Have you ever input the wrong birthday when setting up your Facebook profile and now realize you can’t change your birthday on Facebook? Facebook only allows you to set your birthday once when creating your account, and it becomes permanent.
While you can’t change your actual birthday that’s displayed, there are a few workarounds if you need to show a different date or year. In this post, I’ll explain why Facebook doesn’t allow birthday changes and what you can do about it.
Why You Can’t Change Your Birthday on Facebook
There are a couple reasons why Facebook restricts users from changing their birthday after account creation:
- Prevent fraud and fake accounts – Allowing users to change their birthday makes it easier to falsify information when opening an account. Locking it down helps prevent fraudulent activity and spam.
- Comply with age regulations – Since Facebook requires users to be 13+, not allowing birthday changes helps enforce their age policy. Minors can’t alter their age to circumvent the rules.
- Enable age-based features – Your birthday helps Facebook surface relevant age-based content. If it could be changed easily, the accuracy of these recommendations would suffer.
While inconvenient if you made a mistake, Facebook believes locking the birthday creates a more secure, compliant, and useful experience.
How to Modify Your Birthday on Facebook
If you need to display a different birthday on your Facebook profile, here are a couple options:
- Add your birthday details in your bio – Your main profile bio has a 150 character limit, so you can clarify your actual birthday in the descriptive text.
- List your real birthday date in the About section – The About section under your intro info allows you to provide birthday details that may differ from your main listed birthday.
- Create an alternate private profile – Make a new Facebook profile with your real birthday, then delete the old incorrect one.
- Adjust privacy settings – You can customize your privacy settings so your birthday is only visible to certain friends rather than public.
While not perfect workarounds, these steps allow you to display an accurate or alternative birthday for friends and connections to see.
Common Questions About Facebook Birthdays
Here are some additional details about Facebook birthdays and profile information:
- Can I change my birthday if under 13? Yes, if you input an incorrect birthday that shows you are under 13, Facebook allows you to modify it to show you are actually 13 or older.
- Can I hide my birthday completely? You can’t remove your birthday entirely, but you can customize settings to hide it from public view. Only you and Facebook will still see it.
- Can Facebook see when I created my account? Yes, Facebook can see your original sign up information like when you created your account and your age at that time.
- What if I input the wrong year? Unfortunately there is no way to modify your birthday year after creating your account. You’ll need to use workarounds like listing your real year in your bio.
- Will Facebook delete my account if my birthday shows under 13? In most cases they will simply lock the account until you provide verification that you are actually over 13.
Key Takeaways
While you can’t directly edit your birthday on Facebook after making your account, there are still a few tactics you can use to display an accurate or alternative date if needed. Add the details to your bio, About section, or privacy settings. Just be mindful that Facebook will always have your original sign up info, even if it’s different than what’s publicly shown.
Does your Facebook birthday reflect your real one? Let us know if you have any other questions!
