Trying to befriend someone on Facebook but there is no “Add Friend” button on their profile page? Yeah, that’s gotta be one of the most confusing things ever.

Here’s why that might happen:

I’ll explain why this happens and how you can potentially solve it below, so keep reading for a detailed guide on why the “Add Friend” button is missing on Facebook 😀

Summary: I am writing to summarize an article about why the “Add Friend” button might not show on someone’s Facebook profile. 

There are several reasons why this might happen: the user has restricted their friend privacy settings, your friend request is pending, the other person has denied your friend request, they’ve marked your friend request as spam, or the other user is an official account. 

If the user has restricted their friend privacy settings, you can add one of their friends as your friend to be able to add them. 

If your friend request is pending or denied, you should wait. If they’ve marked your friend request as spam, only they can fix it by contacting Facebook support. 

If you’re trying to befriend an official account, you can only follow them.

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The Other User Has Restricted their Friends Privacy Settings + Solution

If you can’t see the “Add Friend” button on someone’s Facebook profile, it could be because they’ve restricted people from adding them as friends.

There’s a setting in Facebook that lets you do that on Facebook, and instead of “Everyone,” you can select “Friends of friends” only.

This means that if you aren’t friends with their friends on Facebook, you won’t be able to add them as friends (the button will be missing).

This privacy setting keeps your account out of the prying eyes and more anonymous. By default, Facebook allows everyone to send you a friend request.

Solution – Add one of their friends as your friend

To add someone with restricted privacy settings as a friend, first, you need to add one of their friends as a friend on Facebook.

Look through the friend list and select someone who you think will accept your friend request.

Send them a friend request, and if they accept, you can now add the other person as a friend too. Because you now qualify as a friend of their friend.

Your Friend Request Is Pending

If you have already sent a friend request to someone, you won’t see the “Add Friend” button on their profile anymore.

Instead, it’ll be replaced with the “Requested” button.

This means that you’ve already requested their friendship on Facebook.

Facebook won’t let you send another friend request after just sending one, you see.

The “Requested” button will turn into ”Add Friend” if they deny your friend request, though.

Otherwise, the “Requested” button will transform into “Friends” if the other person accepts your friend request.

If the “Add Friend” button isn’t showing on Facebook because you’ve already sent the other person a friend request, you should wait.

Either they accept or refuse your friend request.

Friend Request Denied

If someone denies your friend request, there’s a “cooldown” period when you can’t send them a friend request anymore.

The “Add Friend” button won’t be in their profile anymore during that time. Even if you want to send them another friend request, you can’t do it for the time being.

You’ll need to wait for several days before the “Add Friend” button appears on their profile again.

If they deny your friend request repeatedly, the cooldown period could be extended.

You should contact the other person when sending them a friend request. Tell them who you are and why you’re interested in becoming their friend.

Otherwise, they may deny your friend request if they don’t know who you are.

They’ve Marked Your Friend Request as Spam

Facebook lets you mark friend requests as Spam, did you know that?

This means that once you deny a friend request and mark it as spam, the other person won’t be able to send you another friend request.

The “Add Friend” button will not show on your profile for that person. However, this isn’t a permanent decision, but it’ll take long before the other person can send you a friend request.

In most cases, it’ll take a whole year for you to see the “Add Friend” button on someone’s profile if they added you as spam before (so you might as well forget about it).

If the other person has marked your friend request as spam by mistake, there’s nothing they can do since the decision is irreversible. The only way to fix it is to contact Facebook support and let them sort it out.

But you can’t do anything. Only the person who marked you as spam can fix it.

You’re Trying to Befriend an Official Account

Are you, perchance, trying to send a friend request to an official account? If you are, then that’s your problem – official accounts can’t be befriended.

They can only be followed.

The “Follow” function is similar to adding the other person as a friend, but it’s more official.

Popular people will keep their friendships private and reach out to people via the “Follow” feature.

This lets them better control the content they post. Followers won’t be able to see the content addresses to friends, for instance.

So, that’s all I can say on the topic. If you still can’t see the “Add Friend” button after following this guide, then I suggest a Facebook reinstallation as a last resort.

Contact me below if you need help with something else!