How to Cancel a Friend Request on Facebook (Sent or Received)

Sending a friend request to the wrong person — or simply changing your mind — happens more often than you'd think. Facebook does let you cancel or withdraw a request you've sent, and the process is straightforward once you know where to look. The steps vary slightly depending on whether you're on a mobile device or desktop, and whether you're dealing with a request you sent or one you received.

What Happens When You Cancel a Friend Request

When you cancel a sent friend request, Facebook removes the pending request entirely. The other person is never notified that you withdrew it — there's no alert, no trace in their notifications. If they hadn't opened the request yet, it simply disappears. If they had seen it, the request will no longer appear in their list.

Canceling a request you received works differently — that's called declining or deleting a request, not canceling. Both actions are covered below.

How to Cancel a Friend Request You Sent

On Mobile (iOS or Android)

1. Open the Facebook app and tap the search icon (🔍) at the top.
2. Type the name of the person you sent the request to.
3. Tap their profile from the search results.
4. On their profile, you'll see a button that says "Friend Request Sent" or shows a person icon with a checkmark.
5. Tap that button.
6. A menu will appear — select "Cancel Request".

The button should immediately revert to "Add Friend", confirming the request has been withdrawn.

On Desktop (Browser)

1. Go to facebook.com and log in.
2. Use the search bar at the top to find the person's profile.
3. Click on their name to open their profile page.
4. Look for the "Friend Request Sent" button near their cover photo.
5. Click it and select "Cancel Request" from the dropdown.

Same result — the request disappears, and the button resets to "Add Friend."

Through the "Sent Requests" List

Facebook also keeps a list of all your pending outgoing requests, which is useful if you can't remember who you sent requests to:

1. On the Facebook app, tap the People icon (the friends/groups tab at the bottom or top depending on your app version).
2. Tap "Friend Requests" then look for an option like "View Sent Requests" or navigate to "People You May Know" — the exact label has shifted across app updates.
3. On desktop, go to facebook.com/friends and look for the "Sent" tab or the requests management panel on the left sidebar.

From this view, you can cancel multiple pending requests at once without visiting each person's individual profile.

How to Decline a Friend Request You Received

If someone sent you a request you don't want to accept, you have two options: Decline or Delete.

1. Tap or click the notifications bell or go to facebook.com/friends.
2. Find the request in your "Friend Requests" section.
3. Select "Delete Request" or "Not Now" — this removes the request without notifying the sender.

The person who sent the request is not notified when you decline. Their request simply disappears from your list.

📱 Why the Button or Menu Might Look Different

Facebook updates its interface frequently, and the layout you see depends on several variables:

If you don't see a "Cancel Request" button on someone's profile, it may mean the request was already accepted, the person's account was deactivated, or you're looking at a Page rather than a personal profile (Pages use "Follow" or "Like," not friend requests).

Can the Other Person Tell You Cancelled?

No. Facebook does not send a notification when a friend request is cancelled or declined. However, if the other person already opened and saw your request before you cancelled it, they'll notice it's gone — but they won't get an alert saying you withdrew it.

One nuance worth knowing: if you cancel a request and later send another one, the second request will appear in their notifications like any new request. There's no visible history of a prior cancelled request from the recipient's side.

What About Facebook Messenger?

Friend requests sent through Messenger (particularly to people you're not friends with) operate slightly differently. A message sent to a non-friend lands in their Message Requests folder, which is separate from the friend request system. Cancelling a Messenger message request requires going into the Messenger app directly and retracting the message — the process is distinct from the Facebook friend request flow described above.

The Variables That Affect Your Exact Steps

The core process is consistent, but your specific path through the UI depends on factors only you can assess: which device you're on, which version of the Facebook app is currently installed, whether you're managing a personal profile or a page, and whether the request in question was sent recently or has been sitting for a while. Older pending requests behave the same way — but finding them may require digging into the sent requests view rather than the person's profile directly.