Updated: How to Unhide a Facebook Application or Page
Last summer I wrote an article about how to add a Facebook application to your news stream that you had previously removed or “hidden”.
Well, since the last Facebook design change that method has become obsolete, as someone pointed out in the comments.
So, here is the new way to unhide a hidden application or page.
You can still use the Edit Options link at the bottom of the Home or News Stream page to add friends that you have hidden. (But I’m sure you’ve never done that ;-) But this no longer works for Pages and Applications.
After the commentator told me it didn’t work anymore, it took some time for me to figure out how to do it – being as Facebook is SO intuitive.
- Go to Home or News Stream page
- Switch to News Feed if you are using the Live Feed. (Does anyone not use the live feed?)
- Go to Hide something. Remember you have to hover on the right side of an item so the hidden “Hide” button appears. It doesn’t matter who or what you select to hide because you will immediately be able to add it back.
- The area will be yellow and there will be an Undo button and and Edit Options link. Click on the Edit Options link.
- You will get a box with three areas of hidden information: Friends, Pages and Applications. Make sure you unhide whatever it was you hid in order to get this box.
- And remember this won’t work if you are using the Live News Feed. Switch to the regular or boring News Stream.
- Click on “Add to News Feed” for each item you want to see again and click the Close button.
Sometimes using Facebook is like a really hard treasure hunt that has a very disappointing prize.
photo credit: Rob Ireton
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November 23, 2009 at 2:51 pm
Useful, as usual. Thanks. :)
vered | blogger for hire´s last blog ..Genetic Testing for Children: Would You Do It?
November 23, 2009 at 8:30 pm
Hi Vered – Thanks :-)
December 5, 2009 at 7:48 pm
Thank you so much.
December 6, 2009 at 7:04 am
You’re welcome :)
January 5, 2010 at 10:41 am
Thanks so much!!
January 14, 2010 at 4:23 pm
the “friends” “pages” or “application” links didn’t show up on mine…
January 14, 2010 at 6:25 pm
Hi – I’ve heard other people say this. I would try clearing your browser cache and trying in a different web browser. If you are following the instructions, then the only other thing you can do is contact facebook for support.
January 31, 2010 at 10:42 pm
There is an edit options button on the right side at the bottom of the home page at the end of the posts This seems much easier then your way
February 1, 2010 at 7:38 am
Hi Susan – That works in the News Stream – not the live one. Facebook keeps changing the way this works. When I wrote this article the Edit Options link wasn’t working.
Thanks.
February 12, 2010 at 12:40 pm
I hid mafia wars from my news feed because that was all there seemed to be on there. i tried what you have above to bring it back but it not working. How do i get that “hidden from newsfeed” box up you show above
February 12, 2010 at 12:42 pm
Hi Jon – I need to update these articles yet again because Facebook has moved the setting back to where it was originally.
Try the instructions here
http://www.kimwoodbridge.com/how-to-add-a-facebook-application-to-your-news-stream-that-you-previously-removed/
March 9, 2010 at 9:11 am
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This was DRIVING me CRAZY!
March 25, 2010 at 9:57 pm
well i clicked edit options and only 1 box shows where i can type someones name in to hide them but it doesn’t show mw anywhere or the box as you have shown.
March 26, 2010 at 8:01 am
Switch to Top News from Most Recent ( links at the top of the Home Page) and then when you select Edit Options you should see the box where you can unhide people and applications.
April 15, 2010 at 3:48 pm
As Mafia Wars says “You have been promoted to my new Facebook guru”
Love ya
April 15, 2010 at 7:54 pm
Thanks :-)
November 23, 2009 at 4:32 pm
omqqq . thnxx soo muchh . BIGGG HELPP =]
November 23, 2009 at 8:30 pm
Hi Vanessa – Glad it helped – this got moved around with the last updates and finding it wasn’t easy.
November 23, 2009 at 9:41 pm
I will have to come back to this good post when on my own computer – I need to learn more about facebook and apps. My friend was showing me how to add and she added the Democratic fund raising group to my feed. Although I read their newsletter, I do not want that or the Republican one on my facebook page….now I do not know how to delete it…but I am not home and working on a public computer for just a little while.
I also wanted to let you know the UNICEF book is up on site as of today…famous for computer assistance and now for Cheddar and Broccoli Loaf…Such great talent..
November 24, 2009 at 10:18 am
Hi Patricia – If you go to Applications > Edit Applications at the bottom of the Facebook page you can remove applications completely rather than just hide them. Facebook can be a pain to navigate.
