One of the things that makes Facebook such an appealing platform for most people to use is the idea that many of their real-life friends are on the platform. But how are you supposed to find them? Thankfully, it is possible to find someone on Facebook using only their phone number.
To find someone’s Facebook account using their phone number, go to the Facebook website and type their phone number into the search bar with no dashes or spaces. This will pull up the Facebook account associated with that phone number if that person has this feature enabled.
Using your phone to sync your contacts list with your Facebook account is also possible. This will allow you to find and friend with most of the people you know at once. So let’s go through this and more to help you find people you know on Facebook.
How to Find a Facebook Account with a Phone Number
The most common way people browse Facebook is on their phone, but there are multiple different kinds of smartphones out there. So let’s go through the steps to find a Facebook account using their phone number on your device.
On iPhone
Finding Facebook friends using their phone numbers on an iPhone is extremely easy. All you have to do is sync your contacts to your Facebook account.
To do this:
- Open the Facebook app on your iPhone and ensure you are logged in to your account.
- Next, tap on the three lines icon in the top right-hand corner of the screen to view the Menu.
- Once you’re on the Menu page, select the Find Friends icon. This page will be filled with a list of people Facebook thinks you should know, but at the bottom of the page, there should be a little message saying, “Your Friends Are Waiting.”
- Next to this message, you should see a blue button that says TURN ON. Select this button and allow Facebook to access your phone’s contacts.
- After this, refresh the People You May Know page by leaving the page and coming back, and you should see a list of all of the contacts on your phone with Facebook profiles.
- From here, you can choose to friend them by selecting Add Friend.
On Android
Finding friends on Facebook by using their phone numbers on Android is pretty much the same process as on an Apple device. This means that all you have to do is sync your contacts list to your Facebook account.
To do this:
- Open the Facebook app on your Android device and ensure you are logged in to your account.
- Next, tap on the three lines icon in the top right-hand corner of the screen to view the Menu.
- Once you’re on the Menu page, select the Find Friends icon. This page will be filled with a list of people Facebook thinks you should know, but at the bottom of the page, there should be a little message saying, “Your Friends Are Waiting.”
- Next to this message, you should see a blue button that says TURN ON. Select this button and allow Facebook to access your phone’s contacts.
- After this, refresh the People You May Know page by leaving the page and coming back, and you should see a list of all of the contacts on your phone with Facebook profiles.
- From here, you can choose to friend them by selecting Add Friend.
Is the Process the Same for Both the Desktop and Mobile Apps?
As we mentioned before, the most common way that most people browse Facebook is by using the official Facebook app on their phones. However, that doesn’t mean everyone browses Facebook this way.
There is still a significant number of Facebook users that browse the platform using their computer’s internet browser. Can you still find someone’s Facebook profile by using their phone number on Facebook’s desktop website?
Yes, it is possible to find someone’s Facebook account by using their phone number on the Facebook website. Though, the process is different on the website. You will need to search for each phone number individually on a computer.
To do this:
- Go to the Facebook website and ensure you are logged into your account.
- After this, click on the search bar in the top left corner and type in the phone number you want to search for. Type the phone number without any formatting and include the area code.
- For example, if you want to search for the owner of the number 555-777-9999, you would type 5557779999.
- After typing in the number you want, hit either the Search button next to the search bar or the Enter button on your computer’s keyboard. This will bring up whatever Facebook account is associated with the phone number you entered.
What if I Can’t Locate a Profile Using a Phone Number?
If you have synced your contacts and typed a specific phone number into the search bar but still can’t find the profile you’re looking for, there are a couple of different possibilities.
Their Profile is Marked as Private
First, the person you’re looking for may have their profile marked as private. If someone marks their profile as private, you can’t view their profile without being one of their friends, and they will not appear if you search for their phone number.
In this case, you will need to search for their name instead of their phone number and request to become one of their friends.
No Linked Phone Number
It is also possible they don’t have a phone number linked to their Facebook account. So again, you need to search for their name instead of their phone number.
No “Find Friends” Feature
Finally, the user you’re looking for may have opted out of the “Find Friends” feature. So this user has decided they don’t want to be findable with their phone number on Facebook.
Thankfully, in all of these cases, you have to have the person’s phone number. This means all you have to do is message or call the person, and they will likely be able to help you find their profile.