Facebook users often strive to add new friends. These could include coworkers, former schoolmates or people they share common connections with.
However, sometimes the “Add Friend” button becomes greyed-out and cannot be clicked – usually due to privacy settings; but could also be caused by other reasons.
1. The other person has blocked you
If you are unable to send friend requests to certain people on Facebook, it could indicate they have blocked you – this is Facebook’s way of protecting your account from strangers who could upload harmful posts into your newsfeed. When someone blocks you, their Add Friends button turns grey; to confirm if someone has blocked you directly or not.
One quick and simple way to see if someone has blocked you is to search for them on Facebook. If their name does not show up when typing it into the search box, it likely indicates they have blocked access to their account. You could also check other social media platforms – perhaps Google+? – in case their profile still exists there as well.
If you can locate someone’s profile but the Add Friend button is grey, that indicates they have disabled your ability to send them a friend request. Most likely they changed their privacy settings to only permit friends of friends from sending requests – this can help protect against unwanted and spam requests; but it could also indicate they’ve grown disinterested in talking to you and it may be best to let it go and move on.
2. The other person has more than 5,000 friends
If the button to add someone on Facebook has turned grey, that indicates they have reached their limit of 5,000 friends – this is done to prevent people from adding too many strangers at once. While you can still message them and try to connect, your posts won’t show up until they accept your request and accept your posts on their news feed.
Facebook also allows individuals to customize their privacy settings in order to restrict who can send friend requests. If a profile has only allowed friend requests from “Friends of Friends,” you won’t be able to add them as friends.
You may notice that when viewing someone’s account from your mobile phone, their “Add Friend” button becomes grayed-out as many mobile phones have an upper limit for how many friend requests they can accept at one time.
If a grey “Add Friend” button appears on a user’s profile, it is often best to reach out through private messaging rather than risk having your request rejected. While this can be frustrating, remember that other people have control of their own social circles and may decide when or if they wish to connect with you; understanding this fact will help alleviate confusion and disappointment when trying to meet new people on Facebook.
3. The other person has deleted your friend request
If you sent someone a friend request and they haven’t responded yet, their “Add Friend” button may become grayed-out – this indicates they may have deleted your request without notifying Facebook first; typically you can find these requests under “Sent Friend Requests”.
Some individuals have settings which restrict who can send them friend requests; these could include only allowing friends of friends or mutual acquaintances. Unfortunately, if someone you wish to add has this setting enabled, you won’t be able to send them one until they change it themselves.
If someone has blocked you, you won’t be able to add them. This is typically done to protect a user’s privacy but can also be used as a way of filtering spammers or those who violate our terms of service.
Though it can be tempting to reach out to long-lost friends on social media, it’s wise to be wary when adding people you don’t recognize as potential contacts. Here are three signs they may not want to reconnect:
4. The other person has marked your friend request as spam
If the other person has reported your friend request as spam, you won’t be able to send another one until they unmark it. This feature helps prevent people from sending too many friend requests quickly – which could be considered spam by Facebook. If they haven’t unmarked yours within several days, however, then you will be able to send another request again.
You may encounter a grey Add Friend button when someone has set their privacy settings so as to limit who can add them as friends – such as having over 5,000 friends already or only accepting friend requests from mutual acquaintances.
Once you click the grey Add Friend button, you will be directed to the Friend Suggestions page which shows suggestions of people you may want to connect with on Facebook based on who regularly likes or comments on posts as well as who may already know each other through connections to others’ friends.
No matter your reason for reconnecting with an old classmate or reaching out to an acquaintance, it can be disconcerting when the Add Friend button on their profile becomes greyed-out. But it is good to know there are multiple causes behind this and ways of rectifying the issue.
