Did you ever had trouble logging into your Facebook account? Mhm... It's very frustrating when you find you can't be on Facebook for a while. May be it can extend to few days or more than a week. Yet, the fact remains true that it's for your own safety. Facebook is responsible and takes necessary precautions when your account is at a risk. You don't expect to find your Facebook account end up being compromised. Do you? I know you don't.
Account Recovery
If your Facebook account is locked or you can't get access to your account anymore, you will have to count on available account recovery options. Let's take a vote. What is your most preferable way of recovering an online account?
● Answering a security question
● Emailing a password reset link to your current or alternative email address
● Sending a verification code to your mobile number
Any account recovery options left unsaid? Let me know ;)
Currently, Facebook offers above mentioned recovery options to verify your identity and to recover your account safely. As you might already know, they are well known options to verify the real account holder and to prevent falling the account to wrong hands.
Unless Facebook relies on security question, you either need an active email address or mobile number to recover your account. Sometimes your Facebook app can help you though. Is your contact details are up-to-date? Else you will be helpless at account recovery. Have a look again and make sure your contact details are up-to-date.
Anyway, if you suspect your account had been compromised, never hesitate to secure your Facebook account.
What if you can't access your email address and get verification message to your mobile number? Hmm... Sounds like it can never happen. But, there are incidents which users couldn't gain access to their Facebook accounts as their verified contacts were outdated.
Have no access to your old email? Changed the mobile number few months ago? Don't worry. Now, Facebook won't keep you waiting, even if you have no access to your specified contacts. With your dear friends around, gaining access to your account made easy.
Facebook introduced a new account recovery option for everyone - Trusted Contacts. With Trusted Contacts feature on, you can turn 3 to 5 friends for help logging into your account.
I don't know if Facebook developer team was aware of the fact that an average person has 3 to 5 best friends.
If you can't log in to your account, then you can ask help from your trusted contacts. In this procedure, Facebook will send unique access codes to each of your trusted friends and you need to retrieve them from your friends to regain access to your Facebook account. You can learn about the whole procedure as you proceed with the steps below.
Currently, Facebook offers above mentioned recovery options to verify your identity and to recover your account safely. As you might already know, they are well known options to verify the real account holder and to prevent falling the account to wrong hands.
Unless Facebook relies on security question, you either need an active email address or mobile number to recover your account. Sometimes your Facebook app can help you though. Is your contact details are up-to-date? Else you will be helpless at account recovery. Have a look again and make sure your contact details are up-to-date.
Anyway, if you suspect your account had been compromised, never hesitate to secure your Facebook account.
Friends Can Help You
What if you can't access your email address and get verification message to your mobile number? Hmm... Sounds like it can never happen. But, there are incidents which users couldn't gain access to their Facebook accounts as their verified contacts were outdated.
Have no access to your old email? Changed the mobile number few months ago? Don't worry. Now, Facebook won't keep you waiting, even if you have no access to your specified contacts. With your dear friends around, gaining access to your account made easy.
Trusted Contacts
Facebook introduced a new account recovery option for everyone - Trusted Contacts. With Trusted Contacts feature on, you can turn 3 to 5 friends for help logging into your account.
I don't know if Facebook developer team was aware of the fact that an average person has 3 to 5 best friends.
If you can't log in to your account, then you can ask help from your trusted contacts. In this procedure, Facebook will send unique access codes to each of your trusted friends and you need to retrieve them from your friends to regain access to your Facebook account. You can learn about the whole procedure as you proceed with the steps below.
Keep in Mind
Before you setting it up, I believe you need to aware of few factors involved with Trusted Contacts feature.
● Trusted Eligible Contacts - When you choose Facebook friends as your trusted contacts, it's not only about how much you trust them but also the ability to reach. What's the point of choosing a friend as trusted contact if you can't reach him / her out of Facebook?
● Trust Matters (Again!) - Eventhough you made the list of your trusted contacts, still you need to verify their eligibility. Unfortunately, if your trusted contacts willing to team up against you, they can take over your account very easily. Yeah, with the help of trusted contacts feature. It's best advised to turn on Facebook login notifications to notify if someone else trying to login to your account.
● Trust Matters (Again!) - Eventhough you made the list of your trusted contacts, still you need to verify their eligibility. Unfortunately, if your trusted contacts willing to team up against you, they can take over your account very easily. Yeah, with the help of trusted contacts feature. It's best advised to turn on Facebook login notifications to notify if someone else trying to login to your account.
● Write Down Names - It's always a best practice to keep a note of your trusted contacts. I know, you may have the ability to memorize who they are. But when you recover your account using trusted contacts, you will need to enter their full name. Well, try recalling the full names of your trusted contacts if you don't wanna write them down.
