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Can I unfriend someone from Facebook on my iPhone?

I only use Facebook from my Apple iPhone and have no complaints. Except one. I can't unfriend people who I realize I don't want to be connected to on the site. Am I right, or is there a way to unfriend a Facebook friend within the iPhone app?


Dave's Answer:

Ah, the fun of managing your social network connections. As you say, sometimes you friend someone on Facebook (or any other social network) just to realize that they don't use it the same way you do. If you use the Web interface you can just "hide" their updates so they generally fade into the background, but if you're using the iPhone app, which could do with a bit of a facelift, then you're kinda stuck. No way to hide or mute people or discussions, unfortunately.

Except you can unfriend them from within the Facebook iPhone app. Of course, it can be a bit like using a Howitzer to kill a fly if it's just an annoying update or two, but I'm going to leave the question of when it's appropriate to you, dear reader, and not worry about whether it's justified or not. That's your thing. :-)

Within the Facebook app, it's just two taps to go from having a friend to, well, not. I'll show you by unfriending my friend Shawn Collins (don't worry, Shawn, I didn't really unfriend you. You were just a convenient demo guinea pig).

Here I am checking out the News Feed from Facebook on my iPhone:

iphone facebook unfriend 1

See that update in the middle, from Shawn Collins? Yeah, I don't want to follow him any more. I have a pathological hate of anyone who cites cnn.com. Or something like that. :-)

To unfriend him, I simply tap on his name in the News Feed view and wait as it loads his profile:

iphone facebook unfriend 2

See the icon on the top right with the arrow coming out of the square? Tap on it...

iphone facebook unfriend 3

There's what we seek. The red "Unfriend" button. Tap on it and all you have to do is confirm you really want to sever the tie:

iphone facebook unfriend 4

One more tap on "Unfriend" and it's b'bye!


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Categorized: Facebook Help , iPhone and Cell Phone Help   (Article 10008, Written by )
Tagged: facebook friend management, facebook friends, unfriend
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Reader Comments To Date: 5

Victoria said, on August 11, 2011 12:49 PM:

How do you do this for Pages? It doesn't have the same menu. By the way, I just think you're great! Love the articles.

Ginger said, on December 11, 2011 7:25 PM:

Dave: instead of that cute little box with the arrow I have a box that says "placeholder" on my iPhone Facebook ap and when I click on it nothing happens so I cannot unfriend obnoxious people who keep posting about stuff they are trying to sell me (insurance, travel and real estate agents: this means u) when i thought they wanted to me to be their friend (not their customer). Any suggestions?

Dave Taylor said, on December 12, 2011 9:20 AM:

Ginger, two suggestions: 1. make sure you have the latest version of the Facebook software on your phone and 2. if that doesn't work, log in to a web browser on a computer and unfriend the twerps :-)

Laura Piercy said, on March 7, 2012 12:01 PM:

If I unfriend a facebook contact, will they still be listed as a friend on my iphone facebook or are they totally unfriended? If they are not completely "unfriended", how do I get them removed from iphone facebook friends?

Jasmine Narang said, on May 30, 2012 12:28 PM:

I am not having the option of UNFRIEND on fb though I have an updated version. What should I do??

Starbucks coffee cup I do have a lot to say, and questions of my own for that matter, but first I'd like to say thank you, Dave, for all your helpful information by buying you a cup of coffee!

I do have a comment, now that you mention it!











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