How to Change Your Birthday on Facebook
Facebook stores your birthday as part of your profile's basic information — and yes, you can change it. But how easy that is, how often you can do it, and what happens afterward depends on a few factors most people don't realize going in.
Here's everything you need to know about updating your birthday on Facebook, across devices and account types.
Why Facebook Has Limits on Birthday Changes
Unlike your display name or profile photo, Facebook treats your date of birth as a semi-verified piece of identity data. It's used to confirm you meet the minimum age requirement (13 in most regions) and to comply with child protection regulations.
Because of this, Facebook doesn't let you change your birthday freely and repeatedly. There's a limit on how many times you can edit this field, and if you've already changed it recently, you may find the option grayed out or locked — sometimes for several months.
This is worth knowing upfront: if you entered a birthday incorrectly when you first signed up and have never changed it, you're in the easiest position. If you've changed it before, you may hit a cooldown period.
How to Change Your Birthday on Facebook (Mobile App) 📱
The Facebook mobile app — on both Android and iOS — is the most common way people manage their profile. Here's the general path:
- Open the Facebook app and tap your profile picture to go to your profile
- Tap Edit Profile
- Scroll down to find Edit your about info, or look for the About section directly
- Tap Basic Info or Basic and Contact Info
- Find Birthday and tap the edit (pencil) icon
- Update the month, day, and year
- Adjust the privacy setting for who can see your birthday if needed
- Tap Save
If the birthday field appears locked or uneditable, it typically means you've hit Facebook's change limit for that account. There's no workaround through the app in that case.
How to Change Your Birthday on Facebook (Desktop)
On a desktop or laptop browser, the steps follow a slightly different path:
- Go to facebook.com and log in
- Click your profile name or picture in the top navigation to open your profile
- Click the About tab beneath your cover photo
- Select Basic and Contact Info from the left-side menu
- Hover over your birthday to reveal the edit option (pencil icon)
- Edit the date fields — month, day, and year are each separate dropdowns
- Set the visibility (who can see your birthday: Public, Friends, Only Me, etc.)
- Click Save
Desktop access sometimes gives you slightly more control over the privacy settings, including the option to show only the month and day without revealing the year.
Birthday Privacy Settings: What They Actually Control 🎂
Facebook separates your birthday into two visibility controls:
| Setting | What It Controls |
|---|---|
| Month and Day | Who sees the birthday reminder in their notifications |
| Year | Who can see your actual birth year on your profile |
You can choose to hide your birth year entirely while still letting friends get notified on your birthday. Or you can make the whole field visible only to yourself. These two settings operate independently, so adjusting one doesn't automatically change the other.
What to Do If You Can't Edit Your Birthday
If the edit option is unavailable, Facebook provides a support request process for users who need to correct their birthday but have exhausted their self-service changes. This typically involves:
- Navigating to the Help Center (found in Settings)
- Searching for birthday-related support
- Submitting a request explaining the correction needed
In some cases, Facebook may ask for identity verification — such as a government-issued ID — if the requested change is significant (e.g., a completely different birth year). This is more common if the account was flagged during the change history or if the new date creates questions about age eligibility.
Response times and outcomes for these requests vary. Facebook doesn't guarantee changes through this route, and the process isn't instant.
The Variables That Affect Your Experience
Not everyone hits the same process or the same outcome. A few key factors shape what you'll encounter:
- How many times you've already changed your birthday — Facebook's internal limit isn't publicly documented, but most users report being locked after two to three changes within a short window
- How old your account is — older accounts with established activity may have different thresholds
- Your account's age relative to Facebook's minimum age requirement — if changing your birthday would make your account appear underage, Facebook may flag or block the change automatically
- Your device and app version — the UI path differs slightly between iOS, Android, and browser versions, and outdated app versions may behave inconsistently
- Whether your account has been flagged or restricted — accounts with prior policy issues sometimes have additional limitations on profile editing
A Note on Birthday Visibility vs. Birthday Accuracy
Two different problems often get conflated here. Changing who sees your birthday (a privacy adjustment) is usually unrestricted and can be done any time. Changing the actual date stored on your account (a data correction) is what carries the edit limits.
If your goal is simply to stop Facebook from broadcasting your birthday to friends, or to hide your birth year from your profile, that's a privacy setting change — not a birthday edit — and it's available without limits. ✅
The edit restrictions only apply when you're changing the actual date values in your profile data.
Whether the standard self-service path works for you, or you end up needing to submit a support request, depends heavily on your account's specific history and what change you're trying to make.