What on my Facebook profile is always public?
Your public profile — name, gender, username, user ID, profile picture and cover photo — is always public, and so are your networks, age range, language and country. Most other details and your posts have an audience you choose.
Always4
- Name, profile picture, cover photo
- Username and user ID
- Gender
- Networks (e.g. school, workplace)
Public2
- Age range, language, country
- Posts and comments in public groups and on Pages
You choose2
- Details in About
- Your posts
Friends only1
- Full-size profile picture and cover, with Lock profile on
FbSpy is independent and not affiliated with Facebook or Meta. We help you with your own account only.
Check what’s public on your profile
- 1Profile Options View asSee your profile the way people who aren’t your friends see it. Leave with Exit view as.
- 2About Options EditMany profile details, such as places you’ve lived or your relationships, have an audience selector next to them.
- 3Settings and privacy Settings Audience and visibilityReview who can see posts, stories and other things you share. Stories and reels have their own audience, separate from your posts.
- 4Check the audience before you postWhen you write a post, the audience selector sits below your name. Public means anyone, including people off Facebook. If there’s no audience selector at all, what you share is public.
- Name and profile picture Always public Visible
- Cover photo Always public Visible
- Username and user ID Always public Visible
- Gender, age range, language and country Always public Visible
- Networks — school, workplace Always public Visible
- A profile detail with an audience selector — set to Friends Hidden
- A comment on a public Page Visible
Where public information can go
Public information can be seen by anyone, including people who aren’t your friends, people off Facebook and media outlets — a real-time public comment on a TV show, for example, may appear on the show itself. Facebook Help says public information can also:
- be associated with you, even off Facebook;
- appear when someone searches on Facebook or on another search engine;
- be accessible to Facebook-integrated games, apps and websites that you and your friends use;
- be accessible to anyone who uses Facebook’s APIs, and to third parties who use its research tools.
What hiding won’t do
Your public profile has 6 parts you can’t hide: name, gender, username, user ID, profile picture and cover photo.
Hiding a post on your profile isn’t the same as changing its audience. A hidden post or photo is still visible to its audience in 2 places Facebook Help names: Feed and search. To make your own post private, change its audience with the audience selector.
When you do change a post’s audience, the change on one device updates it on all your devices.
Jordan Miller
Public
PublicAnyone — also off Facebook and in search
FriendsYour friends — plus people you tag and their friends
Only meJust you
What other people post about you
Your own settings don’t cover everything with your name on it. Three things are worth knowing:
- Only you and your friends can post to your profile. Who can see what they post there is your choice: Settings → Profile and tagging → Who can see what others post on your profile?
- Timeline review lets you approve or dismiss photos and posts you’re tagged in before they appear on your profile. The tagged post itself keeps the audience its author chose and can still appear in Feed and search.
- Posts and comments in public groups and on Pages are public, whoever writes them.
If you’re tagged in someone else’s post, they control that post’s audience.
Other people can make it public
Facebook Help says others can make information you shared public, even if you didn’t, and comments on public posts are public too. Think about who can see a post before you comment on it.
Questions
01Can I hide my profile picture?
No. Your profile picture is part of your public profile, which anyone can see. With Lock profile on, where it’s offered, only friends see it in full resolution.
02Why is my user ID public?
Your username and user ID are in the URL of your profile.
03Is my age range public?
Yes. Age range, language and country are public. Facebook uses age range for age-appropriate content, and language and country for appropriate content and experiences.
04What if a post has no audience selector?
Then what you share is public.
05Does hiding my own post on my profile make it private?
No. It stays visible to its audience in places such as Feed and search. Change the post’s audience instead.
06Can someone else make my information public?
Yes. Facebook Help says others can make your shared info public, even if you didn’t.
Continue with your account
Sources for this guide
Facts on this page come from the Facebook Help pages listed here, checked on 4 November 2026.