The 8 Worst Facebook Features (And How to Fix Them)

Facebook, for better or for worse, is a part of everyday life for many of us. While this is great for staying connected, some features make the experience more frustrating than it needs to be. But there’s good news—you can regain some control over your experience. Here’s a look at some of Facebook’s worst features and how you can fix them to improve your experience.

1 Stunning announcement

Facebook likes to keep you updated on everything—new friend requests, comments on posts, birthdays, and even events happening miles away that you’re not interested in. Staying informed is nice, but the barrage of notifications can quickly get out of hand.

Fortunately, you can manage your Facebook notifications in your settings. Here you can disable unnecessary notifications like event reminders or video uploads so you only get pings for things that are important to you.

2 A cluttered news feed with irrelevant posts

A messy feed is one of the most annoying parts of using Facebook. You log in expecting to see updates from your close friends, but instead it’s a jumble of (supposedly viral) posts from accounts and pages you don’t even follow.

To regain some control, consider using features that allow you to customize the feed. You can mute or hide posts from specific accounts and pages that don’t add value to your experience.

If you only want to see content from your friends, check out the Feeds feature. Simply tap on Menu hamburger icon, select it Resourcesand select Friends table This will take you to a feed full of content only from your friends.

3 Tagging posts without your consent

Being tagged in a post or photo without your consent may feel like an invasion of privacy. You might find yourself staring at a picture on your timeline that you’d rather keep out of the spotlight, or worse, a post you’d rather not be associated with at all. It’s frustrating to see someone else’s content become part of your profile without your say.

To limit this, go to your settings and adjust your tagging options. Go to Settings & Privacy > Settings > Profile & Tagging. Here you can enable a feature that lets you review posts you’re tagged in before they appear on your profile. This simple tweak will help you stay in control of what’s shared with your friends, allowing you to keep unwanted or embarrassing content out of your timeline.

4 News requests

It can be disturbing when strangers or distant acquaintances send you unsolicited messages. Whether it’s a friend trying to strike up a conversation or a spam account, your inbox can quickly fill up with junk.

You can take steps to limit these interruptions. The best practice is to be careful when accepting friend requests from strangers. If you don’t know the person, don’t add them.

To stop message requests, click on your profile icon and select Settings & Privacy > Settings. On the tab on the left, select the option for How people can find and contact you. Scroll down and select Do not accept requests for the options below How you get news requests.

5 Autoplay videos that eat up data

Autoplay videos are one of the most irritating features on social media platforms. You’re casually scrolling through a channel when a video suddenly starts playing – often with sound – without tapping on it. Not only is it intrusive, but it can also bite into your data, especially if you’re not connected to Wi-Fi.

Fortunately, Facebook offers a way to turn this feature off. To do so, go to settings, go to Settings and privacythen Mediaand choose to either never auto-play videos or have them play only when connected to Wi-Fi. This simple change can save both your data and your patience, making your scrolling a lot smoother.

6 “People You May Know” Suggestions.

The “People You May Know” feature seems useful in theory, but in practice it often just suggests random people – many of whom you have no interest in connecting with. Even worse, it can indicate people you’d rather avoid.

Unfortunately, there is no permanent way to completely disable this feature. However, you can hide suggestions from people you may know on Facebook as soon as they appear. By consistently hiding, Facebook will eventually reduce the frequency of these suggestions. While it’s not a perfect fix, it helps minimize the number of unwanted connections you’re exposed to.

7 Threads Post suggestions

As if the crowded feed wasn’t enough, Threads posts have now made their way to social media platforms like Facebook. These posts, often from people you don’t follow or contain content you’re not interested in, can further separate your experience from the people and sites you care about. Instead of seeing updates from your circle, you’ll be greeted with random posts from thread users.

The most effective way to avoid this is to not create a Threads account, or if you have one, consider deleting it. If this is not possible, you can hide individual posts as they appear. Click the three dots next to any suggested post and select Hide. Over time, Facebook should start showing fewer Threads posts in your feed.

8 Reel designs

Following in Instagram’s footsteps, Facebook has integrated Reels into its platform and is aggressively pushing these short video posts into your feed. While some people like the quick fun, others find the constant stream of reels annoying, especially when they come from random or irrelevant accounts.

Unfortunately, there is no way to turn off the reels completely. However, as with thread posts, you can hide them individually. When the Reels tab appears, click on three dots and select Hide. This should reduce the number of reels in your feed over time.

The evolution of social media has brought more frustrations, from over-the-top notifications to irrelevant content in your feed. While some features can’t be completely disabled, tweaking your settings—whether it’s managing notifications or hiding unwanted posts—will help you filter out the noise and get a better experience.