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" → "Privacy controls". The same three tabs, Messaging, Profile and Other, with the website's rows and a Custom option on most of them (in the app Private space invites and Pair invites sit on the Profile tab). Changes apply after "Save changes". The same "Privacy settings" page also has "Hidden people", the people you've hidden in focus rooms. Who can see your video is changed inside a room, not here.
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, University, Current goal, Interests, Social Links, Relationship status, What am I looking for and Recent focus room sessions. Industry / Area of study, University and Current goal start at Everyone until you change them.
- 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.
- What you study and your university are two separate rows. Industry / Area of study covers your subject or field; University covers your university, which is visible to everyone by default once you've added it in Studies & goal. To hide both, set both rows. The university itself stays on your account for matching. Current goal is the goal from your dashboard.
- 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: 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 what I study, my university, my age or other profile details?
Each detail is its own row on the Profile tab. What you study is Industry / Area of study, where you study is University; set both if you want to hide both. The same goes for Age, Country / Region, Current goal, Interests, Social Links and the rest.
- On the web: click your profile picture (top-right) → "Privacy settings" → "Profile" tab → set each row to "No One" or "Followers" → "Save".
- On the mobile app: tap your profile picture (top-left) → "Settings" → "Privacy settings" → "Privacy controls" → "Profile" tab → set each row to "No One" or "Followers" → "Save changes".
The option names are the same on every row: Everyone, Followers, People I follow, Custom 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" → "Privacy controls" → "Other" → "Who can pin me in room?" → "Save changes".
Can I make people turn their camera on before they pin me?
Yes. The setting is "Who can pin me in room?" → "People with camera on": anyone whose camera is off is refused when they try to pin you. It's a Premium setting on the website and in the app.
- On the web (Premium only): click your profile picture (top-right) → "Privacy settings" → "Other" tab → "Who can pin me in room?" → "People with camera on" → "Save". On Free or Basic the row isn't available on the website.
- On the mobile app (Premium only): tap your profile picture (top-left) → "Settings" → "Privacy settings" → "Privacy controls" → "Other" → "Who can pin me in room?" → "People with camera on" → "Save changes".
Keep in mind it cuts both ways: people who study with their camera off can't pin you at all any more, and some of them will think pinning is broken (see the previous question).
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 (app: long-press the tile → "Hide" with their name); undo it under "Show hidden users" in the participant list (web) or "Hidden people" on the app's Privacy settings page. Premium's "Two-way hide" (website) also hides you from them in rooms. Neither stops messages; to remove someone from your rooms, chats and search altogether, block them.