Facebook is a social media platform where you can connect with and contact friends and family members, whether they’re close or distant. In an effort to help with that interaction, Facebook has a Suggested Friends feature that recommends people you might know and want to add as friends.
However, this feature doesn’t always work efficiently, often suggesting complete strangers, or simply representing a nuisance for many users. If you want to disable friend suggestions on Facebook, for whatever reason, here are a few methods you could try:
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Method 1: Changing the Notification settings
The first and most efficient method for turning off friend suggestions is to look through Facebook’s Notification settings and disable notifications for certain features. Here’s how to do it:
For desktop
- Load the Facebook website, and then log into your account.
- Open the main menu (down arrow in the upper-right corner) and then choose Settings & Privacy.
- From there, click Settings. A new page will now load with different settings options.
- Select Notifications (left-hand side of the screen, at the bottom). The notification settings will now appear.
- Scroll until you find People You May Know, and then click the down arrow next to it, to open a drop-down menu.
- Now, click the switch located next to Allow Notifications on Facebook to turn off the notifications. You should no longer receive any friend suggestions.
For the mobile app (Android & iOS)
- Open the Facebook app on your phone, and then tap on the main menu (three horizontal lines).
- Scroll until you find Settings & Privacy, and then select the Settings
- From there, scroll down until you come to the Notifications section, and then tap on Notification settings.
- Tap on People You May Know, and then press the switch located next to Allow Notifications on Facebook. You should no longer receive any friend suggestions.
Method 2: Stopping the automatic contact upload
Facebook might use your Contact list to send friend suggestions. If you have the Facebook app on your mobile device (Android & iOS) you could also stop new friend suggestions by not allowing Facebook to automatically sync your contacts:
- Open the Facebook app on your phone, and then tap on the main menu (three horizontal lines).
- Scroll until you find Settings & Privacy, and then select the Settings
- Use the search bar or scroll down to find Media and Contacts, and then tap on this option.
- Now, simply tap on the switch to turn off Continuous Contacts Upload (third option down). Facebook will now stop syncing your Contact list automatically, and won’t send you friend suggestions based on them anymore.
Method 3: Restricting location information
Similarly to uploading contacts, Facebook could also use your device’s location information to recommend new friends to you. While some people don’t believe disabling location data would actually stop friend suggestions, others think it’s an efficient method worth trying. If you want to disable the location data, just follow these simple steps:
For Android
- Go to your phone’s Settings, and then tap Apps (or Apps & Notifications).
- In the list of available apps, find Facebook, and select it.
- Press on Permissions, and then tap the switch next to Location, to disable the location data collection.
For iOS
- Go to your phone’s Settings, and then select Privacy.
- Tap on the Location Services option, and then select Facebook.
- From the available options, select Never to disable the location data collection.
Although stopping Facebook from sending friend suggestions can often be a daunting, if not nearly impossible task, one of the above methods will hopefully help you get rid of this aggravating feature.