I saw your post and was at your site but haven’t gotten a chance to take a look at it yet. Thanks!
November 26, 2009 at 5:15 pm
Should come in very handy soon (I deleted my account there too) ;)
Dennis Edell´s last blog ..Are You Thankful For Your Blogging Community?
November 26, 2009 at 5:32 pm
Hi Dennis – Sounds like you did a big online purge.
November 26, 2009 at 5:57 pm
With more to come….
Dennis Edell´s last blog ..Are You Thankful For Your Blogging Community?
December 11, 2009 at 2:35 pm
Thanks! You are so correct in your statement about the oh-so-intuitive Facebook logic!
December 11, 2009 at 2:45 pm
Hi Karen Lynn – Yes! And then once we get the hang of it, they change the way it works ;-)
December 25, 2009 at 7:47 pm
THANK YOU! I have been trying to figure this out forever
December 26, 2009 at 1:40 pm
Hi Michelle – Great! I’m glad it helped.
December 29, 2009 at 1:20 am
Where am I going wrong? I see nothing under Number 4 in your instructions and when I hover over the Hide button I see no yellow area with an Edit Options button!
December 29, 2009 at 7:46 am
Hi Tooki – I just fixed the list or instructions – it wasn’t displaying properly.
But that part might not be clear – you have to hover in that area so the Hide button appears but in this instance you have to click on it to proceed.
December 29, 2009 at 6:52 pm
Thanks for the prompt reply! I did get that I had to click the Hide button, but when I do I only see a grey box with a Hide (whatever) button and a Cancel button, rather than Edit Options. I am definitely on News Feed not Live Feed. Is there something else in my Settings somewhere, maybe?
December 29, 2009 at 7:38 pm
Hi Tookie – Oh goodness. Facebook has changed it again! My posts can’t keep up with them. On the News Stream page (not Live) scroll down to the bottom. On the right will be a link that says Edit Options – you should be able to locate it there – there are two sections – Friends and Applications.
December 29, 2009 at 9:36 pm
Hooray! Thank you thank you thank you! You are so right about Facebook being very unintuitive! (Damn it, I’m a computer tutor!! LOL!)
December 29, 2009 at 10:17 pm
Hi Tookie – Not only is it unintuitive but they keep moving the settings around.
January 2, 2010 at 1:44 pm
Thank you!!! This is such a FIND, you are the best!
January 3, 2010 at 7:51 am
Hi Debby – I’m glad it helped – Facebook settings can be hard to find.
January 4, 2010 at 1:50 pm
I couldn’t crack this! I could not switch to News Feed mode from Live Feed mode. I guess this thing doesn’t work in Live mode. I could manage to reach till the Edit Options link, but could not see the different categories as shown in the picture and hence couldn’t find Cafe World :(
Please help!
January 4, 2010 at 2:50 pm
Hi Deepak – Facebook has once again moved the settings. You do need to be in the regular News feed – it doesn’t work with the Live feed. Then scroll to the bottom of the page and on the right will be a link that says Edit Options. Click on that and you should be able to add the application back to your news stream.
January 5, 2010 at 8:15 pm
Quicker way is to switch to Status Updates. When you go to Edit Settings from there, that screen above pops up without having to delete something first. I used your way today — thanks much! Then someone told me about this. Wanted to return the favor.
January 5, 2010 at 8:43 pm
Hi Brenda – Thanks! That is much faster :-)
January 9, 2010 at 6:53 am
When I try either of those methods, unhiding a friend is the only option available to me. I can’t come up with a list of hidden applications no matter what I do. Any advice? I’m wondering if I have some setting ticked incorrectly somwhere.
January 5, 2010 at 11:38 am
thank u very much! culdnt crack dis on my own!!!.. super thank u!! v(^_^)v
January 5, 2010 at 7:02 pm
Hi Niel – I’m glad it helped.
January 8, 2010 at 7:16 am
AWESOMEEE Ive been trying 2 figure this out for ever! THANKS!!!
January 8, 2010 at 8:56 am
Hi Dee – Thanks for stopping by. I’m glad it helped :-)
January 9, 2010 at 12:49 pm
Hi Gretchen – This might be a stupid question but have you actually hidden any applications?
January 9, 2010 at 5:14 pm
Lol…yes, I have! I’ve hidden Mafia Wars from myself and I so regret it now. Any help would be so appreciative!
