile details, posts, and even your friends are publicly viewable by default. Having a public friends list makes it easier for people to find and get in touch with you.

Facebook’s privacy settings allow you to control who can see your whole friends list if that’s what you like. If you wish to hide the identities of some friends from others, you might not want everyone to see it. Another possibility is that you simply respect your privacy and don’t want others to know who you’re connected to online.

How to hide your friends on Facebook via a web browser

• Open Facebook in a web browser.
• Click the downward-pointing arrow at the top right of the webpage.
• In the dropdown menu, click “Settings & privacy,” then click “Settings.”
• In the pane on the left side of the screen, click “Privacy.”
• In the section called “How people can find and contact you,” click “Edit” next to “Who can see your friends list?”
• Click the downward-facing arrow to reveal a list of options. You can choose: “Public,” “Friends,” “Friends except…,” “Specific friends,” “Only me,” or “Custom.”

You can select to enter specific names by clicking “Custom.” For instance, you can exclude Bob Smith from sharing your friend’s list with the rest of your pals. Select the person you want to add and then click “Save Changes.”

How to hide your friends on Facebook via a mobile device

• Open the Facebook app on your device.
• Tap the three horizontal lines (this is the hamburger menu). On an iPhone, this is in the lower right of the screen; on an Android, it’s in the upper right.
• Tap “Settings & Privacy.”
• Tap “Settings.”
• Scroll down to the “Privacy” section and tap “Privacy Settings.”
• Scroll down to the section called “How People Find and Contact You” and tap “Who can see your friends list?”
• Choose who you want to be able to see on your friend’s list. You can choose: “Public,” “Friends,” “Friends except…,” “Specific friends,” or “Only me.” If you choose “Friends except…,” you can block specific people from seeing your friends list.