● No Trusted Friends - Simply, don't use the Trusted Contacts feature and keep your contacts up-to-date. Or else, use Trusted Contacts feature and appoint friends who don't know each other.
It seems that this feature alone can pose a threat at some point. But it depends on you and the friends you select as trusted contacts. Final word of advice is, just-use-it-wisely.
Isn't it the time to have your trusted friends set up. Shall we?
Steps:
1. Log in to your Facebook account.
2. Go to Account Settings.
3. Navigate to Security tab.
4. Click on Trusted Contacts setting.
5. Click Choose Trusted Contacts link.
6. Now proceed to select your trusted contacts by clicking Choose Trusted Contacts button.
7. Choose at least 3 Facebook friends by typing in their names in the given text box and click Confirm button.
8. Finally, you will be asked to enter your current Facebook password to confirm changes and set your chosen contacts as your trusted contacts.
Notes:
* Once you confirm your trusted contacts, they will receive a notification claiming you have chosen them as your trusted contacts.
* You can edit or remove your trusted contacts anytime using Edit or Remove All links.
* Once you confirm your trusted contacts, they will receive a notification claiming you have chosen them as your trusted contacts.
* You can edit or remove your trusted contacts anytime using Edit or Remove All links.
More Information:
* Now you have learnt to set up your trusted contacts. Let me show how you can use your friends' help when you can't access your Facebook account.
How to Make Use of Trusted Contacts
i. Navigate to Find Your Account page and locate your Facebook account.
ii. Now you will be given available options to recover your Facebook account. Click No longer have access to these? link.
iii. Enter a new email address or phone number to send messages about recovering your account, and click Continue.
iv. Now, follow the on screen instructions and click Continue.
● Click Reveal My Trusted Contacts button and enter the full name of a friend you have chosen as your trusted contacts.
● Ask your friends to visit the URL in second step.
● Retrieve the access codes and enter in respective text fields.
i. Navigate to Find Your Account page and locate your Facebook account.
ii. Now you will be given available options to recover your Facebook account. Click No longer have access to these? link.
iii. Enter a new email address or phone number to send messages about recovering your account, and click Continue.
iv. Now, follow the on screen instructions and click Continue.
● Click Reveal My Trusted Contacts button and enter the full name of a friend you have chosen as your trusted contacts.
● Ask your friends to visit the URL in second step.
● Retrieve the access codes and enter in respective text fields.
v. Now you will be able to reset your password and gain access to your Facebook account.
Enjoy :-)
Hi Mayura,
Good to be back again :)
Ah...I wish I knew this information when I lost my Facebook account for a few days if you remember! Yes, my mobile number had changed and I hadn't updated the new one. So when they asked for my number and I couldn't give it to them, they just suspended my account!
I just wasn't able to do anything other than wait for their customer support to get back to me with details, and the whole process took a few days, but I'm glad it all got resolved at least.
One question about this post - does it only have to be trusted friend's as contacts, or you can have anyone you trust on Facebook in that list - like your relatives, or siblings etc? I guess unless you aren't sure, you cannot trust anyone, so have to be careful and follow your tips.
Thanks for sharing this wonderful and helpful tutorial with us. Have a nice weekend :)
This does seem like a good feature.
I am optimistic enough to trust others, and cynical enough to realize that a friend (or a loved one) is just another person who hasn't made their move yet (you know, enemy action).
Okay, I am just kidding ;)
(Or may be not..you know, that kind of thinking may help some people..like assassins or spies? Who knows!)
Oh, by the way, good to see that you are back, Mayura ;)
Anyways, I do have a question: I am trying to setup another FB account (same name) and it is asking me to verify my account (through cell phone, unfortunately, I am not getting any text from FB). I tried different phones and still not getting a code. Any ideas?
Is this all because of the same name?.
Hi Harleena,
Agree! Nice to be back and see you too dear :)
Ah... I remember that incident and had you in my mind when I write this post :) While searching for a solution, I saw there were many others who struggled with verification issues too. You know how it feels, eh? Gladly you could recover yours in few days. Unless, you might have had another profile created. Isn't it?
For those who can't access their accounts and have no way to verify, I believe this is a fantastic feature to recover theirs, besides the risk we may find.
As for your question, you can have any Facebook friend of yours appointed as trusted contacts Harleena :) It can be relatives or siblings too. Everyone in your friend list is eligible to be a trusted contact. It's just a matter of who you can trust and reach promptly :)
Thanks for coming over, and adding your thoughts and experience on this security feature Harleena :)
You have a wonderful week too dear!
