How to Edit Your Age on Facebook: What You Can Change and What You Can't

Facebook stores a surprising amount of personal information — and your birthdate is one of the most fundamental pieces. Whether you entered it incorrectly when you signed up, you're concerned about privacy, or you simply want to update what's visible to others, editing your age on Facebook is possible. But the process isn't always straightforward, and what you can actually change depends on a few important factors.

What Facebook Actually Stores vs. What Others See

Facebook distinguishes between two things: your actual birthdate on file and your birthdate visibility settings.

Your birthdate on file is what Facebook uses internally — for age verification, ad targeting, and account security. This is the full date: day, month, and year.

Your visibility settings control who can see that information on your profile. You can set your full birthday, just your birth month and day, or nothing at all to be visible to friends, friends of friends, or the public.

Understanding this distinction matters because you might not need to change your actual birthdate — you might just need to adjust who can see it.

How to Edit Your Birthdate on Facebook 📅

On Desktop (Web Browser)

1. Log in to your Facebook account and go to your profile page
2. Click Edit profile (below your cover photo)
3. Scroll down to find the Edit Details section or look for the About tab
4. Click About, then select Contact and basic info from the left-hand menu
5. Scroll to Basic Information where your birthdate appears
6. Click the Edit (pencil) icon next to your birthday
7. Update the day, month, and/or year using the dropdown menus
8. Adjust the audience selector (the dropdown that controls who sees it)
9. Click Save

On Mobile (iOS or Android App)

1. Tap your profile picture in the bottom right (iOS) or top right (Android) to go to your profile
2. Tap Edit profile
3. Scroll to find Edit your about info or tap directly on About
4. Tap Contact and basic info
5. Find your birthday and tap the Edit icon
6. Update the fields and adjust visibility
7. Tap Save

The steps are largely the same across platforms, though Facebook's interface updates occasionally mean button labels or menu locations may shift slightly depending on your app version.

Why Facebook May Limit How Often You Can Change Your Birthday

Here's something many users don't expect: Facebook restricts how frequently you can change your birthdate. This is a deliberate policy, not a bug.

Facebook generally allows you to change your birthday a limited number of times before requiring you to submit a request for review. If you hit that limit, you'll see a message indicating you need to contact Facebook's support team to make further changes.

This restriction exists to reduce fraud, prevent misrepresentation of age for accessing age-restricted content, and maintain account authenticity across the platform.

If you're locked out of editing your birthday directly, you can:

• Submit a request through Facebook's Help Center under the "Personal Information" section
• In some cases, Facebook may ask for identity verification documents to confirm your correct birthdate before making the change

Controlling Who Sees Your Birthday

Even if you don't need to change the actual date, adjusting visibility is often the real goal. Facebook gives you granular control here:

You can also choose to show only the month and day (so people see your birthday for well-wishes without knowing your year of birth), or hide the birthday entirely.

This is particularly useful for privacy-conscious users who don't want their full age visible but still want to receive birthday notifications from friends.

When Facebook Won't Let You Change It At All

There are scenarios where editing is blocked or significantly delayed:

• New accounts sometimes face temporary restrictions on editing core information shortly after creation
• Accounts flagged for suspicious activity may have profile editing temporarily restricted
• Age-restricted accounts — if Facebook determined the account belongs to a minor, changing the age to appear older may trigger a review process

In these situations, the path forward typically involves Facebook's support process rather than a self-service edit.

The Privacy Layer Most Users Overlook

Beyond the birthdate field itself, your age influences how Facebook categorizes you for ad targeting and content filtering. Updating your birthdate updates this categorization — but it won't retroactively change decisions Facebook's systems already made based on your previous age data.

If privacy is your main concern, it's also worth reviewing what information is shared with third-party apps connected to your account, as some of those apps may have cached your birthdate independently of what Facebook shows on your profile.

What Differs From User to User

The experience of editing your age on Facebook varies meaningfully depending on:

• How many times you've previously changed it — first-time editors have the smoothest path
• Your account age and standing — older accounts in good standing tend to have fewer restrictions
• Your device and app version — menu locations shift across updates, so the exact path may look different
• Whether your account has any flags or restrictions — these can block self-service edits entirely

For some users, changing a birthday takes under two minutes. For others — particularly those who've already edited it before or whose accounts have any kind of review flag — it becomes a multi-step process involving Facebook support. Which side of that line you fall on depends entirely on your account's specific history and current status.