To add someone to Close Friends on Facebook, go to their profile, click Friends at the top, choose Edit friend list, tick Close friends and click Exit. As of Nov 2026, Facebook describes Close Friends as one of three ready-made friend lists, meant for the friends you may want to share with exclusively.
It's a small feature with a bigger job than it looks, especially if you use one Facebook profile for your personal life and your business. Lists decide who sees what you post and whose updates you see. Here's what Facebook's Help Centre says about Close Friends, how it differs from the other lists, and where people get caught out.
Adding a friend to your Close Friends list
The steps start on the friend's profile, not in a settings menu. As of Nov 2026, on a computer:
- Go to your friend's profile.
- Click Friends at the top of their profile.
- Select Edit friend list.
- Tick Close friends.
- Click Exit.
To take someone off, follow the same steps and untick Close friends. Facebook's note on this article is worth knowing: you can add friends to more than one list, or remove them from a list, so ticking Close friends doesn't pull them out of anything else.
There's a second way in, which is handier when you're adding several people at once. From your Feed, click Friends in the left menu (click See more if you can't see it), then Custom lists. Open the list, click Add/remove (you may need More options in the top right first), search for friends, click their names and Save.
Close friends, Acquaintances and Restricted side by side
Facebook gives everyone three starter lists. They sound similar, but each does a different job:
| List | What Facebook says it's for | How it affects the people on it |
|---|---|---|
| Close friends | Friends you may want to share exclusively with | You can post an update for just this group, or see updates from them together |
| Acquaintances | People you might want to share less with | You can leave them out of a post by choosing Friends except acquaintances; Facebook says no one is notified when you add them |
| Restricted | People you've added as a friend but don't want to share with, such as your boss | They only see your public content or posts you tag them in |
| Custom lists | Any group you set up, such as coworkers or friends who live near you | You choose who goes in and what privacy restrictions, if any, apply |
Restricted is the list with real teeth, and it has its own rules, so I won't retell them here: see how restricting someone on Facebook works. Acquaintances is the softer cousin, and what Acquaintances means on Facebook covers it in full.
Will they know you've added them?
This is the question people ask most, and the honest answer is that Facebook's Help only answers it for one list. It says no one is notified if you add them to Acquaintances. The Close Friends and Restricted articles don't say either way.
So I won't tell you a Close Friends add is silent, because Facebook doesn't say so. What I can tell you is that if discretion matters, Acquaintances is the only list where Facebook puts that promise in writing.
One more mix-up to clear: Instagram has a separate Close Friends feature of its own. Everything on this page is about Facebook's list.
Building a custom friend list from scratch
If the starter lists don't fit, build your own. A list for clients you're friends with, or for people in your town, is the kind of thing Facebook has in mind when it mentions coworkers or friends who live near you.
- From your Feed, click Friends in the left menu. You may need to click See more first.
- Click Custom lists, then Create list.
- Type a name for the list and click Confirm.
- Click Add friends and enter the names of the people you want in it.
You can add or remove people at any time. To remove someone, open the list from Custom lists and click Remove next to their name. To see all your lists later, it's the same route: Friends, then Custom lists, then click a list to open it.
Close Friends posts and Limit past posts
Here's the detail most guides miss. Facebook's Limit past posts tool switches all your past posts that were visible to more than your friends, such as Public posts, to Friends in one go. But Facebook says it doesn't change posts you shared with a custom audience, and it names Close Friends and Friends except acquaintances as examples. So anything you shared with Close Friends stays with Close Friends.
Want AI doing the heavy lifting in your marketing?
I build the systems that handle the boring 80 percent, so you get your week back. Done properly, with the human kept in.
That's fine if you've been careful. It's a surprise if you assumed one click would reset everything to the same audience. Facebook also says limiting past posts can't be undone in one click: to put old audiences back, you change each post individually. Before you use it, read how Limit past posts works on Facebook.
Is Close Friends worth setting up? My verdict
Close Friends earns its place if your Facebook profile is a mix of family, old school friends, clients and people you met at networking events.
I'd start by putting a handful of real close friends and family on it and sharing the personal stuff there, so your profile stays something you'd be happy for a client to scroll through. I'd skip building lots of custom lists on day one: you'll forget who's on which, and because a friend can sit on several lists at once, it gets confusing fast. And I'd skip using Close Friends to manage business contacts. If you want to share less with someone, Acquaintances or Restricted does that job better.
If you run your business and your personal life from one Facebook profile, friend lists are the low-effort way to keep the two apart. I run AI training and workshops for teams, and help businesses with AI enablement and workflow automation, so the busywork runs itself and people get time back. Most of that work is with SaaS marketing teams and small businesses. Here's how we can work together.
For the rest of the series, see the Facebook Help: 80 Guides to Pages, Groups, Ads, Stories and Fixes.
Frequently asked questions
How do I add someone to Close Friends on Facebook?
Go to their profile, click Friends at the top, select Edit friend list, tick Close friends and click Exit.
Can a friend be on Close Friends and another list?
Yes. Facebook says you can add a friend to more than one list.
Is someone notified when I add them to Close Friends?
Facebook's Help doesn't say. The only list where it says no one is notified is Acquaintances.
Where do I find my Close Friends list?
From your Feed, click Friends in the left menu (See more if needed), then Custom lists, then click the list to open it.
Does Limit past posts change my Close Friends posts?
No. Facebook says Limit past posts doesn't change posts shared with a custom audience such as Close Friends or Friends except acquaintances.
