Facebook has become one of the most well-known social media sites, and currently has the most users among them. A lot of the appeal is being able to add friends who can follow and see what you post and vice-versa. So you may have come across the situation where you go to add someone, but the option to do so has mysteriously disappeared.
There are many reasons you can’t add someone on Facebook, and it doesn’t automatically mean someone has blocked you. If you’re wondering what some of these other reasons may be, look at the list below to find out which one may be occurring for you.
1. Their Privacy Settings
A common reason you may be unable to add someone on Facebook is because of how they may have changed their privacy settings. There are a few options on Facebook’s privacy settings that could not let you add someone. If this person has their Friend Request privacy set to “Friends of Friends,” and you have no mutual friends, you probably won’t be able to send them a request.
If you still want to send them a request, you can message them and ask them to send a request to you. Just be aware that since you aren’t friends, your message will land in the person’s message requests page. So it might be a while before they actually see your message.
2. The Account Is Deactivated
You may also not be able to add someone if their account has been deactivated. When someone does this, usually their account will stay up in some form unless they completely deleted it. However, no one will be able to send friend requests to them as long as their account is deactivated.
If someone decides to log in to Facebook after deactivating their account, it will show up again. They can also still use Messenger while their account is deactivated, so if you wish to send them messages, you can still do this.
3. You Have Been Blocked
On Facebook, a person can block someone else from viewing their profile or interacting with them in any way. Besides being unable to see their profile, you also cannot see their posts, photos, comments, and won’t be able to message them. You can see if someone has blocked you by trying to message them. If you’re not able to message them at all, you’ve likely been blocked.
4. You Blocked Them
If you’re trying to add someone but can’t seem to access their profile, you might want to see if this is because you actually blocked them. If it’s been a while since you did this it’s entirely possible you forgot.
You can check who you’ve blocked as Facebook keeps a block list. To see this, go to Settings & Privacy > Settings > Blocking. On this page you should see a list of people you have blocked, and you can check to see if the person you’re trying to add is there. To unblock them, simply select the Unblock button beside their name.
5. They Have Reached Their Friend Limit
There is actually a cap to how many friends you can have on Facebook. If someone has reached this 5000 friends limit, you will no longer be able to send them a friend request. If you try to, Facebook should notify you that the person has reached 5000 friends.
If someone who has reached the limit sends you a friend request, you still won’t be able to add them this way. If you try to accept the request, Facebook will not add them to your friend list or you to theirs. However, you can certainly still message anyone who has 5000 friends or over.
6. You Already Sent a Request
It’s possible you may want to check if you’ve already sent a request to someone, as this will remove the option to add the person until they accept the request. If it’s been awhile since you’ve sent the request and they still haven’t added you, it’s easy to forget about it.
If you want to remind someone you’ve sent a request or ask them to add you, you should still be able to send them a message. It’s possible they’ve forgotten about the request or it got lost among other friend requests the person has received.
7. They Denied Your Request
Another possibility is that the person has already denied your request. If you already sent a request and are unsure why you still see the Add Friend button, the most likely reason is that they denied your friend request. You can try sending another request if you wish, as long as the Add Friend button is still there.
Also, if they sent you a friend request already and you denied it, but you now want to add them, you may not see the Add Friend button if they have certain privacy settings. They will have to send you a friend request again.
8. Facebook Restricted Their Account
Sometimes, if someone is reported to Facebook enough times or they’re found to be going against the Facebook guidelines, they will actually restrict the person’s account for a certain time period. The time periods can be anywhere from a few hours to weeks. During this time, the person will no longer be allowed to do specific activities.
This could be the reason you’re unable to add a person. You can try to wait awhile and then check back to see if you’re able to do so then. Sometimes Facebook may also restrict the person’s ability to use Messenger, so you may be unable to contact them this way as well.
Adding Friends on Facebook
Since one of the main points of Facebook is adding and interacting with others, it can be frustrating when you run into trouble doing this. If you notice this issue is occurring with everyone you try to add, or you’re having errors adding people and can’t figure out why, you can always try to contact Facebook support to see if there’s something else wrong.
Hopefully you find your answer through one of these reasons, and can continue to interact with friends and enjoy the social media platform.