Cheers...
Hi Jeevan,
Indeed! It can be very helpful when you can't access your email or mobile device to verify your identity. No need to reply on good old recovery options :)
Ha ha... Plan for the worst and work for the best. Isn't it? ;) I doubt we might have a friend who is looking forward to take over our accounts. Any assassins in yours?
Oops... The awkward moment when you can't receiver the text message! In that case you have to reach Facebook support Jeevan. Make sure you have added the current mobile number of yours and report your issue here ~ Report an Issue with Verifying Your Account.
Hope you can resolve it soon :)
Thanks for coming by and sharing your thoughts on this feature mate :)
Cheers...
Oh wow! I didn't know that Mayura.
Thanks for sharing this. Great information and appreciate it.
Gonna share this as I think it is going to help alot of my friends who are still in FB.
*p/s How have you been old mate?
Hey Reginald,
I was planned to publish this few weeks ago, but unfortunately I had to take my time :)
Glad you could learn about this new feature, but thought you might already knew :) I hope this will help your friends too Reginald.
I've been away for 2 months and it's really nice to be back mate :) There's a lot to catch up. Hope you have been doing great and saw you started making more videos too. Keep rockin' and see ya soon ;)
Thanks for stopping by and sharing your comment here mate :)
Cheers...
Hi Mayura - great to have you back on the grid!
I've never so far had problem accessing my FB account, but I can see this is a useful additional means of getting access to your account, should problems arise.
Many thanks for a very useful share :)
Indeed :D
Not sure..you never can completely trust these people ;)
You know, now that I consider it, it could be a good career option :P I mean, real time assassin (Sure, I do realize I would have to kill people...perhaps I could take up jobs only involving "evil" humans :P).
Thanks for the help, Mayura. Appreciate it!
Hi Mayura,
Thanks for the detailed post showing us how to set this up. I don't change my details that often, except my password, so I don't really need this.....
.....BUT you know those are the famous last words of people never seen again, so I WILL set this up for one of those just in case situations.
Especially as you've made it so easy for us to sort out, no excuse not to now Mayura ;)
A few weeks ago i had a bit of a scar when Facebook kept failing when I tried to reply to peoples comments, I thought it was just me but later found out it was everyone.... Of course no one was posting about it at the time because no one could..... We all kept failing, but having that situation, especially when people are waiting on your support, has to be addressed.
Thanks for making it easy mate :)
Barry
Mayura, great to see you back here :) I believe I had done this but not sure if it was trusted friends vs contacts, I will be checking it out to be sure. I remember when Harleena had that issue a while back. Very frustrating if you can't get back in to your own account. Great tutorial Mayura as usual. I hope all is well your way.
Hi Mayura; Nice to see you again! :-) You were missed. Thanks for this helpful info. Although I haven't had problems with my Facebook account so far, it certainly is good to know these options. Cheers!
Hi Sue,
Nice to see you back too dear ;) You know, I was on and off.
If you never had any problem logging in, then you might wanna have this set up Sue ;) I never did either, but with Harleena's experience I thought "What if I can't log in to my Facebook profile ever again?".
I think it's best to take all the preventative actions while we can. Don't you think? :)
Thanks for coming over and adding up your thoughts on this security feature Sue :)
Cheers...
Hi Barry,
Ha ha... You got me on this one mate :)
Of course, you can see the potential of avoiding risk by using this security feature with the help of trusted friends. We can never bet on online security. Isn't it? So, it's better to take action while we can.
I feel lucky when I find some folks claiming that they can't login to their accounts even they hadn't violate any rules Barry. You know, Facebook support system is kinda slow and I'd say horrible too. Hence, I'm glad they came up with this kind of feature. Else, imagine the feeling of not being able to access your profile anymore ;)
Oops... Is that so? As you know, I wasn't around much lately and couldn't experience such an issue Barry. Glad it's not happening anymore. Ugh... Facebook needs to address some problems existed for a long time.
Thanks for dropping by, and sharing your thoughts and experiences relates to Facebook Barry :)
Cheers...
Hi Debbie,
Indeed! I was missing my friends and t's really nice to be back on the grid dear :)
Well, it's a helpful security feature you might wanna look into Debbie. You know, as bloggers even we manage Facebook page under our account, and what if we no longer able to log in? May be we have to start over and that's not something we would like to experience.
If you are comfortable with this security feature, it's best to set up and have another layer of security added to your account dear :)
Thanks for stopping by and sharing your thoughts on this topic Debbie :)
Cheers...
Hi Mayura,
First I must say it is great to be back!
