How friend recommendations work

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Friend/Friend recommendations basics

The users you keep in touch with on LINE are called friends.

• When you add someone as a friend, you can have conversations with them in chats and invite them to chats and groups.
• When both of you add each other as friends, you can voice call each other.
• You can add up to 5,000 friends on LINE.

Useful info (for users in Japan)

- To protect minors who are using the service, LINE has in cooperation with various mobile service providers partially restricted some features, such as setting a LINE ID, searching for IDs, and searching for friends using their phone numbers for users under 18.
- To verify your age and gain full functionality, see About age verification. (Only available in Japanese.)
- Age verification is not available on LINE for PC.

Topics covered

- How users appear in friend lists/friend recommendations

- Adding friends

- Friends' display names

- Preventing others from adding you as a friend

How users appear in friend lists/friend recommendations:
If you and another user have each other's phone number saved in your respective smartphone's contacts and both have Allow others to add me and Auto-add friends turned on in the smartphone version of LINE, you will mutually appear in each other's friend list.

However, if you have their phone number saved in your smartphone's contacts but they don't have yours, they will appear in your friend list, while you will show up in their friend recommendations (and vice versa).

Also, if they added you as a friend via your phone number, a QR code, or your LINE ID, or another method, they will appear in your friend recommendations.

The users that appear in your friend recommendations on the smartphone version of LINE will also appear on LINE for PC.

Adding friends:
You can add friends on LINE for PC with the following methods.

Adding friends via ID/phone number search

Note: Adding friends by searching for their phone numbers only applies to LINE accounts created with LINE versions earlier than 13.11.0 if you're not using LINE in Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, or Thailand.

1. From the main menu, click add friends icon

> Friend search.
2. Choose LINE ID or Phone number.
3. Enter the LINE ID or phone number of the friend you want to add in the search field and press Enter.
4. Click Add.

Note:
- If the person you want to add has turned off the Allow others to add me by ID setting on the smartphone version of LINE, they will not appear in ID search results.
- If the person you want to add has turned off the Allow others to add me setting in the smartphone version of LINE, they will not appear in phone number search results.

Adding friends from your friend recommendations

1. From the main menu, click add friends icon

.
2. In the friend recommendations list, click add friends icon

next to the person you want to add.

[Windows/Mac] Adding friends via QR code

1. Right-click the QR code image you received in a chat.
2. Click Scan QR code.
3. Click Add.

You can also send your QR code via email or text message by opening the smartphone version of LINE and tapping add friends icon

> Invite.

For details, refer to Adding people who aren't or may not be using LINE as friends.
Note: You cannot display your own QR code with LINE for PC.

Friends' display names:
The display names that your friends set for themselves will appear on LINE for PC. If you want to change a friend's display name, follow the steps below.

1. From the main menu, click silhouette icon

.
2. Right-click the friend whose display name you want to change.
3. Click Change friend’s name.
4. Click edit icon

next to their display name.
5. After entering a new display name, press the Enter key or click Save.
Note:
- This will also change the way their display name appears on the smartphone version of LINE.
- This will not change the way their display name appears on their own LINE account or the accounts of other users.

Preventing others from adding you as a friend:
If you don't want other people to add you as a friend, refer to Preventing others from adding you as a friend, and change your settings from the smartphone version of LINE.
Note: If you want to remove a user who is already your friend on LINE from your friends, see the steps in Deleting accounts.

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Topics covered

- Hiding/blocking/deleting LINE accounts

- Steps

- Re-adding deleted friends

Hiding/blocking/deleting LINE accounts:
The differences between hiding, blocking, and deleting accounts are as follows.
Note: There is no feature to delete your LINE account from someone else's friend list.

Hiding accounts
• You can still receive chat messages from them.
• They'll appear in Hidden accounts instead of your friend list.
• You can unhide them.

Useful info

If you don't want to receive messages from an account, you'll need to block or delete them.

Blocking accounts
• You'll no longer be able to receive messages from them.
• They'll appear in Blocked accounts instead of your friend list.
• You can unblock them.

Deleting accounts
• You'll no longer be able to receive messages from them.
• They'll be deleted from your friend list.

Be advised

- After deleting an account, the changes cannot be undone or restored. Please keep this in mind if you are thinking of deleting the account of someone who you don’t have any other way to contact.
- If there is a chance that you will want to restore an account later, hide or block them instead.
- If you want to restore an account you deleted, you'll need to add them again.

