In the early days of Facebook, users posted all style of personal and private information online. In hindsight, we were all green behind the ears, but it didn't experience like a privacy consequence waiting to happen.

Until it became a massive data privacy issue. At present, the best privacy practice is to keep your Facebook profile individual to protect your identity, your data, and even that of your friends.

But for years, people accept managed to effigy out how to tell if someone'south Facebook is individual, how to access locked Facebook profiles, likewise equally how to view a individual Facebook profile.

So in this article we'll explore how to view individual Facebook profiles to help yous stay safe.

What Is a Private Facebook Profile?

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A private Facebook profile is an account that you lot cannot view without being friends. When you view a private Facebook profile, you don't see any user data and, in many cases, don't see a contour photo either. The user has switched off whatsoever public-facing profile settings, making the profile not quite anonymous, simply certainly more private.

In the early on days of Facebook, several tricks existed that allowed at least a partial view of a individual Facebook account. For case, calculation someone as a friend once granted access to that person's Facebook page, regardless of privacy settings.

Another workaround involved modifying the Facebook contour URL to proceeds access to profile images and other uploads. At the fourth dimension, third-political party tools that could circumvent at least some of Facebook's privacy settings were bachelor likewise.

Thankfully, Facebook has closed the overwhelming majority of these backdoors and workarounds. The intense scrutiny Facebook faces regarding the privacy of its users ways accessing a private Facebook profile is extremely hard.

In that, the largest vulnerability is now the human connection: social technology, weak passwords, and poor personal security.

How Users See Someone's Locked Contour on Facebook

Even if yous set your Facebook profile to individual, information technology doesn't stop people from attempting to view it. Worse, setting your Facebook profile to private doesn't close the loopholes people can utilise to brim the privacy settings. They are, after all, loopholes. The clue is in the proper noun.

There are a few methods people volition utilize to get into a locked Facebook profile. Here's what you need to scout out for.

1. Fake Facebook Friends

Facebook friends and followers

The nearly straightforward method is via a false friend. These are users who figure out how to come across Facebook posts from non-friends.

Someone that desperately wants access to your individual Facebook profile might create an entirely fake profile in society to befriend you lot and gain admission to your Facebook profile.

A fake friend profile will utilize commonly known details to trick y'all into accepting a request. For instance, the (stolen) contour might characteristic a person of a similar age, have a similar set up of interests and Likes, or say they come from the aforementioned hometown, school, or business organization; anything to create a false bond.

If someone is specifically targeting your business relationship, they can use the information found on other accounts linked to yours to create the illusion of a colleague in a different department or a long-lost primary school friend.

The difficulty of spotting a fake Facebook friend depends on how you employ your account. If yous are already a very private private with a small number of Facebook friends, information technology is easier to spot a fake asking.

Y'all can accept control of your Facebook friend settings, including hiding your friends list and restricting who can transport you a friend asking.

2. Spyware Apps

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Image Credit: Glen Carrie/Unsplash

Once Facebook finally made it genuinely difficult to view a private Facebook profile, those desperate to view private Facebook profiles turned to more extreme options.

Installing spyware is ane of those more farthermost methods of viewing a individual Facebook contour.

Spyware, and more than recently, stalkerware installed on the device of a victim tin can provide direct admission to a private Facebook account.

Spyware apps are not difficult to use. You can take some assurance in the fact that it won't work unless someone has access to your computer or smartphone, or tricks you into downloading the spyware using a malicious email or link.

If someone is using a spyware app to view or mirror a Facebook account to a unlike device, it is difficult to discover. Especially if the person spying isn't making any modifications or changing the behavior of the device. Thankfully, you lot do have options!

Check out our complete malware removal guide. It will help you notice out if your device is hiding any spyware or malware, and explain how to remove it.

3. Password Theft

The third method for accessing a private Facebook profile is straight-up password theft. Facebook password cosmos rules are decent plenty. Yous need a minimum of eight characters, including upper and lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols.

Even with that combination, users will contrive to create the easiest password possible to think. If you have an easy password, it is besides easy for someone to guess it.

The other issue is password reuse. If y'all reuse a password across several sites and one of those suffers a information breach, you of a sudden take several vulnerable accounts. Y'all might non even realize your password is out in the wild, such is the book of data breaches net users fence with.

There is no tool to check your password on every site, for extremely obvious reasons. But you can head to Troy Hunt's Have I Been Pwned? to observe out if your e-mail accost and password have been exposed in a previous data breach.

Otherwise, start using stronger passwords, possibly using one of these online password generators to become you started.

Facebook Is a Security and Privacy Nightmare

A private Facebook contour should protect your information. Merely you shouldn't entirely rely on Facebook. The social media giant is as much of a privacy consequence as people attempting to view your private profile.

Facebook already holds the data as you enter it, upload photos, and Share and Like pages. Facebook'southward tracking is prolific, and Facebook has been involved in numerous privacy scandals—which isn't a good combination.

In full general, Facebook is a security and privacy nightmare. So, yes, protect your Facebook account against people preying on your data. But consider protecting yourself against the platform itself too.

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About The Author

Gavin Phillips (1045 Articles Published)

Gavin is the Junior Editor for Engineering science Explained, a regular contributor to the Really Useful Podcast, and a frequent product reviewer. He has a degree in Gimmicky Writing pillaged from the hills of Devon, and more than a decade of professional person writing experience. He enjoys copious amounts of tea, board games, and football game.

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