Facebook Dating is a great way to meet other single people in your area.
However, when you finally enter into a committed relationship, the last thing you want is for it to continue showing up when you open up Facebook.
Fortunately, the entire process of removing Facebook Dating – not just deleting your profile, but removing it from the app entirely, is pretty simple.
In this article, we’ll cover everything that you need to know. Note that none of these options are irreversible – you can always enable Facebook Dating again if your relationship doesn’t work out!
Without any further ado, let’s get into it!
How To Delete Your Facebook Dating Profile
Deleting your Facebook dating profile within the Facebook app is simple, and only takes a few steps.
To delete your Facebook dating profile, follow these instructions:
- Navigate to the dating section within the Facebook app. This is usually found as a heart icon across the bottom of your screen. On some Android devices, you can reach the section that says ‘Dating’ after clicking the three bars at the top or bottom the app.
- Tap on settings in the top right corner.
- Tap on ‘General.’
- Scroll down, and tap on ‘Delete Profile.’
- On the pop-up window that appears, tap on ‘Delete.’
Note that this will delete your profile in its entirety, including all matches and messages sent within the app. You will not be able to talk to the same people again unless you rematch with them.
Instead, you may also choose to simply deactivate your profile, which will keep you from appearing to other people within Facebook Dating. This is a great choice if you believe that you may return to Facebook Dating one day, and prevents you from having to completely start over.
After deleting your Facebook Dating profile, you may wish to edit your profile information to state that you’re in a relationship.
Even if you don’t have this information public for other people to see, marking yourself as in a relationship may help prevent Facebook from suggesting Facebook Dating and other similar services in the future.
Though, relationship status is also used as a factor for advertisers. This means you may receive more ads for couple’s gifts and other products aimed towards people in relationships. This is just something to keep in mind!
How To Remove The Facebook Dating Icon
Even if you’ve never used Facebook Dating, it’s still possible that Facebook may be enticing you to sign up.
They do this by showing ads for it within Facebook’s news feed, as well as an icon across the bottom of your screen that says ‘Dating.’ But did you know that you can completely remove this, regardless of whether or not you’ve ever used their dating platform?
For those that have been avoiding it, the solution is quite simple, and works regardless of whether you’re on iPhone or Android.
Just tap on the dating button, and select ‘Not Now’ instead of ‘Get Started.’
Note that if you already have an active Facebook Dating profile, this option won’t appear until it’s been deleted.
However, removing the icon (as well as the Dating ads that appear in your news feed) can be a good next step if you’ve already closed your profile, and want to remove Facebook Dating from the app as much as possible.
How To Delete Facebook Dating Messages
Deleting your Facebook Dating profile in its entirety automatically deletes all messages, conversations and connections you’ve had with people. But what if you want to just delete certain messages?
Thankfully, this is simple as well. It can be done regardless of whether or not you intend to deactivate or delete your Facebook Dating profile.
To delete Facebook Dating messages, follow these steps:
- Navigate to Facebook Dating.
- Open the profile of the person who’s messages you wish to delete.
- Tap on the shield icon, which will be located in the top-right corner of the screen.
- Tap on, ‘Delete this conversation.’
Note that deleting the conversation will immediately disconnect you with that person, and you’ll be unable to message them again unless you match back up together.
Therefore, this should be done with caution and only if you truly never intend to talk with that person again.
If you simply don’t want them to be able to send you messages for the time being, deactivating your Facebook Dating profile (without deleting it) is a great solution.
Can You Temporarily Hide Your Facebook Dating Profile?
Yes. Facebook allows you to temporarily hide your Facebook Dating profile, without needing to permanently delete it.
In fact, the app will automatically prompt you to temporarily deactivate it when you go to delete it. Therefore, all you have to do is follow the steps above for deletion, and then opt to simply deactivate it instead.
Rather than deleting your profile completely, this option will remove you from Facebook Dating while retaining all of your data. You will not show up in search, old connections will not be able to message you, and for all intents and purposes you will be invisible to everyone else on the platform.
However, in the event that you wish to return to Facebook Dating, your profile will remain right where you left off.
While some of the people you’ve talked to will certainly have moved on, it can still save you a lot of time setting things back up again. Therefore, it is a great option for those in serious relationships, but realistically may return to the dating scene one day.
Note:Â If your partner snoops through your phone, they will be able to know whether or not your dating profile has been completely deleted, or simply deactivated. Therefore, you may wish to ensure that you both are on the same page about this if you believe it may cause issues.
How Is A Dating Profile Different From A Regular Facebook Profile?
Facebook Dating is a separate section of Facebook, with a completely different profile. This means that deleting your Facebook Dating profile won’t affect your regular usage of Facebook in any way.
But what actually is a Facebook Dating profile, and what makes it different from your regular Facebook profile that your friends and family see?
Really, it comes down to a few things.
First of all, you are able to choose what information from your regular profile you’re willing to share on your dating profile – you aren’t required to show all of it. This means you can protect information from people you don’t know all that well yet.
Secondly, your connections are kept completely separate. You do not need to be Facebook friends with people in order to match with them on dating, and your Facebook friends will not automatically be able to see your dating profile as well.
In other words, you should think as the two profiles as completely separate. Although you can ‘borrow’ information from your public profile, they really do act as separate accounts, in a way.
Conclusion
Facebook makes it easy to turn off your Facebook Dating profile should you wish to do so.
However, you’ll need to decide whether or not you want to permanently delete it, or simply deactivate it temporarily.
I hope that you’ve found this article helpful. If you have any other questions about Facebook, please ask them using the comment form below.
Wishing you the best,
– James McAllister