What happens if you change your email address that you use to sign in to Facebook? Do you have to hold on to the old one just to continue signing in to your Facebook account? Fortunately, that’s not the case, as you can change your primary Facebook email address at anytime. This tutorial shows you how to do it on desktop and mobile.
Tip: Facebook not working for you? Try our list of fixes and go back to browsing the social app.
How to Change Facebook Email on PC
Unless you’ve instructed your browser to save your credentials, you’ll need your email address every time you want to log in to Facebook. This is the primary address associated with your Facebook account that you may wish to change at some point.
Sometimes you just want to get rid of an old email address and move all of your correspondence to a new one. If that’s the case, follow the steps below to make the transition.
- Open a browser on your PC and sign in to your Facebook account.
- Click on your profile picture in the upper-right corner of the display.
- Go to “Settings” on the left side of the display.
- This will open the “General Account Settings” page. Click on the “Edit” button next to “Contact.”
- Click on the “Add email address” option.
- Add your new email in the “Add Another Email” pop-up window.
- You will be prompted to type in your password again.
- Facebook will also send an email with a code to the specified address. Use the code to confirm your new email.
- Once you’ve added the new email, you’ll need to change its status to primary. This will tell Facebook that you want to use this email to log in to your account from now on. In “General Account Settings” click on the three dots next to the secondary email and select “Make Primary.” Alternatively, you can “Delete” an email from the same menu.
- It may take a few seconds for the changes to take effect, so don’t worry if you can’t instantaneously see your new primary email address. You’ll need to wait it out or refresh Facebook.
Tip: if you’d like to change your Facebook privacy settings, go to “Settings -> Privacy -> Manage your profile -> Contact and basic info.”
How to Change Your Facebook Email on Mobile
You can change the email associated with your account from the Facebook app (Android | iOS) as well. Follow the instructions below.
- Open Facebook on your mobile device.
- Tap on your profile image in the upper-right corner.
- Swipe all the way to the bottom and tap “Settings & Privacy -> Settings.”
- Under the “Account” section at the top, select “Personal information.”
- Tap on “Contact info.”
- You’ll be taken to a page where all of your associated email addresses are listed. Tap on the “Add email address” button underneath.
- Enter your new email.
- Facebook will send an email to that address with a code. Use that code to confirm your email.
- Change the email address’s status to “Primary.” On the “Manage contact info” page, select the new email that you added.
- Tap on the “Make Primary” button. It may take a few seconds for the changes to go into effect.
- Unlike on PC, you can also tweak your privacy settings for your email addresses via the “Manage Contact Info.” Keep in mind that unless you set it to “Only Me,” your email will be visible on your profile in the “About” section of your profile.
Good to know: don’t want to sign up with the social network? You can view some Facebook content without an account.
How to Fix It If You Used the Wrong Email Address When Signing Up
It can happen: you wanted to create a new Facebook account but realized only after you hit the “Sign Up” button that you used the wrong email. What can you do? Follow the steps below to remedy the situation.
- Sign in to your Facebook account via this link in your browser on PC or mobile.
- Select “Update Contact Info.”
- Enter the email (or mobile number) address that you want to use as your primary address.
- Facebook will send a confirmation email to this address. Once you confirm, Facebook will replace the incorrect email address with the new one.
Tip: aiming for a more private experience on Facebook? Learn how to hide your friends list on the app.
Frequently Asked Questions
How can I remove my primary email address from Facebook?
While an email address is set as primary, you can’t remove it from Facebook. You’ll need to add another email and set it to primary before the original address can be deleted.
Can I change an existing email address?
Facebook won’t let you “edit” email addresses. If you’ve misspelled an address or simply realized you didn’t mean to add a certain email, your only option is to remove it from Facebook, then add a new one.
How can I change my primary email on Facebook if I can’t remember my email password?
Facebook will send you a verification email once you’ve added a new address. You’ll need to confirm your account if you want to change the status of this new email to primary. But before attempting anything, try to access the email address via PC or mobile. You may get lucky and be logged in still from a previous instance.
If not, you’ll need to reset or recover your password. Options for this differ depending on email provider (Gmail, Outlook, etc.). Use the “Forgot password” option and follow the steps indicated to retrieve or set a new password for your account. If you have a phone number or a recovery email linked to that account, it shouldn’t be too hard to do so.
Can someone find me on Facebook based on my email address?
If the privacy settings of your primary email address on Facebook are set to “Public,” then people will be able to find you on the social network by using that address via search. If you don’t want that to happen, you can opt out by going to “Settings -> Privacy -> How people find and contact you.” When you see the “Who can look you up using the email address you provided” option, tap “Edit” and change the visibility to “Only Me” to ensure no one can find you using your email. You will be able to do this only from PC and not the mobile app.
Image credit: Pexels. All screenshots by Alexandra Arici.