January 9, 2010 at 5:55 pm
Hi Gretchen,
Ok. I know you’ve done this but try again :-)
1. Switch to News Feed – make sure it isn’t the Live Feed.
2. Scroll to bottom of the page and there is a link on the right that says Edit Options.
3. The window that opens should have at least two tabs – Friends and Applications. By default it will be on the list of hidden friends. Click on the application button and you should see Mafia Wars on the list. If it still isn’t working, you may need to try a different web browser or contact support.
January 11, 2010 at 3:21 am
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I couldn’t figure out how to do this on my own & the instructions in Facebook are wrong.
January 11, 2010 at 7:22 am
Hi Nocturna – I’m glad it worked!
January 11, 2010 at 10:22 pm
Thank you so much for your instructions to unhide an application on facebook. I searched everywhere and tried every obvious thing I could come up with to no avail.
January 12, 2010 at 7:00 am
Hi Barbara – You’re welcome. I’m glad it helped.
January 12, 2010 at 9:40 pm
THANK YOU!!!!
I spent ages trying to work it out and couldn’t, thank you very much!!
January 13, 2010 at 7:30 am
Hi Charlie – You’re welcome. I’m glad it helped :-)
January 18, 2010 at 8:36 pm
Thank you for sharing. It helped.
January 18, 2010 at 9:17 pm
Hi Tracy – I’m glad it helped :-)
January 31, 2010 at 7:37 pm
Having problems with Farmsville Bonus checker and it seems alot more people are to. They can’t get it to load today 01/31/2010 when it was loading just fine last night. Any help will be greatly appreciated.
Thnk you for your time
Joe
February 1, 2010 at 7:36 am
Hi Joe – I wrote this article that is general information about how to unhide different applications on Facebook. I don’t know that much about Farmville and can’t provide support for it in that way.
My guess, however, is that Farmville or Facebook was having issues yesterday that was causing this problem.
Good luck.
February 4, 2010 at 1:15 pm
Hi, thank for your info but i dont think this still applicable now..I tried but I didn’t see any selection for friend, pages and application..
Other than that I want to ask if you know how to edit the list on the left side under the news feed…I need to filter some post based on the application..but I can find how to manage it..thank you so much…
February 4, 2010 at 8:40 pm
Hi Agatha – Try the edit options link at the bottom right of the page – that’s how it used to work and it’s probably gone back to that again.
Click on Friends at the top of the page – that will give you a list of friends and pages that you are a fan of – here you can create your lists. Once you have the lists you can filter on the News Stream / Home page.
February 6, 2010 at 6:53 am
i did it. it was just there all along.
click:
home(top right corner) then
friends(left top) then
status updates(under “friends” ) then
edit options(bottom right) then
voila! add to news feed.
its funny. i thought i would never see it. i searched for an hour.
February 7, 2010 at 8:02 am
Hi Regina – Well, that seems really hidden ;-) I’m glad you found it.
February 11, 2010 at 8:40 pm
i tried doing what you said but when i click the edit options button all it says is “The following streams are hidden from your News Feed. Click “Add to News Feed” to see their posts again.” and it doesn’t show a add to new feed button
February 12, 2010 at 7:46 am
Erica – Does it list the items that are hidden? Do you actually have
anything hidden? I would try logging out of Facebook, clearing the browser cache, and restarting the browser. If the problem persists, you will need to contact Facebook support.
March 3, 2010 at 3:20 pm
Thank you for your help. The other method wasn’t working. I could get to edit options but it would only allow me to edit the people, not applications. Your way worked!
March 4, 2010 at 8:58 am
Hi Dinah – I’m glad one of the solutions helped you out.
February 23, 2010 at 11:36 am
Hi Kim,
Thank you so much for helping the community here! I, too, am frustrated with not being able to unhide hidden apps on FaceBook. It sounds like I probably have the same issue(s) as Erica. When I click on “Edit Options” in the bottom right hand corner, it appears to only work for hiding/unhiding friends and changing the maximum number of friends that will be viewed in my newsfeed. It sounds like maybe the UI of Facebook has changed once again.
As you suggested to Erica, I cleared my brower’s cache and restarted. To no avail. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks,
Ellen
February 23, 2010 at 11:40 am
I just figured it out. If you go to “Status Updates” under Friends, what you mentioned shows up when you click on the “Edit Options” button at the bottom of the screen.
February 23, 2010 at 2:24 pm
Hi Ellen – I’m glad you found it! And I wish they would stop moving it – and it really isn’t in an intuitive location. Guess it’s time for me to update some articles again ;-)
Can you imagine trying to write a book about Facebook? It would have to be done in pencil.
