How to Searching Facebook by Phone Number

Facebook is the largest social network platform, with up to three billion users from around the world. It was created in 2004 by four friends namely, Mark Zuckerberg, Chris Hughes, Dustin Moskovitz, and Eduardo Saverin at Harvard University.

It is the ultimate social networking site with an interface that allows the sharing of different types of content and information for free on the News Feed and private sharing of messages between users through Messenger. With a huge number of people using Facebook globally, it is one of the easiest places to search for someone.

Facebook provides a broad profile setup that contains both personal and business details of an individual and with just the search of a name, you can get all the details you need about a person. These details may include a person’s workplace, school, business profile, email address, phone numbers, relationships, and photos.

Searching for a person on Facebook using a name might seem easy, but sometimes it is not. If the person you are looking for has a common name, going through the vast results could be tedious. In this case, you can use another alternative and search for the person using their phone number. This is a process that a lot of people do not even know exists.

This article will explain how you can search for a person on Facebook using their phone number in detail.

Table Of Contents

How to Searching Facebook by Phone Number – Easy Ways
- 1. Through Facebook PhoneBook Sync
- 2. Through Manual Search
Facebook Limitations on Phone Number Search on the Site
Conclusion
Don’t Miss It:
Frequently Asked Questions

How to Searching Facebook by Phone Number – Easy Ways

Facebook collects its user’s phone numbers for security reasons, identity verification and to tailor feed posts that will suit a person more. Usually if you have someone’s phone number and that person is on Facebook, the system will automatically sync your contacts with Facebook and the person will pop up.

If syncing did not work however, you can manually search for that person through Facebook’s webpage or via the Facebook Mobile App.

The process is relatively easy, even though Facebook has now given its users the option to restrict access to their phone numbers. Continue reading to find out how you can easily search for a person on Facebook using their phone number.

1. Through Facebook PhoneBook Sync

Facebook has made connecting with friends and family easier by allowing you to sync your phonebook with Facebook and automatically display your contacts there so that you can follow them. This is a feature that will be made available to a user the moment they sign up on Facebook.

This feature can be utilised through the following process;

Open the Facebook application or visit the website at facebook and log in to your account.
Navigate to the ‘Friends’ tab at the top of the page.
Click on ‘Suggestions’ and you will get an option to sync your contacts. Click on this option and tap on ‘Get Started‘.

Facebook will then gain access to the contacts on your phone and display all the profiles on Facebook that match all the phone numbers in your Phonebook. This will help you narrow down your search and make connecting with your contacts easier on Facebook.

Pros:
Cons:

Easy and simple syncing.
Convenient feature.
Does not require external software.
Supported on any device.

Privacy might be compromised.
Insecure use of your contacts data.
Security limitations by Facebook.

2. Through Manual Search

You can search for a person’s phone number manually through ‘Search‘ as long as the phone number is linked to an account on Facebook. It is not a complicated process and is certainly much more specific than just looking up a person’s name on the search bar. This can be done through both the Facebook website at facebook.com or via the Facebook mobile application on any device (laptop, smartphone or tablet).

On the Facebook website;

Visit facebook on your web browser and login or sign up to the page.
On the homepage, you will see a magnifying glass icon at the top of the page beside a text bar. This is the ‘Search‘ option.
Click on it and input the ‘phone number‘ you are searching for. Phone number format does not matter but make sure you add the area code while searching for the phone number.
If successful, you will get a search result that is linked to the profile of the person you are looking for. If not, the person is either not registered on Facebook with that number or they have applied a security restriction on their account.

On the Facebook Mobile App;

Open the ‘Facebook Application‘ on your device. The Facebook app is accessible on both Android and iOS devices and can be downloaded through the Google Play Store or iOS App Store.
Log in to your account and click on the ‘Magnifying Glass‘ icon that can be found at the ‘Upper Right‘ corner of your screen.
Type the Phone Number you are looking up in the search bar. Again, make sure the area code is included in the phone number, regardless of the number format.
A result will appear that will show the profile associated with the phone number if it is registered on Facebook and not under private restrictions.