Wow...I remember when Harleena lost her Facebook account and some of my other friends. This would have come in handy for all of them.
Reading through this post, I already made a list (on paper...really) of the "trusted friends" I am going to use.
Facebook has been doing funny things lately and it would be so time consuming to skip a beat there.
As usual, you have given me the greatest information. Yes it's bookmarked and I will apply this. Actually I have a few of your posts bookmarked and I named it Mayura's School :) Well, that's because you are a great teacher!
-Donna
We can never trust everyone Jeevan ;) However I just keep contact with most trusted friends on Facebook. So I'm safe this end :D
lol :D Real-time assassin? Sounds like more fun than real-life assassins ;)
You're welcome mate :) Hope you can get it resolved!
Cheers...
Hey Donna,
Of course dear :) It's really nice to be back and be amongst loving friends.
You have a very good memory ;) Gosh... I can't imaging happening that for any blogger as we usually depends on social media in this process. Better safe than sorry, eh? :)
Can I take a look? Just wanna see if I made your list :D lol...
That's very kind of you to mention that dear :) I just hope it will keep Facebook users away from troubles and they won't have to locked out of their accounts at all. However, with this security feature set up, no one have to bother about it at all :)
Thanks for coming by and contributing your thoughts on this new feature Donna :)
Cheers...
I meant real life ;) Real time sounds cool, though.
I haven't got a reply yet. I am going to try again soon.
Hi Mayura,
Glad to see you again! :) Actually I never heard about this option. And I bet most of us don't know too. I think this is a good option definitely. As always thanks a lot for giving really helpful stuff to us. :) I'll use this option ASAP. ;) Good luck!
Ha ha... Alright Jeevan! :)
No wonder, 'cause Facebook support is kinda horrible. Imagine being locked out and waiting for support ;)
Cheers...
Hi Chathu,
You're welcome and nice to see you here too dear :)
Ah... I hope you will set this security feature for your account then :) It seems not a big deal, but you never know when Facebook may lock yourself out. Sometimes it's weird!
Thanks for dropping by and sharing your thoughts on this feature Chathu :)
Cheers...
I remember when you were having those difficulties, Harleena. Mayura's article is very useful for a situation such as yours!
Hi Barry, I will give you an example of why you might want to set this up. I logged onto Facebook at a public Wi-Fi (stupid, I know). Sure enough, my account got hacked. Facebook wouldn't let me log back in until I got back to my home computer. If I had been traveling, I would have been in trouble. Luckily the hacker didn't get access to my Facebook account, but I couldn't get access to my account either.
This option sounds like a great one that could solve this problem.
Hi Mayura, This is a great feature for Facebook that I didn't know about. I'm going to activate it immediately.
You make an excellent point about using not only trusted friends but accessible friends too. I trust a lot of people. After all, if you give admin rights to someone on your blog you REALLY have to trust them. ;-)
But I may not have daily contact with that person so listing them as a Trusted Contact doesn't make any sense.
I have two Facebook accounts so I can't use a text message to verify one of those accounts. I only have one cell phone number and Facebook won't allow you to use one cell phone number on two accounts.
As I explained in my response to Barry's comment, I would have been able to use this recently when I was temporarily locked out of my Facebook account.
Thanks so much for letting us know about this new feature, Mayura!
Hey Mayura,
Man, I've missed you bud... So glad you're back..
I was just fixing to say that I know poor Harleena got locked out of her account for awhile and couldn't do anything but wait for them to respond.
I'm going to have to give this some thought. Although I do have many friends on Facebook that I would trust with this, the one I trust the most doesn't have a Facebook account. I've also never been locked out of my account or have had it hacked so I know this is a great backup plan though. We all need that.
Great share here Mayura so thank you so much. So good to see you and I hope you're had a good week. Take care and enjoy your weekend now.
~Adrienne
Absolutely Carolyn! When I read through this post, it seemed as if Mayura had written it keeping me in mind :)
Something I must be..again bookmarked to take care of this weekend :)
Indeed Harleena, I had it in mind :)
Excellent Carolyn! It never crossed my mind at all and it's wonderful how helpful comments can be. Thank you for sharing your experience on this matter dear :)
May be, Barry needed more to be convinced enough :D lol...
BTW if you believe your account is hacked, Facebook offers another alternative to secure your account too :)
Hey Adrienne,
It's really nice to see you too dear :) I missed you and glad to be back on the grid again.
Sounds like Harleena's incident is the one we can relate very much. It would have cost you a great deal if you had to through that unfortunate incident. Isn't it? I'm even afraid to think about it.
