How to prevent getting locked out of your Facebook account

On a regular basis people need help getting back into their Facebook accounts because they have somehow gotten locked out of them.

Sometimes simply resetting their password and logging back in with no problems, works but most times a simple password reset doesn’t work for them. And sadly, in situations like this Facebook’s “Account Recovery” tools can be  close to useless.

Most forgotten passwords are the result of allowing the web browser to store their passwords and log them in automatically, causing the account owner to forget the password over time. If a browser’s stored password fails for some reason (it probably will eventually), the user will be locked out of his/her account until he/she successfully resets the password.

Unfortunately, it’s sometimes impossible to reset a forgotten password on Facebook due to the way the site’s security measures are set up. This is one of the reasons why we recommend that you never let your browser store your passwords. If you always have to type in your password in order to log in you’ll likely never forget it!

Another way people get locked out of their Facebook accounts is having a hacker break into them and change the passwords. If the hacker changes only the password and nothing else, a simple password reset will quickly get you back into a hacked account.

The problem is, most hackers don’t just change the password. They typically also change the email address and phone number that’s registered with the account and remove your trusted contacts. The result is the real account owner is locked out of their account forever.

Once you find yourself in a never-ending loop of trying to reset your password and having it fail, the only realistic way out is to abandon your account and open a new one. And that is obviously not a good thing.

Luckily, there are several things you can do right now to ensure that you will never get locked out of your own Facebook account in the future:

1. Choose a password that’s very secure, yet extremely difficult to guess. we have a blog that gives tips on choosing the right blog and how to do it

2. Don’t let your browser store your password and log you into your account automatically, for more reasons on this you can read our blog on it!

3. Enable 2 factor authentication to prevent others from logging into it without your permission.

Once you have Two-Factor Authentication enabled a hacker would need to have physical access to your mobile phone (which he most likely won’t have) in order to log in to your account, even if he knows the password.

4. Disable any apps and games that you never use.

5. Designate five of your most trusted Facebook friends as your Trusted Contacts. Those trusted friends will then be able to help you get back into your account if you ever find yourself locked out of it.

6. If you ever change your email address or phone number make sure you change them in your Facebook account immediately. You’ll need access to the email address or phone number that’s registered with your Facebook account if you ever need to reset your password.

That’s all there is to it. Once you’ve followed the steps listed above you’ll be able to rest assured that you’ll never get locked out of your own Facebook account!