How to Tell a Deactivated Vs. an Unfriended on Facebook

By Micah McDunnigan

Mutual friends can let you know if a friend blocked you.
i Jupiterimages/Creatas/Getty Images

If you have tons of Facebook friends, you may not notice when one of them falls off your friends list. It could be that he unfriended you; it could be that he deactivated his account, or he may have blocked you. While Facebook keeps you from discovering certain private details of the state of other users' accounts, you can tell whether someone unfriended you, deactivated his account or blocked you. You can do this by checking to see if his account is visible to you and mutual friends.

Step 1

Sign in to your Facebook account.

Step 2

Type the name of the person you want to investigate in the top search bar and then click the magnifying glass on the right side of the text field.

Step 3

Click the "People" search filter on the left side of the next page. If you don't use the people search filter, your search results could be obscured by the inclusion of Facebook pages, groups and apps.

Step 4

Look for the person among the results. If you see him, then he unfriended you. If you don't see him, then his account has become inaccessible to you, either because he deactivated his account or because he blocked your account.

Step 5

Click the "Facebook" logo in the upper left corner of the screen if you didn't see the person among the search results to return to your news feed. Scroll down the page and look for stories involving the person, such as tags in photos or notes, from mutual friends. If you see such a story, then the individual has blocked you and still has an active account.

Step 6

Consult with mutual Facebook friends if you can't find any stories in your news feed about the person and ask if they can still see him on Facebook. If your mutual friends can still see the person, he blocked you and still has an active account. If they cannot, then the person likely deactivated his account.

×