I think we are safer with Trusted Contacts set up Adrienne :) You know, we never know when something can go wrong. It's not us, but even if someone trying to hack your account, Facebook might lock you out to verify true identity again. In such a scenario, this feature will come in handy to retrieve access very quickly :)
Now, as you know about this feature, I hope you will count on it too dear :)
Indeed, it's nice to see you again and have you here Adrienne :) Thank you for coming by and adding your thoughts on this security feature dear.
You have a lovely weekend and take care too Adrienne :)
Cheers...
Hi Mayura,
It's good to see you back on your blog. I know I came a while back a couple of times but there were no new post.
I didn't know about trusted contacts option, but it's good to know. I haven't been logged out of Facebook in a while but it has happened in the past.
Again, thanks for this great tutorial.
Hi Sylviane,
Indeed, it's nice to be back on blogging dear! Ah... I've posted this very recently and I know you have been here as you mentioned me not blogging lately :)
Trusted Contacts is a precaution Sylviane :) As you have experienced being locked out, you won't have to worry about it again with this feature set up. It's very simple and easy too :)
Thanks for coming by and adding your thoughts on this feature Sylviane :)
Cheers...
Mayura -
This is very timely! I am locked out of my own facebook for now. I have been waiting to see how to log back in. It looks like Harleena did this successfully also.
Once I am up and going again, it is surely time to have the trusted friends set up so that I will not have to wait so long.
I was worried about it, but now with your advice I am sure that it will all be resolved.
What a great friend you are to social networkers! Just when I need something, I can log on to your site and find the answer immediately. Haha! You definitely are in touch with what is happening in social networking.
I fee very lucky today. Thanks!
Karen:)
Hi Mayura,
Like many others have said it is great to see you back.
I have been locked out of Facebook once and it is horrible. Then a few weeks ago I could not see my feed for several days. I could log in but not see anything. I then realized how addicted I am!
I am going to implement this for sure and thank for for such a detailed tutorial. You do these so well.
Have a great week.
Sue
Hi Mayura,
A very good friend of mine recently lost his Facebook account to some fraudsters, and you know what, he has close to about 1,213 friends. He tried in vain to get it back, but could not.
This tips you have shared is a blessing to the community, i will sure implement the guidelines to save my Facebook contacts.
Hi Mate,
Sorry I didn't notice your comment sooner, 'cause it was being held at comment moderation queue.
Unfortunately, this trick only works with the standard comment form in Blogger mate. It doesn't work with Google+ comment form.
I'll update the post if I find a workaround, but right now you gotta go with it :)
Cheers...
Alright :\
Hi Karen,
Oops... I'm sorry about that dear. I wish if you could have Trusted Contacts set up before that. Then, it would be much easier to recover and no long waits involved :)
Yeah, Harleena had to through it, but recovered successfully in few days of period. I hope yours will be unlocked very soon too. It did already? :) Or still in the loop?
As you know how it goes, I have no doubt that you will set this up once you get back on yours, Karen :)
How kind of you! :) No problem at all dear. I thought this feature would be a life saver for Facebook users and only knew Harleena's incident of being locked out. Now I feel glad for coming up with this topic as it can help others :)
Let me know if you are still being stuck with getting in to your Facebook account, Karen. We might be able to try out other alternatives :)
Thanks for coming by, and sharing your thoughts and experiences on Facebook Karen :)
Cheers...
Hi Sue,
It's nice to see all the blogging friends back including you too dear :) I've been missing the party, eh?
Gosh... You too? I only knew about Harleena, but then Karen and now you too. I'm sorry about what you have been through, but it's for your own safety Sue :) Facebook might have noticed some kind of suspicious activity involved with your account. Anyway, glad now yours up :)
Ha ha... How addicted are we? :) I'm sure this feature will be very helpful when you locked out again Sue, but don't wish to happen it again. Just be safe and ready :)
Thanks for stopping by, and adding your thoughts and experience of being locked out Sue :)
You have a wonderful week too dear!
Cheers...
Hi James,
Oops... Lost with 1, 213 friends in it? That's terrible and we never know the feeling until we lose ours! I hope he will be able to recover it eventually mate :) Else, I can't praise the Facebook.
Indeed, Trusted Contacts is a relief for Facebook users as Facebook is lack of proper support system, James. You will be much safer with this security feature set up and no longer have to worry about being locked out for so long :)
Thanks for coming by, and contributing your thoughts and your friend's experience James :)
Cheers...
I got locked out my account help plz I only now finding out bout the friends thing
Hi Meya,
Sorry to hear that! What happens when you try logging into your Facebook account now? Asking for a verification or security question?