How to Tell if Someone Has Blocked You or Deactivated Their Account on Facebook
Open your inbox., Find a past conversation with the friend in question., Look for a "default" profile picture and/or an un-clickable profile link.
Step-by-Step Guide
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Step 1: Open your inbox.
With this method, we'll determine whether or not we've been blocked by looking for clues in Facebook's built-in messaging service.
To begin, open your Facebook inbox.
After logging in, click the small icon in the top right of the window that resembles two speech bubbles.
Click "See All" to access your inbox.
If you've recently communicated with this person, your conversation may be at or near the top of the drop-down menu that displays when you click on the messaging icon.
In this case, you can click on your conversation to bring it up in a small chat box at the bottom of the window.
Note that this method requires you to have had a past conversation with your friend.
If you haven't exchanged messages with the person in question over Facebook, you won't have a conversation history in which to look for clues. -
Step 2: Find a past conversation with the friend in question.
When you've accessed your inbox, you'll want to find any past correspondence you've had with this friend.
This can be a private one-on-one message or a group message that they replied to
- all that's important is that they sent a message of their own as part of the conversation.
Conversations that they read but did not reply to are unfortunately of no use.
If you can't find a conversation with your friend by scrolling through the list of conversations at the left of the inbox, you may want to try using the search bar at the top left to search your message history for your friend's name or other keywords. , Every entry in your conversation history should have the poster's name and profile picture at the top of it.
Look at one of your friend's entries
- the condition of his or her name and profile picture can tell you whether you've been blocked or whether this person's profile has been deleted.
If your friend's profile picture is still visible, but his or her name is greyed out and cannot be clicked to access his or her profile, you have likely been blocked.
If, on the other hand, your friend's name isn't clickable, but his or her profile picture is set to the "default" Facebook picture (androgynous white silhouette against light blue backdrop), s/he has probably deleted his or her profile.
The only alternative
- that s/he blocked you and deleted his or her profile picture
- is very unlikely.
If your friend's messages bear the name "Facebook User"
rather than his or her actual name, s/he has definitely deleted his or her profile. -
Step 3: Look for a "default" profile picture and/or an un-clickable profile link.
Detailed Guide
With this method, we'll determine whether or not we've been blocked by looking for clues in Facebook's built-in messaging service.
To begin, open your Facebook inbox.
After logging in, click the small icon in the top right of the window that resembles two speech bubbles.
Click "See All" to access your inbox.
If you've recently communicated with this person, your conversation may be at or near the top of the drop-down menu that displays when you click on the messaging icon.
In this case, you can click on your conversation to bring it up in a small chat box at the bottom of the window.
Note that this method requires you to have had a past conversation with your friend.
If you haven't exchanged messages with the person in question over Facebook, you won't have a conversation history in which to look for clues.
When you've accessed your inbox, you'll want to find any past correspondence you've had with this friend.
This can be a private one-on-one message or a group message that they replied to
- all that's important is that they sent a message of their own as part of the conversation.
Conversations that they read but did not reply to are unfortunately of no use.
If you can't find a conversation with your friend by scrolling through the list of conversations at the left of the inbox, you may want to try using the search bar at the top left to search your message history for your friend's name or other keywords. , Every entry in your conversation history should have the poster's name and profile picture at the top of it.
Look at one of your friend's entries
- the condition of his or her name and profile picture can tell you whether you've been blocked or whether this person's profile has been deleted.
If your friend's profile picture is still visible, but his or her name is greyed out and cannot be clicked to access his or her profile, you have likely been blocked.
If, on the other hand, your friend's name isn't clickable, but his or her profile picture is set to the "default" Facebook picture (androgynous white silhouette against light blue backdrop), s/he has probably deleted his or her profile.
The only alternative
- that s/he blocked you and deleted his or her profile picture
- is very unlikely.
If your friend's messages bear the name "Facebook User"
rather than his or her actual name, s/he has definitely deleted his or her profile.
About the Author
Gary Kim
Experienced content creator specializing in cooking guides and tutorials.
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