Remove Friends on Facebook Fast, All at Once or One at a Time

To unfriend someone on Facebook, open their profile, click or tap Friends at the top, pick Unfriend and confirm. They aren't notified, and you drop off their friends list at the same moment they drop off yours. Facebook only does this one person at a time, so if you're clearing out dozens or hundreds of people, Redact can unfriend them in bulk and keep anyone you name.

Manual Slow Option 1: Unfriend someone on a computer

There are two routes on facebook.com. The profile route is quickest for one person, and the friends list is better when you're working through several.

From their profile

1. 1

   Find the person

   Type their name into the search bar at the top of Facebook and open their profile from the results.

   
2. 2

   Click Friends, then Unfriend

   Click the Friends button near the top of their profile, pick Unfriend from the menu, then click Confirm.

   

From your friends list

Open your All friends page. Type the person's name into Search friends, click the three dots next to them and pick Unfriend.

Manual Slowest Option 2: Unfriend someone in the Facebook app

The app works the same way on iPhone and Android. Search for the person, open their profile, tap Friends at the top, then tap Unfriend and confirm.

Doing this by hand is fine for a handful of people. I wouldn't try it for a list built up over ten or fifteen years, where every person is another search, another profile and another confirm.

Automated Fast Option 3: Remove every Facebook friend at once with Redact

Redact is a desktop app for Windows, macOS and Linux that unfriends people from your own computer. You can clear the whole list, or only the names you pick, and a keep list protects anyone you want to stay friends with. Unfriending in bulk is a Premium feature.

1. 1

   Download Redact and create an account

   Download Redact and set up an account with your email or an alias. There's no password. You sign in with a one-time code we send to your inbox.

2. 2

   Connect Facebook

   In Redact, click Add account and choose Facebook, then click Connect Facebook and log in to your profile. Your login goes straight from your device to Facebook. We never see it, and every unfriend happens between your computer and Facebook's servers.

   
3. 3

   Click Advanced

   Facebook opens on the Easy form, which covers posts, comments, likes, tags and searches. Friends aren't on it. Click Advanced in the top right.

   
4. 4

   Open the Friends tab

   Click Friends in the row of tabs, between Tags and Searches.

   
5. 5

   Pick who goes and who stays

   Type a friend's full name under Friend names to delete and click Add. Redact matches the words you type against your friends' names, so "Alex" on its own catches every friend called Alex, and "John Smith" also catches John Smith Jr. Names you add under Friend names to preserve are matched the same way and kept no matter what.

   Before anyone is removed, run Preview Mode or Review & Delete to see exactly who your names catch.

   

Pick how it runs

Preview Mode

A dry run. It lists every friend who matches without removing anyone. I'd always start here.

Deletion Mode

Unfriends everyone who matches in one run. There's no undo, so check your keep list first.

Review & Delete

Shows you the matches so you pick exactly who goes. Slower, but nobody leaves without your say.

Schedule Deletion

Repeats the run on a timer, so new connections that match your names get cleared over time.