Dave! I read online that Facebook has changed the visibility of our avatars and now everyone can see them. I don’t even recall making an avatar. How can I check, and delete it if I so desire? Thanks.
People are in a bit of a snit about the sudden visibility of Facebook avatars, but I’m pretty sure that they have always been publicly visible if you use them on Facebook. If you’ve never set anything up and don’t use them in your posts, how would someone find it? Avatars, I’ll note, can be pretty fun too if you spend some time fiddling with it to either resemble who you want to be seen as on Facebook. Have short black hair? It’s your chance to have long blonde locks and an eyepatch if you want!
I actually wrote about Facebook Avatars way back in 2020 [How to Create Your Own Facebook Avatar] if you want to check that out. But let’s focus on the topic at hand: How to delete your Meta/Facebook avatar. To accomplish this goal you’ll want to have the Facebook for Mobile app, either on your Android phone or your iPhone. The Web interface doesn’t offer the avatar features. You’ll actually be using the Messenger for Mobile app, a companion program that is focused on private messaging within the Facebook world. [Messenger for Android | Messenger for iPhone]. Launch it. Log in. Ready?
FINDING AVATAR SETTINGS IN MESSENGER
Once you’re logged in to your Messenger program, you’ll likely see something like this:
You’ll want to tap on the three horizontal lines on the top left. Mine has a tiny red dot, but yours probably won’t include that notification element. Once tapped on, a menu slides in from the side:
We’re getting there. Now tap on the gear icon on the top right. Yes, mine has a notification dot!
Finally, you’ll be at the Messenger settings area that includes the Avatar feature, as shown near the bottom of the following list:
Tap on the “Avatar” entry to get to your Avatar!
CHANGING OR DELETING YOUR FACEBOOK AVATAR
Now that you’ve wound your way through the shoals to get to this setting, here’s what it looks like:
My face isn’t too far off, but the rest of it is a bit cringy. If you’ve never set up an avatar, I believe this will just be blank; tap on “Edit avatar” to start building one, or just ignore it. If you want to actually update your avatar, even for fun, again, tap on “Edit avatar”. Want to delete it? Tap on… you guessed it… “Edit avatar”:
Noticed the word “Free”? That’s because some outfits and accessories cost money. Are you that dedicated to creating the perfect avatar??
No? Ok. Tap on Delete Avatar to delete your avatar. Done.
BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE
Or tap on “Avatar Settings”…
Since your avatar is visible to the world – if you utilize it – it’s hard to understand the point of the “who can share or interact with” option, but there it is. Curious about its visibility? Facebook has a rather opaque explanation if you tap on “Learn more”:
If you really care, you now know how to delete your avatar. Or you can do what I did and update it…
Not quite as cringy!
Pro Tip: I’ve been writing about Facebook for quite a while and have an extensive Facebook help library. Please check out all my tutorials while you’re visiting my site, and don’t forget to subscribe to AskDaveTaylor on Facebook, where we post lots of exclusive content too!