Can people find me on Facebook by my phone number or email?
Usually not through Facebook search: if someone searches for your phone number or email address, the results won’t show your profile — unless the email address itself includes your full name. What your number and email can do is help Facebook suggest your profile in People you may know, and you choose to whom.
- Search by your numberprofile not shown
- Email with your full nameprofile may show
- Contacts uploadedsuggestion, if allowed
- Number on your profileits own audience
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- Someone who uploaded your numberMay be suggested you
- A friend of a friend with your emailMay be suggested you
- Someone searching your numberProfile not shown
- Someone searching an email with your full name in itMay see your profile
Possible connections: people with your number or email can be suggested your profile.
Choose who Facebook can suggest you to
- 1Profile picture Settings and privacy SettingsOpen your Facebook settings.
- 2Audience and visibility How people find and contact youYour email address and your phone number have separate settings.
- 3People with your email address ViewChoose who Facebook can suggest your profile to based on your email address.
- 4People with your phone number ViewDo the same for your phone number.
The four options
| Option | Who can be shown your profile as a suggestion |
|---|---|
| Possible connections (the default) | People who uploaded your phone number or email address, and your friends of friends |
| Friends of friends | Your friends of friends who have your number or email |
| Friends | Your friends who have your number or email |
| No one | Nobody — your profile isn’t suggested based on your number or email |
How your number leads to a suggestion
People you may know suggests friends based on many factors. One of them: someone uploaded their contacts to Facebook or Messenger, and those contacts include your phone number or email address. Facebook can then suggest your profile to that person — if your setting allows it.
Your phone number or email address isn’t shown to them as part of the suggestion. They see your profile suggested, not your contact details.
By default the setting is Possible connections, so people who uploaded your number or email can be shown your profile.
Related: Who can friend me
Jordan MillerSuggested for you
Add friendRemove
Leo ParkSuggested for youWhat this setting won’t do
There are 4 options and 2 separate settings — one for email, one for phone — but none of them hides you completely:
- People you may know can still suggest your profile based on information other than your number or email.
- If your email address includes your full name, searching for it may still show your profile.
- It doesn’t change who can see your number or email on your profile. That’s a separate audience.
For most people the useful change is from Possible connections to Friends of friends, Friends or No one.
Who can see your number on your profile
Showing your phone number or email address on your profile is a different choice. If you share it on your profile with an audience, everyone in that audience can see it.
- Choose its audience in About → Options → Edit, next to the detail.
- Privacy Checkup’s topic Who can see what you share also covers your phone number, email address and birthday.
Keeping a number and email on your account is still useful even if nobody sees them. Facebook Help says it uses them to help you log in — you need an up-to-date one to reset a forgotten password — and for notifications, including two-factor codes and alerts about logins it doesn’t recognise. It also uses contact information for ads, and says it never sells your email address or phone number.
Related: What’s publicWho can see my profile
When friends add you to a business account
Facebook checks this setting before it confirms your profile to friends or friends of friends who are adding you to a business account or helping you recover your password. If your setting excludes them, Facebook won’t give that confirmation.
Questions
01Can someone find my profile by searching my phone number?
No. If someone searches for your phone number with Facebook’s search, the results won’t show your profile.
02And by my email address?
Usually not. If the email address someone searches for includes your full name, your profile may be shown.
03What’s the default setting?
Possible connections: people who uploaded your number or email, and your friends of friends.
04Is my number shown in People you may know?
No. Your phone number or email address isn’t shared as part of the suggestion.
05If I choose No one, will I disappear from People you may know?
Not entirely. Suggestions can also be based on information other than your number or email.
06Are email and phone number one setting?
No. They’re separate: People with your email address and People with your phone number.
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.