Can You See Who Views Your Facebook: How to Catch Who is Watching You

Facebook users are often very enthusiastic about their profiles. They spend a lot tinkering with the information about them that is out there. At times, they want to know who else has viewed it; occasionally, it’s even a question of privacy.

Facebook doesn’t have any feature that allows people to identify who watches them, although many third-party apps claim to offer insights into this. But why bother with them when several tools are available on the platform itself?

Can you see who views your Facebook profile? The answer is still no, but there are clues around it laid out in this post.


Table of Contents

  1. Can You See FB Profile Visitors?
  2. Why Won’t Facebook Let You See Who Viewed Your Profile?
  3. Apps That Promise to Show Your Profile Viewers
  4. Frequently Asked Questions
  5. Conclusion

Can You See Who Views Your Facebook?

See Who Viewed Your

Help Center says that this is impossible, and users should report any app that promises such.

Only users who have linked an app to their account can report it.

To do it, follow these steps:

  1. Click the drop-down icon on the right beside the name.
  2. Select ‘Settings and Privacy’ from the drop-down menu.
  3. Click ‘Settings.’
  4. Find ‘Apps & Websites’ from the menu on the left.
  5. Select ‘Active, Expired, or Removed,’ or enter the name in the search field.
  6. Find the app and choose ‘View and Edit.’
  7. Click ‘Give Feedback’ at the bottom.
  8. Select the issue to be reported and then hit ‘Next.’
  9. Press ‘Done.’

Why Won’t Facebook Let You See Who Viewed Your Profile?

There are two obvious reasons why social media like Twitter or Facebook won’t let you see who viewed your profile: privacy and engagements. This is in line with the terms of Facebook’s policy, which is also applicable to Instagram.

Many PR issues can arise if people can tell when others view their social media accounts. This would result in users being cautious about visiting or interacting with other people’s profiles leading to fewer reactions, comments, and engagement.

Advertisers would also get fewer views, impressions, reach, and other ad metrics. Facebook’s revenue could take a big hit if they added this feature.

How to See Who Viewed Your Facebook Profile

There are some ways to gain insights around who is checking someone out. While these methods can often provide good guesses, they are not totally accurate. There is no precise technique on how to see who viewed your Facebook profile either using native tools on the site or any third-party app that promises such.

How to See Who Views Your Facebook Profile: Authorized Way

Facebook’s only official feature for seeing FB profile views tells users who have viewed their accounts in the previous 30 days. It is still only available on the iOS app.

To use this feature on iOS, follow these steps:

  1. Log in to the account.
  2. Click the three-line icon at the bottom-right corner.
  3. Under ‘Settings & Privacy,’ select ‘Privacy Shortcuts.’
  4. The new feature ‘Who Viewed my profile’ appears.

Warning:

Some reports say this feature may only be available on the 1st of April, so it’s one to watch out for in April 2023.

How to See FB Visitors Using the Friends List

There are two methods on the current question: through the Friend list and the Suggestions. Users can now make calculated guesses by examining these two aspects.

On the friends’ list, the names at the top are the ones who interact mostly with the account. Those who have not interacted with the owner recently but still appear at the top have likely been checking out the account discreetly.

The suggestions in ‘People You May Know’ usually share mutual friends or location with the account owner. Some of them have contact information linked to the owner’s account. If a user finds someone in this section with no mutual profiles and has never met physically before, they can assume this person has been visiting their personal page a lot.

To find the people suggestions, follow these steps:

  1. From the news feed, go to the menu on the left and click Friends.
  2. On mobile, click the three-line icon at the top-right on android and bottom-right on iOS, then click Friends.
  3. Under it, tap All Friends to open the list.
  4. Scroll down to find the People You May Know section.

Manually Check Who Visited Your Profile

This method is often deemed too tedious and slow by some. Nevertheless, it is the most effective and common approach. It involves using some JavaScript tricks to see Facebook visitors by finding their IDs in the website source code of the profile page. A simple browser command can retrieve them.

To do this:

  1. Go to the profile from home, click the name at the top.
  2. Wait for it to load completely. It can take a while.
  3. Right-click anywhere and choose ‘View page source,’ or press CTRL+U, which opens a new tab that contains the source code.
  4. Now press CTRL+F to open a search field, then copy and paste “BUDDY_ID” into it.
  5. This search result will show some IDs of those who have visited. IDs are the 15-digit numbers in the code beside “BUDDY_ID.”
  6. Copy an ID and enter it in a browser like facebook.com/1000749363327363 to get the profile owner.
  7. The person who visits most times will be the first ID.

Through the Groups and Messages

Users can get who sees any post or photos they share in the Groups and Messages sections. The ‘Seen By’ feature can be found under each post and clicking it shows people who have seen them.

Although one cannot fully answer the question “who visited my Facebook” this way, some of them would have seen those posts while visiting one’s profile. Whoever appears to have seen all the recent posts has likely visited it.

Through the Status

Owners can share several statuses to get an idea of who frequently watches them by comparing the results.

To do this:

  1. On the news feed, click the status text box located around the top. It has the phrase “What’s on your mind” in it.
  2. Type in a casual status, avoiding anything serious or that will bring attention to the post.
  3. Do not tag anyone in the post, as this will distort the results.
  4. Click ‘Post’ at the bottom of the window or top-right corner for mobile.
  5. After some time, like 10-12 hours, check who has liked or commented on it.
  6. Repeat this process a few more times. 5-7 tests should be enough to compare.

