One of the most popular social media platforms nowadays, Facebook has the most users. The ability to add people who can follow you and check out what you publish, and vice versa, is a big part of the appeal. So you might have encountered a scenario where you attempted to add someone but the option vanished.
You may not be able to add anyone on Facebook for various reasons; this does not necessarily indicate that they have blocked you. Check out the article below to see which of these other causes may be true for you if you’re curious about the other possibilities.
Why Doesn’t The Facebook “Add Friend” Button Show?
Since the individual has limited their privacy settings, rejected your friend request, or flagged it as spam, the “Add Friend” button is not visible on Facebook.
Users of Facebook can manage their privacy settings, including who can see their activity and how to be found and contacted.
Users can modify their friend request preferences in the privacy policies to prevent “strangers” from friend-requesting them.
The button can then be disabled on a user’s profile if they reject your friend request.
Users who flag the friend request as spam will also have it disabled.
The wide range of causes for the friend request button’s disappearance is given below.
1. The Person Restricted Their Privacy Settings, as follows
The “Add Friend” option on Facebook isn’t visible, has vanished, or is missing for a number of reasons, the first of which is that the user has restricted the privacy settings.
The Facebook app and website both allow users to manage their privacy options.
You can restrict who could really send you friend requests using one of the privacy settings.
The setting offers the choices “Everyone” and “Friends of Friends.”
You can be added as a friend by anyone who has a Facebook account if you change the setting to “Everyone.”
This option is turned on by default.
On the other side, if you set the setting to “Friends of friends,” only people who share your friends on Facebook will be able to add you as friends.
2. Your Friend Request was Rejected
A person’s profile won’t display the “Add Friend” option for a long if you send them a friend request and they declined it.
You won’t be informed if someone rejects one’s friend request on Facebook.
But there are 3 ways to determine whether your buddy request was rejected:
- The button is un-clickable and greyed out.
- The button might not appear at all on their profile.
- “Add Friend” is substituted for “Friend request sent.”
You might not be able to add someone right away after they reject your friend request because there will be a “cool down” time.
To stop spammers from misusing the “Add Friend” button, there is a “cool down” period.
That stated it can take some time until you can request their friendship once more.
The “Friend request sent” button would be changed to “Add Friend” once a few days and weeks have passed.
At that point, you can once more send the person a friend request.
The “cool off” period might be extended if they reject your friend request again.
3. Your Friend’s Request was Labeled as Spam
Last but not least, the “Add Friend” button won’t appear on someone’s profile if they marked the friend request as spam.
Users on Facebook have the option to flag friend request as spam.
On Facebook, you have the option of accepting or rejecting friend requests.
After deleting the friend request, you can opt to mark it as spam.
If you marked someone’s friend request is spam, they will not be able to add you on Facebook for a while.
Several sites claim that the person must wait a full year before resending you a friend request.
Since the button remains irreversible, you cannot undo it if you mistakenly designated the friend request as spam.
Your best option in that situation is to get help from Facebook support.
In a nutshell, if someone’s profile hasn’t had the friend request option for a while, they might have marked your request as spam.
4. The Account Is Deactivated
If a user’s account has been deactivated, you might not be able to add them. Unless they entirely remove it, a user’s account normally remains online after they do this. However, as long as the profile is inactive, nobody will be capable of sending them friend requests.
After deactivating an account, someone can reactivate it by logging into Facebook. Despite having their account deactivated, they can still use Messenger; therefore you are still able to send them messages.
5. You Blocked Them
You might want to check to see if you actually blocked someone if you’re trying to add somebody but can’t seem to see their profile. It’s completely likely that you forgot if it’s been some time since you performed this.
Facebook keeps a list of people you’ve blocked, so you can see who they are. Go to Settings & Privacy > Settings > Blocking to see this. You should be able to view a list of the people you’ve blocked on this page. And you can see if the user you’re trying to add is on that list. Simply click the Unblock button next to their name to unblock them.
6. They Have Exceeded Their Friend Limit
Facebook has a limit on the number of friends you can have. You won’t be able to submit a friend request to someone if they have 5000 friends. Facebook should alert you that the user has acquired 5000 friends if you want it to.
You won’t be able to add someone this way even if they send you a friend request even though they have over the limit. Facebook would not add them to the list of friends or you to theirs if you attempt to accept the request. You can still contact anyone with 5000 or more friends, though.
How to Fix Facebook’s “Add Friend” Button:
You can either wait it out or try to add one of your friend’s Facebook friends to see if that fixes the “Add Friend” option on Facebook. It’s not a Facebook bug when the “Add Friend” button is hidden on a user’s profile. One of Facebook’s features to discourage spammers from exploiting the “Add Friend” button is that it is hidden or greyed out.
You can only manually activate the button once to make it appear. If not, you must wait it out. Here are a few tried-and-true methods for fixing the button, each of which is thoroughly explained.
1. Add Mutual Friends:
The first thing you may do to fix Facebook’s “Add Friend” button is to add one of the other person’s Facebook friends. But only if the user adjusted their “Who can send you a friend request” setting to “Friends of friends” will this method function.
You can only add someone if you’re a friend of their Facebook friends if they have adjusted their privacy option to “Friends of friends.” Therefore, you must convince one of the person’s friends to add you as a Facebook friend.
The “Add Friend” option will appear on their profile as soon as a friend of their Facebook friends approves them as a friend. Otherwise, you won’t be able to send them a friend request since the “Add Friend” option will be hidden on their profile.
2. Wait It Out:
It may take a few days and weeks before you may add someone back after they delete your friend request. This is due to the fact that there is a “cool down” period after somebody deletes your Facebook friend request.
You must wait a while for the “Add Friend” button to reappear if you accepted a person as a friend. And later discovered that it was greyed out or had vanished. You must also wait it out if a person you recently added to Facebook deleted your friend’s request and flags it as spam.
However, you must wait a year for the “Add Friend” button to function once more. If the friend request is flagged as spam. Most people will delete your friend requests, thus they won’t typically be flagged as spam.
The best course of action is to give it some time (say, three days) before examining the person’s profile once more. After that, provided they didn’t alter their privacy settings, the “Add Friend” button ought to appear on their profile.
Conclusion:
Many users find it annoying when Facebook’s “Add Friend” button disappears or turns grey. You must understand that this is not a bug, so you don’t need to ask Facebook support for help. Using the few instructions provided in this article, the “Add Friend” option can be reinstated. You should also be aware that if someone has surpassed their maximum of friends on Facebook. You will no longer be able to add them as a friend. On Facebook, you are limited to 5,000 friends. A person who has added all of their friends must first remove a friend before you can add them.
