Hey, Fellow Facebook users! We have a question for you. Have you ever stumbled across a friend’s profile, and your fingers automatically move to add them as your friend? But alas, you can’t find the add friend option anywhere, and your only option is to message them on the platform.
You begin to ponder what it all means, and you’re not the only one. Facebook has its own set of policies and features that might occasionally leave users perplexed in social media.
You may ask what it means when you can only message someone on Facebook. Let’s go right to it and unravel the puzzle behind this. What do you say?
In this blog, we’ll explore the reasons behind why you might find the option to only message on Facebook. Let’s get started!
What Does it Mean When You Can Only Message Someone on Facebook?
If you can only message someone on Facebook, it means their add friend option is greyed out. In order to properly understand this occurrence, please have a look at the following two straightforward explanations.
Restricted privacy settings
Users may fiddle with their privacy settings on Facebook, giving them control over who can message them. As you might have guessed, these settings also limit your ability to send messages.
Do you know how to change your Facebook privacy settings so that no one may send a friend request to you? Well, it seems that you don’t!
Be at ease; we are here to help you through the process. You must read our step-by-step instructions to learn all about it.
Steps to edit who can find and contact you on Facebook’s privacy settings:
Step 1: Launch the official Facebook app on your phone.
Step 2: There’s a hamburger icon at the home page’s top right corner. Give it a tap.
Step 3: To continue, scroll down and touch on the Settings & privacy option.
Step 4: There’s a Settings option next. Please click on it.
Step 5: Go to the Audience & Visibility area on the Settings & Privacy page.
Select How people can find and contact you.
Step 6: The first option reads, Who can send you friend requests?
Tap on the box with a drop-down menu next to it.
Step 7: Upon doing so, a Choose audience box will pop up with two options: Everyone and Friends of Friends.
If you choose friends of friends, only your friends of friends can send you friend requests. Hence, a stranger with no connection with you whatsoever will not see the add friend option. Perhaps they’re only granted permission to message you.
They have denied or marked your friend request as spam
The second reason you might only be able to message someone on Facebook is because they might have rejected your friend request. This reason might be perplexing, especially if you can’t remember if you sent them a request in the first place.
You really need to remember it. There can be various reasons to reject friend requests. You might see the message option because it’s possible that the individual in question flagged your request as spam.
If that’s the case, try sending them a DM and wait for their response. If nothing else, you’d at least be able to pinpoint why you can only access the message option on their account by asking them.
There must be some trigger for this to happen if all you can do is message the person, and there is no way to add them as a friend. There are more reasons why you might not be able to see the option to add a friend here in addition to the two listed above. Let’s talk about them below.
Your friend request has been reported
We don’t want to worry you; however, there is a report friend request option, so this is a possibility. Facebook limits your ability to send someone a friend request if they become irritated and report it.
You or the other user has reached the friend limit
We all love growing our Facebook circles and adding new friends to them, don’t we? These platforms aim to socialize, have fun, and make friends. But did you know there is a limit on how many friends you may add or accept on Facebook? You did read that correctly.
There is a limitation of 5,000 friends, and under no circumstances can you add more. Why don’t you click the follow button on their profile instead if you double-check that this is the issue? You can stay informed about users’ activity on the platform in this way.
Facebook glitches
Although it would appear that this is the last thing that could limit your ability to add someone as a friend, you cannot completely ignore it. This issue can occasionally arise as a result of in-app bugs that seriously impair the app’s ability to function properly. So, keep an eye out for these problems and consider what you might do to fix them.
Please make sure to keep your app updated if there is a problem with using an outdated app version. If there is a server issue, you will have to be patient while waiting for the app to restart.
But as soon as everything is settled, quickly visit the target person’s profile and check if you can send them a friend request.
In the end
Remember, it is not a huge deal if you can only message people on Facebook! We have added possible explanations for why this occurs on the platform. In addition, we have mentioned the reason why the ability to add friends is hidden for some people. Therefore, make sure to carefully read everything we covered in the section above.
Please feel free to leave additional questions and clarification requests in the comments section below for our consideration. We are here to ease your concerns. You can also visit our website for additional tech-related advice.
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