Privacy settings decide who can contact you (messages, group chats, invites), who can see parts of your profile, and who can interact with your video tile. This guide goes through every setting. For hiding or blocking a particular person, see: Reporting users, blocking, and appealing bans.
Where to find them
On the web
Click your profile picture (top-right) → "Privacy settings". The window has three tabs, Messaging, Profile and Other, and the buttons "Discard Changes" and "Save". Changes only apply after "Save".
On the mobile app (iOS & Android)
Tap your profile picture (top-left) → "Settings" → "Privacy settings". The same three tabs with a shorter list of rows and no "Custom" option: Messaging has "Who can message you?", "Who can skip message requests?" and "Who can add you to group chats?"; Profile has Age, Pronouns, Country / Region, Timezone, Industry / Area of study, Interests and Social Links; Other has "Who can see the history of your focused tasks?", "Who can comment on your feed posts?" and "Who can pin you in room?" (the app says "you" where the website says "me"). Changes apply after "Save". If you use both the website and the app, make your privacy changes on the website, which has every option.
The choices on each row
Most rows offer the same list: Everyone, Followers (people who follow you), People I follow, Custom and No One. On the website, Custom lets you tick Favorites, Followers, People I follow, Focus partners (from a level you choose) and Specific individuals, in any combination. A couple of rows add room-specific choices such as People with camera on or People I am pinning.
Messaging tab: who can contact you
- Who can message me? Who is allowed to start a new conversation with you.
- Who can skip message requests? Whose first message goes straight into your inbox. Everyone else's first message waits in your Message Requests folder until you accept it. The default, "Smart filter", holds back messages from people you haven't interacted with (the app's own note: it helps, but it's not 100%). "No One" sends every new conversation to requests.
- Who can add me to group chats? Everyone, Followers, People I follow or No One.
Good to know:
- These three rows apply to new conversations. Anyone you already have a chat with can keep writing in it. To stop one person, block them.
- Narrowing the first row narrows the other two: for example, with "Who can message me?" set to "No One", the other two switch to "No One" as well.
- While you have a live FocusBuddies post, "Who can message me?" can't be "No One" (people need a way to answer your post).
Full guide to chats and requests: Messages, chats and message requests.
Profile tab: who sees what on your profile
Your display name, full name, bio and profile picture are always public and can't be hidden. Everything else has its own row: Age, Pronouns, Country / Region, Timezone, Industry / Area of study, Interests, Social Links, Relationship status, What am I looking for and Recent focus room sessions.
- Hiding your age is the right way to keep it private. Don't enter a wrong date of birth instead: it can lock your account (see: Age requirement: why your account was locked).
- Country can't be cleared once set, but you can hide it here.
- Relationship status and What am I looking for work both ways: if you don't share yours, you won't see other people's either (that's the blurred row with a hover note on profiles).
- Recent focus room sessions is the list of your latest sessions on your profile's Summary tab.
Other tab: rooms, tiles and the feed
- Private space invites: who can invite you into a Space.
- Pair invites: who can ask to pair tiles with you. Set it to "No One" if you'd rather not get invites. See: Focus rooms: everything you can do.
- Who can see the history of your focused tasks? The list of tasks you've marked as your focus, shown from your tile.
- Who can comment on my feed posts? and Who can tag me in feed (posts and comments)? apply to the community feed and groups.
- Who can enlarge my video tile? Who may open your video in the large view. This row also offers People with camera on and People I am pinning.
- Who can listen to me? Who is allowed to hear your microphone when you talk in a room or a Space.
- Blur my video for others (Beta), Premium: show a blurred placeholder instead of your video to non-Premium members, to accounts newer than 7 days, or to people with their camera off. It can only be changed from inside a room (web: the Privacy settings shield in the room; app: the room's Settings sheet). As the app itself notes, study rooms are public and the blur is applied on the viewer's side, so if you don't want to be seen at all, turn your camera off. More in Your video tile: camera, backgrounds, status and privacy.
- Who can pin me in room?, Premium on the website (the app lets every plan set it): who may pin your tile. Careful with "People with camera on": it means nobody with their camera off can pin you, which can look as if pinning stopped working.
How do I hide my age, country or other profile details?
- On the web: click your profile picture (top-right) → "Privacy settings" → "Profile" tab → set the row (Age, Country / Region, Interests, Social Links and so on) to "No One" or "Followers" → "Save".
- On the mobile app: tap your profile picture (top-left) → "Settings" → "Privacy settings" → "Profile" tab → set the row to "No One" or "Followers" → "Save".
The option names are the same on every row: Everyone, Followers, People I follow, Custom (web only) and No One. There is no "Only me" or "Hidden" option; "No One" is the one that hides a detail from everyone.
Why can nobody pin me any more?
Almost always the Premium setting "Who can pin me in room?". With "People with camera on", anyone whose camera is off is refused when they try to pin you, which looks like pinning stopped working. To open it up again: on the web, click your profile picture (top-right) → "Privacy settings" → "Other" tab → "Who can pin me in room?" → "Everyone" (or "Followers") → "Save". In the app: profile picture (top-left) → "Settings" → "Privacy settings" → "Other" → "Who can pin you in room?".
What privacy settings can't do
- Hide you from the leaderboards or hide your statistics. There's no setting for that; the leaderboards show everyone.
- Hide that you're online or hide your tile in a room. Rooms are public; the only way not to be seen is to keep your camera off.
- Hide your profile from one country. Visibility is per person (followers, people you follow, custom lists), not per place.
- Hide specific people from you. That's "Hide user" on their tile in a room (website; in the app, hiding only lasts for that session on that device). To remove them from your rooms, chats and search altogether, block them.