You know that feeling when your phone starts blowing up at 8:00 AM on your birthday? It's a wall of "Happy Birthday!" messages from people you haven't spoken to since 10th-grade biology. For some, it’s a dopamine hit. For others, it’s a digital chore. But beyond the social obligation, there is a much bigger reason people are looking up how to delete birthday from facebook lately: security.
Identity theft isn't just a scary story your IT department tells you. It’s real. Your birth date is one of the "holy trinity" pieces of data—alongside your name and address—that hackers use to verify your identity. By leaving it public, you’re basically handing out the keys to your digital front door.
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The Problem With Keeping Your Birthday Public
Most of us joined Facebook in an era of digital innocence. We shared everything. We posted photos of our lunch, tagged our locations, and, of course, listed our full birth dates. But the platform has changed. The internet has changed.
Facebook's default settings often encourage "openness," but openness is a vulnerability. According to cybersecurity experts at firms like Norton and Kaspersky, your birth year is a specific data point used in social engineering attacks. If a bad actor knows you were born on July 12, 1988, they can narrow down your Social Security number range (in the US) or use it to reset passwords on other accounts that use "What is your date of birth?" as a security question.
Honestly, it's just not worth the risk for a few "HBD" posts from your cousin's ex-wife.
How to Delete Birthday from Facebook on Desktop
If you’re sitting at a computer, the process is slightly different than the mobile app because Meta loves to tuck settings into sub-menus that feel like a labyrinth.
First, get yourself to your profile page. You’ll see the "About" tab right under your cover photo. Click that. Now, don't just look at the general overview. You need to find the "Contact and Basic Info" section on the left-hand sidebar. This is where the "gold" is kept.
Once you’re there, scroll down until you see "Basic Info." Your birthday will be sitting there, mocking you. Hover over it. An "Edit" icon (the little pencil) should appear.
Here is the catch. Facebook doesn’t actually let you "delete" the birthday in the sense of leaving the field blank. They require a birth date to ensure you are over 13 and to target ads at you. The workaround is actually about visibility. You want to change the audience selector.
Click the audience icon (it might look like a globe or two silhouettes). Change it to Only Me. Do this for both the day/month and the birth year. Once both are set to "Only Me," the information is effectively deleted from the public eye. No one can see it. No one gets a notification. You've gone dark.
Make sure you hit "Save." If you just navigate away, Facebook will "conveniently" forget you wanted privacy.
Managing Your Birthday via the Mobile App (iOS and Android)
Most of us live on our phones. Deleting or hiding your birthday on the app is actually a bit more streamlined, though the menus shift every time there's an update.
- Tap your profile picture or the three horizontal lines (the "hamburger" menu).
- Hit the gear icon for "Settings & Privacy" and then "Settings."
- You might see something called "Accounts Center" at the top. Ignore the urge to click that for now; stay on your profile settings if you can. Actually, wait—Meta is moving everything to the Accounts Center. If you see "Personal Details" under the Meta Accounts Center, click that.
- Tap "Personal Details" again.
- Tap "Birthday."
- You'll see a button that says "Edit."
Now, listen. If you change your birthday here, Facebook might ask for ID or proof if you’ve changed it too many times. They are weirdly protective of this data. Instead of changing the date to a fake one (which can get your account flagged), look for the link that says "Who can see your birthday on Facebook."
This link will take you back to your profile "About" section. Again, find the audience selector. Set it to Only Me.
It’s a bit of a loop, isn't it? That’s intentional. The more friction there is to hiding your data, the more likely you are to leave it public.
Why "Only Me" is Better Than a Fake Birthday
You might think, "I'll just change my birthday to January 1, 1900."
Don't.
Facebook’s automated systems are looking for "inauthentic behavior." If you suddenly become 126 years old, the algorithm might flag your account for a manual review. If you can’t prove you’re a centenarian with a government ID, you could lose access to your account entirely.
By setting the visibility to "Only Me," you satisfy Facebook’s requirement to have the data for their "internal metrics" while keeping yourself safe from everyone else. It’s the cleanest way to handle the how to delete birthday from facebook dilemma without risking a ban.
The Notification Ghost
Even after you hide your birthday, there’s a weird glitch/feature where people might still see a notification if the change hasn't propagated through all of Facebook's global servers yet. Usually, it takes about 24 hours for the "Birthday Notification" to truly die off.
If your birthday is tomorrow and you hide it today, someone who already had their "Upcoming Birthdays" list loaded might still see you. Privacy is a proactive game, not a reactive one.
Beyond the Birthday: Other Data to Scrub
Once you've handled the birthday, you should probably look at your "Life Events."
If you have a life event that says "Born on [Date]," that is a separate post. Even if you hide your birthday in the "About" section, that old post from 2012 might still be floating around your timeline. You have to delete that post manually.
Search your own timeline for the word "born." If a post pops up, delete it.
Actionable Next Steps for Digital Privacy
Don't just stop at Facebook. If you’re serious about your privacy, you need to do a quick audit of your other "social" anchors.
- Check LinkedIn: People often forget that LinkedIn is a goldmine for identity thieves. You don't need your birthday there either.
- Instagram Settings: Since Meta owns both, check if your Facebook birthday is synced to Instagram. If you hide it on one, ensure the sync hasn't made it public on the other.
- Google Account: Go to "My Account" > "Personal Info" and check the birthday visibility there. Set it to "Private."
The goal isn't to be a ghost. The goal is to control who has the map to your life. Hiding your birthday is the easiest, most effective first step in taking back that control. Stop giving away your identity for the sake of a few "Happy Birthday" emojis from people you don't even like.
Log in, hit the "About" tab, and switch those settings to "Only Me" right now. It takes two minutes and saves you a lifetime of potential headaches.
Check your privacy shortcuts menu once a month. Facebook changes their UI constantly—what is hidden today might be "accidentally" nudged back to public after a major update. Stay vigilant.