That is how easy it is to manually search for a profile on Facebook using the person’s phone number. This process is however no longer guaranteed as Facebook has limited easy access to its users phone number details.

Pros:
Cons:

Direct and secure method.
Can be done through any device.
No secondary software needed.

Low guarantee of success.
Security limitations set by Facebook.

Facebook Limitations on Phone Number Search on the Site

Facebook has set a lot of limitations concerning the use of a user’s s phone number details to access their profile on the site. This is due to growing concerns of Facebook users’ personal details being misused by the system or by other users.

Facebook now gives its users the option to tweak their privacy settings in a way that will allow them to filter who is allowed to access their account using their phone number. With this feature, Facebook users can hide their phone numbers from the public and can choose to only share this detail with a specific group of people.

As a user, Facebook gives its users the option to share your phone number with either of the following;

Friends
Friends of Friends
Everyone
Only Me

If the phone number you are looking for is associated with a Facebook account that has restricted the access of its phone number and is not available to the general public, then your search result either will turn up empty or will include random results that have nothing to do with the person you are looking for.

Other ways you can use to search for a person’s Facebook profile if the phone number method did not work include;

Search by a person’s school or workplace on Facebook
Search through mutual friends or friends of friends on Facebook
Search through Facebook groups
Directly ask for a person’s Facebook details
Search through reverse phone number lookup software

Conclusion

Almost everyone in the world that owns a smartphone has a Facebook account. With over 3 billion users from almost every country in the world, Facebook is the largest social media out there. Facebook profiles contain a lot of useful and in-depth information about its user’s and this makes it the best place to look up both personal and business details about people.

If you are trying to search for someone on Facebook and you don’t have the person’s full name or the name is common, you can use the person’s phone number to search for their Facebook profile as long as the phone number is the one associated with the person’s Facebook account.

The process is not complicated and the result is instant as long as the person’s account is not restricted.

Don’t Miss It:

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I Use other Criteria to Search for a Person on Facebook Apart from Phone Number?

Yes. Apart from using a person’s phone number, you can narrow down the search results and look for a person by adding the person’s school or workplace name in front of the person name in the search bar. For example, input ‘Jane Doe Harvard University’ in the search bar. This will make finding the person’s Facebook profile much more easier and specific.

How Can I Stop Facebook from Being able to Access and Sync my Phonebook Contacts?

If you once granted Facebook the permission to access your phone’s contacts, then every new and old contact on your phone will automatically keep being uploaded onto Facebook. In order to stop this, you need to turn off the permission settings that allows Facebook access to your contacts through ‘Settings & Privacy’ in the ‘Menu’ and toggle off the ‘Upload Contacts’ feature in the ‘Settings’.

Can I Delete Previously Uploaded Contacts from Facebook Database?

Yes, You can delete previously uploaded contacts from Facebook in order to stop Facebook from suggesting friends based on these contacts. To do this, you need to unsync these contacts through the Facebook website. Visit this link: https://www.facebook.com/contact importer/remove uploads.php? and you will be redirected to a page where your contacts can be managed. Tap on ‘Delete’ to unsync these contacts.

How do I Change my Phone Number Privacy Settings on Facebook?

You can choose who can have access to your phone number on Facebook by navigating to ‘Settings’ through the ‘Menu’. In the ‘Audience and Visibility’ section, click on ‘How people find and contact you’ and you will see a setting that says ‘Who can look you up using the phone number you provided?’. Click on it and select who can access your phone number (Everyone, friends of friends, friends, or only me).

Can I Find a Person’s Facebook Profile through Reverse Phone Number Lookup Softwares?

Yes. A lot of reverse phone number lookup services provide you with an individual’s social media account details. This might include the person’s Facebook profile details by just searching for the person’s phone number. Some very good reverse phone number lookup services include CocoFinder, NumLooker, Spydialer, Fast People Search, People Finders, PeepLookUp, and Been Verified. A lot of these services are free and very easy to use.