Steps:

Hiding/unhiding accounts

Hiding accounts

1. From the main menu, click silhouette icon

.
2. Right-click the account you want to hide.
3. Click Hide > Hide.

Unhiding accounts

1. Click

at the bottom of the main menu > Settings.
2. Click Friends.
3. Move the mouse cursor over the user you want to unhide under the Hidden accounts list.
4. Click Unhide.

Blocking/unblocking accounts

Blocking accounts

1. From the main menu, click silhouette icon

.
2. Right-click the account you want to block.
3. Click Block > Block.

Unblocking accounts

1. Click

at the bottom of the main menu > Settings.
2. Click Friends.
3. Move the mouse cursor over the user you want to unblock under the Blocked accounts list.
4. Click Unblock.

Note: To block or unlock someone who isn't your friend on LINE, please click on their profile icon > Block or Unblock.

Deleting accounts

To delete someone from your friend list, you need to block or hide them first.

Be advised

You can still receive messages from users deleted from the Hidden accounts list. If you do not want to receive messages or voice calls from someone, please block them before deleting them. After blocking or hiding an account, see the following steps.

To delete an account:
1. Click menu icon [pc]

at the bottom of the main menu > Settings.
2. Click Friends.
3. Move the mouse cursor over the user you want to delete under the Hidden or Blocked accounts list, then click Delete.
4. Read the warning message, then click Delete.

Re-adding deleted friends:
There is no feature to re-add friends (e.g. undo deleting a friend, add a friend again) that were deleted after blocking/hiding them.

To re-add a friend, try the following methods.

• Adding a friend via ID/phone number search or QR code for Windows or Mac
• Adding a friend from a chat

To add a friend from a chat:
1. From the main menu, click chats

, and then click on a chat.
2. Click Add friend.

If the chat with your friend is hidden, try unhiding the chat and adding your friend again. However, you won't be able to unhide a chat if you deleted it.

To unhide a chat:
1. Click menu icon [pc]

at the bottom of the main menu > Settings > Chats.
2. Move the mouse cursor over the chat you want to unhide under the Hidden chats list.
3. Click Unhide.

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Users who appear in your friend recommendations have added you as a friend.

Topics covered

- Ways you could have been added by someone as a friend

- Reasons shown for being added as a friend

- Users saved in your device's contacts appearing in your friend recommendations when Auto-add friends is turned on in your smartphone version of LINE

- Blocking accounts that appear in your friend recommendations

Ways you could have been added by someone as a friend:
• They have your phone number and added you with it.
Note: This only applies to LINE accounts created with LINE versions earlier than 13.11.0 if you're not using LINE in Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, or Thailand.
• They knew your LINE ID and added you by searching for it on LINE.
• They added you from the member list of a group you were both in.
• They added you by using your contact information (LINE account information) that was shared in a chat by a friend of yours.
• They added you using the URL in an invite email, or using your QR code.

If you don't want other people adding you as a friend, refer to Preventing others from adding you as a friend, and change your settings from the smartphone version of LINE.

Reasons shown for being added as a friend:
In some cases, you'll see how a user added you in your friend recommendations.

If you see how a user added you, it will be because they added you with your:
• Phone number.
Note: This only applies to LINE accounts created with LINE versions earlier than 13.11.0 if you're not using LINE in Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, or Thailand.
• QR code.
• LINE ID.

If you don’t see how someone added you, it may be because:
• You were added from a group that both you and the other person were in.
• They got your contact information from another one of your friends and added you.

Users saved in your device's contacts appearing in your friend recommendations when Auto-add friends is turned on in your smartphone version of LINE:
If this occurs, it means that they have the following settings configured.

• Auto-add friends: ON
• Allow others to add me: OFF

The name that appears for someone in your friend recommendations is the name they set on LINE. If an unfamiliar name appears under your friend recommendations, the only way to confirm who they are is to ask them directly.

Blocking accounts that appear in your friend recommendations:
1. From the main menu, click add friends icon

.
2. In the friend recommendations list, right-click the person you want to block.
3. Click Block.
Note: It may take some time for the changes to be applied.

Blocking an account that appears in your friend recommendations also prevents them from sending you messages.

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Friend/Friend recommendations basics

Friend/Friend recommendations basics

How friends work on LINE

Hiding/blocking/deleting LINE accounts

How friend recommendations work