February 28, 2010 at 1:45 pm
Thanks so much for this great article…I finally got back the application I hid accidentally.
just one comment, the news feed links are now labeled ‘top news’ and ‘most recent’ instead of ‘news feed’ and ‘live feed’
March 1, 2010 at 8:43 am
Hi CeeJay – Thanks – I wrote the article before they made that change and haven’t updated it yet :-)
March 2, 2010 at 4:02 am
Thank you so much. I just wish they would stop changing things around.
Belle´s last blog ..PromiRaten – Das Filmchen
March 2, 2010 at 8:56 am
Hi Belle – I think a lot of people feel that way :-)
March 3, 2010 at 12:14 pm
help, please?
all of a sudden, none of my friends’ game posts are showing in top news or recent. I checked with the suggestions above, but the only things that show as hidden are the ones I meant to hide. when the page refreshes, their posts of the last few minutes show for a second, then it goes back to older posts and none for games. i even got screenshots of what flashes there, but i don’t know how to make it stay! If it weren’t for Game Scrubber I’d miss everything, but i still can’t get the gifts that are time sensitive.
by reading the developers’ blogs, there is no doubt at all that the changes are all for the apps and none for users. they keep rearranging things to make ads more prominent, make & access easier for ppl who pay them. I know it’s a business, but they aren’t hurting for money. They’ve even got their own ‘app bucks’ with the new credits, and they want apps to use them~ and then give fb 30%. They are more expensive for users, of course, at a dollar each instead of the five for a dollar the apps have been using.
(Sorry~ got off track~ excuse my venting, please! But that is why they keep ’simplifying ‘the pages…
thanks for any help!
March 4, 2010 at 8:57 am
Hi Cathy – I’m not sure what’s happening but you could try this.
Go to Account in the top right > Application Settings
Click on Edit Settings for the Application you want to see
Click on Additional Permissions and see if the application has permission to post to your wall and/or News Stream.
March 5, 2010 at 10:40 am
Thank you thank you thank you!!!! I hide a particular application and it was driving me crazy trying to figure out how to unhide it. You are a live saver!!!
March 5, 2010 at 10:58 am
Ugh. . I meant to say “hid” not “hide.”
March 5, 2010 at 1:23 pm
Hi Suzanne – I’m so glad it worked! I wish Facebook would stop moving things around.
And I read it as hid :-)
March 22, 2010 at 5:27 pm
I tried this on the only selectable news feed, but it permanently hid one more app and brought me to the menu to unhide people, which cannot address apps. It seems like if you ever hide an application update, it’s gone for good now.
March 22, 2010 at 8:14 pm
Hi Matt – Try the original method.
http://www.kimwoodbridge.com/how-to-add-a-facebook-application-to-your-news-stream-that-you-previously-removed/
March 27, 2010 at 4:28 am
Thanks a lot, finally something that worked
March 28, 2010 at 9:58 am
Hi Cycake – Great! I’m glad it worked.
April 8, 2010 at 5:14 am
I finally figured it out, was driving me nuts
Newsfeed
Friends
Status Updates then scroll to bottom of the page
Click Edit Options
This is different to the Edit Options on the main Newsfeed page
April 8, 2010 at 6:52 am
Hi Hannah – Great! And thanks for the alternative way to do it. It keeps changing.
April 8, 2010 at 1:34 pm
Thank You!
April 8, 2010 at 4:45 pm
Hi Prateek – I had to edit out most of the thank you’s but I really appreciate it :-)
April 9, 2010 at 4:03 pm
Hi Kim!
Such a USEFUL service you offer to people who are struggling to troubleshoot their issues! Thank you so much for taking the time to post these steps.
With regards to “How to Unhide A Facebook Application or Page,” I followed the steps you describe above, but don’t seem to get a separate dialogue box (screen shot above) for “Hidden from News Feed” that shows apps for FRIENDS, PAGES or APPLICATIONS. I have two friends that inadvertently hid game apps: FarmVille and Mafia Wars. Trying to unhide them is like trying to find a needle in an ocean of haystacks! It shouldn’t be so difficult for Users to unhide simple apps like these! I am sure part of the problem is differentiating between LIVE vs. NEWS FEED.
Any feedback you can provide, would be most appreciated, thank you!
Warm regards,
Lisa Smith
April 10, 2010 at 8:10 am
Hi Lisa – Try going to the home page, selection Top News, scroll to the bottom to Edit Options and then you should have the box with Friends, Pages and Applications.
April 9, 2010 at 4:17 pm
awesome. Thanks for the info. I never would have figured that out and I like to think I am farily smrt
April 10, 2010 at 8:16 am
Hi Dan – I’m glad it helped. I don’t think it matters how smart we are – Facebook makes things confusing.