Attention:

A user can find out who regularly engages with their posts from this test. Those ones likely check him out more often than others.

Apps That Promise to Show Your Profile Viewers

Apps That Promise

These apps play on people’s curiosity about finding out who checks them a lot. As users continue to look for such tools, more and more of these apps keep coming up. Many of them sell a “Facebook stalker tracker” headline to catch people’s attention on social media.

However, there’s no way to accurately investigate the question “who viewed my Facebook Profile?”. The apps are usually scam ones that can endanger the security of one’s account. Signing in with one’s username and password through them gives the makers complete access to it.

Reasons to avoid these apps:

  • Hackers can use them to hack into one’s account. Then, they change the password to maintain control of it.
  • They mostly perform fraudulent activities when they take over an account. They can defraud one’s friends and followers.
  • They can steal credit card details and other sensitive data from owners who have added payment settings to their accounts.
  • They can also retrieve personal information like one’s likes and interests to sell to advertising companies.
  • These apps often are malware that infects one’s computer or mobile phone when downloaded.

Attention:

If an owner has installed an app that they think might be harmful to them, they should change their password immediately or remove it through their account settings.

What Facebook Allows You to See About Your Account

Although Facebook doesn’t allow me to find the answer to the question ‘who viewed my Facebook Profile,’ they have still provided some services to analyze the extent of interaction between users. Here are tools that are currently available on the new Facebook 2023 version.

Use ‘See Friendship’ Feature

People can review previous interactions with friends this way, including posts, photos, and common networks, even relationship status where it involves both parties.

  1. Go to a friend’s profile and select the three-dot icon on the right side.
  2. Click ‘See Friendship’ from the drop-down menu.
  3. A page comes up that shows all the previous interactions with this friend.

Review the Entire Activity Log

The activity log shows all previous activities, including searches, posts, likes, comments, etc., organized by date. It displays both activities by the owner and the interactions of others with them as well.

  1. From the news feed, click the drop-down icon at the top-right corner.
  2. Click ‘Settings & Privacy.’
  3. Select ‘Activity Log.’

Clicking “Review Posts You’re Tagged In” under “Activity Log” shows all posts that others tagged one in, and “Review Tags on Your Posts” is another available option.

Information:

Click ‘Filter’ beside the ‘Activity Log’ to find about thirty filter options to analyze activities.

Does Facebook Let You See Who Views Stories?

Stories are a new way to share thoughts and memories by posting texts, pictures, and videos that disappear after 24 hours. Users can check those who watch their story after they posted it by clicking on it.

They can upload a series of stories to observe who frequently watches them. They can also set whom they are sharing their stories with. Can you see who looks at your Facebook profile this way? Not really; one can only get an idea this way.

Can You See Who Views Your Facebook Business Page?

The answer is yes, more precisely than personal profiles. Page owners can gather some data about visitors using tools available on the new Facebook 2023 version. The Insights tool is useful for this.

Follow these steps to use Insights to analyze visitors:

  1. On the news feed, go to the menu on the left select ‘Pages.’
  2. Under ‘Pages You Manage,’ select the one to be analyzed.
  3. Go to the left menu and select ‘Insights.’
  4. Click ‘Page Views’ on the left menu.
  5. It can then be analyzed by:
  • Section: posts, videos, photos.
  • Age and Gender.
  • Country.
  • City.
  • Device: computers, mobile phones.
  1. Page views show the number of visitors who have seen the content, but not their names.

The Insights tool is also useful for other information but does not reveal people’s names. Some of the options in the left menu that provide valuable data are listed below.

  • Overview: number of followers, number of views, number of likes, engagements, etc.
  • Likes: the number of likes and posts where they occurred.
  • Reach: total number of visitors who have seen at least one post.
  • Page Previews: the number of people who previewed but not necessarily seen the content.
  • Actions on Page: number of visitors who performed an action like clicking a link.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can You See Who Viewed Your Facebook Video?

Except on a live video or a page, the answer is no. On a live video, whoever watched can be seen, but on a personal video status, the only way to know is to check who’s engaged with it. For a page, there is data on post views using the Insights tool.

How Can I See Who Viewed My Facebook Story if We Are Not Friends?

It is not possible to do this. The “other viewers” that appear under a view list are either followers or contacts on the messenger who also saw the story. Facebook does not share their names since they are not friends. Users can restrict who views their story from the settings.

Your Thoughts on Facebook’s Position?

Perhaps in an ideal world, Facebook would be able to allow people to identify who watches them and also keep everyone happy. Obviously, this is a difficult problem for them to solve, but now, they seem to be leaning more towards allowing users to get an idea of who watches them rather than really know for sure. There is also no indication that they might add this feature in 2023 or beyond.

Do you think they should be doing more in revealing who views us to us? Or do you know any other method not stated in this post? Kindly share your thoughts below.

Published: December 25, 2021Updated: June 22, 2021

Matt Robinson

Matt Robinson

Matt is an experienced technical writer and translator skilled in writing targeted texts for a variety of audiences. He has a diversified background, including social media management of various products. He is a data-driven strategist and a passionate story-teller. He posts about all social innovations and delivers high-quality research and content to our readers.



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