April 10, 2010 at 12:50 am
Wow thanks been trying to figure this out for awhile!!!!
April 10, 2010 at 8:16 am
Hi Kathy – Great, I’m glad it helped.
April 15, 2010 at 7:39 pm
omg thank you regina! you’re a lifesaver!
April 19, 2010 at 12:42 pm
thank u so much….. reallly… i ws so stressed up i hide my TI from feeds… i needed that back
TY :)
Regards
April 19, 2010 at 2:45 pm
Hi Manpreet – Great – I’m glad it worked out for you.
April 20, 2010 at 11:07 am
THANK YOU, THANK YOU, Thank You!!!! *Why* should this be so difficult to figure out? Sure do appreciate your posting for us.
April 20, 2010 at 11:54 am
Hi Lyn – Facebook keeps moving the settings around so it is unnecessarily complicated. :-)
April 23, 2010 at 4:07 pm
thank you thank you thank you-i’ve been trying to figure out how to do this for ages now and was completely stumped. This info really helped keep me from going insane lol
April 23, 2010 at 7:27 pm
Hi Louise – So glad it helped. Don’t let Facebook make you too crazy ;-)
April 29, 2010 at 4:27 am
Not working for me, tried for both news feed and most recent. After I click mafia wars is still listed as hidden along with a bunch of other apps.
April 29, 2010 at 9:48 am
If it’s not adding it back after you tell it to unhide then there is some sort of Facebook glitch. You may want to clear your browser cache, restart your browser and then log back in. Otherwise, I would try again in a couple of days.
May 3, 2010 at 2:43 am
That worked great. I have been trying for a couple of wks, to unhide an app & so has another friend. We both really appreciate it. Would not have been able to do it without this. Thanks so much. Have a great day. :)
May 3, 2010 at 7:24 am
Hi Rose – I’m glad it helped. Thanks :-)
May 15, 2010 at 11:27 am
Needed to un-hide an application and could not find out how until I stumbled on your stie. Many thanks! FB’s help center is useless!
May 16, 2010 at 8:29 am
Hi Isabel – I’m glad this article helped you out. Thanks for visiting.
May 16, 2010 at 4:07 pm
You’re not kidding about it being challenging to find a how-to on FB, but online as well, I’m glad I found your explanation fairly quickly! Thank you!
May 17, 2010 at 7:10 am
Hi Rosie – Well, it doesn’t help that Facebook keeps moving the settings around ;-)
May 18, 2010 at 11:10 am
This was very helpful. Thanks!
May 18, 2010 at 11:29 am
Hi Amy – You’re welcome. I’m glad it helped.
May 24, 2010 at 8:46 am
UPDATE! I dont know if anyone has had trouble locating the unhide box where you have the option to click “applications” but I had to click “top stories” not “most recent” on my newsfeed to make that box appear. Hope this helps anyone.
May 24, 2010 at 3:21 pm
Thanks Jen – Facebook seems to move it around faster than I can keep up with the articles. If I ever wrote a book about Facebook, I think it would have to be in pencil ;-)
June 3, 2010 at 8:36 am
YAY!
Very helpful! :p
Facebook itself didn’t seem to have the answer, so thanks for this!
June 3, 2010 at 9:50 am
Hi KQ – Glad it helped – thanks.
June 14, 2010 at 12:11 am
i got lost from point 4.
The area will be yellow and there will be an Undo button and and Edit Options link. Click on the Edit Options link.
I just don’t seem to find the undo button or the edit option when it comes to stories. Bottom right edit option only allows me to hide/unhide friends from the newsfeed but not apps .
June 14, 2010 at 7:00 am
Hi – Try the original instructions
http://www.kimwoodbridge.com/how-to-add-a-facebook-application-to-your-news-stream-that-you-previously-removed/
Makes sure you are on Top News rather than Most Recent.
August 7, 2010 at 11:53 pm
Thank you! <3
August 26, 2010 at 12:55 pm
This helped me. Thank you so much!
August 30, 2010 at 12:15 pm
Call me crazy, but I can’t figure it! nothing changes to yellow and it just blocked something else! i’m on news feed….it doesn’t even let me choose live feed….so not sure what the deal is….thanks!
August 30, 2010 at 2:25 pm
i figured it out….turns out terminology is different on mine than your instructions…same spots, different headings! Go figure! Either way i got it! thanks….you headed me in the right direction!
August 30, 2010 at 3:56 pm
Hi Lisa – I’m glad you figured it out :-) The Facebook terminology has changed since I wrote this article.