Preventing others from adding you as a friend

Friend safety/security

The phone numbers saved in your device's contacts are automatically added as friends if they're registered to LINE. When this happens, their names will appear in your friend list on LINE with the names saved to your device's contacts.

Topics covered

- Conditions for the information in your contacts to be sent to our servers

- Privacy protection for your phone number and the phone numbers in your contacts

- Stopping the information saved in your contacts from being sent to our servers

Conditions for the information in your contacts to be sent to our servers:
Information in your contacts will be sent to our servers if you:
• Select OK on the pop-up about LINE's use and sending of information in your contacts when signing up for a LINE account.
• Go to the Home tab, tap Settings > Friends, and then turn ON Auto-add friends.
• Have Auto-add friends already on and tap the refresh icon next to Last auto-add > OK on the pop-up about LINE's use and sending of information in your contacts.

Privacy protection for your phone number and the phone numbers in your contacts:
Rest assured that your phone number and the other phone numbers in your contacts will not be disclosed to anyone else. This information is securely protected as follows.

• When you sign up for a LINE account, we ask that you agree to our Terms of Use as well as the LY Corporation Privacy Policy, both of which include information about the use of information in your contacts.
• If you agree to let LINE find your friends, the phone numbers in your contacts will be encrypted, sent to our servers, and securely stored there.
• Encrypted strings are used to compare whether you and someone else have each other's contact information.

Stopping the information saved in your contacts from being sent to our servers:
1. Tap the Home tab > Settings > Friends.
2. Turn OFF Auto-add friends.

Useful info

- Users who already appear in your friend list can be deleted after blocking or hiding them.
- The only way to remove yourself from another user's friend list or friend recommendations is to delete your account.

Was this page helpful?

If you want to prevent others from adding you as a friend in the future, see the information below that matches your situation.
Note: If you want to remove a user who is already your friend on LINE from your friends, see Deleting accounts from your friend list.

Be advised

Any links in steps directing to LINE in-app screens can only be opened on your main device.

Preventing others from adding you by phone number
Note: The contents of this section only apply 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.

You can only use this feature on your main device (typically your smartphone).

If you don't want people that know your phone number to automatically add you as a friend:
1. Open LINE on the main device your account is registered to.
2. Tap the Home tab >

> Friends.
Note: Tap here to go to Settings.
3. Turn OFF Allow others to add me.

Preventing others from adding you by LINE ID

You can only use this feature on your main device (typically your smartphone).

If you want to prevent others from adding you as a friend by searching for your ID:
1. Open LINE on the main device your account is registered to.
2. Tap the Home tab >

> Profile.
Note: Tap here to go to your profile settings.
3. Turn OFF Allow others to add me by ID.

Preventing others from adding you by URL or QR code

If you want to prevent someone from adding you as a friend with a URL or QR code you shared with them (even if just once), you need to deactivate (regenerate) the URL/QR code.

1. Tap the Home tab > Add friends icon

> QR code > My QR code.
Note: Tap here to go to the Add friends screen.
2. Tap Regenerate.

Was this page helpful?

You can delete, hide, or block people on LINE so that they will no longer appear in your friend list.

Be advised

The in-app links in steps can only be accessed on your main device.

Topics covered

- Differences between deleting, hiding, and blocking accounts

- Blocking and unblocking accounts

- Hiding and unhiding accounts

- Deleting accounts

Differences between deleting, hiding, and blocking accounts:
You can remove LINE accounts from your friend list by deleting, hiding, or blocking them. The differences between these three features are as follows.

You're able to receive messages and calls from hidden accounts, but not from accounts that are blocked or deleted (by tapping Delete from your Blocked accounts list).

If you mistakenly hide or block an account, you can unhide or unblock it. However, deleting an account cannot be undone.

For more details, please see the table below.

Feature	Account appears in friend list	Receive messages	Receive calls	Undo action
Hide	No	Yes	Yes	Possible
Block	No	No	No	Possible
Delete from friend list or Hidden accounts list	No	Yes	No	Not possible
Delete from Blocked accounts list	No	No	No	Not possible

Useful info

- If you delete, hide, or block a friend on LINE, they will not be notified.

- Deleting, hiding, or blocking a friend on LINE doesn't delete your account from their friend list.

- Even if you delete an account by tapping Delete from your friend list or Hidden accounts list, you can restore it by adding the account as a friend again.

Blocking and unblocking accounts:
If you don't want to receive messages or calls from someone, you can block their account.

To block and unblock accounts, see the following steps.

Blocking accounts

1. Tap the Home tab > Friends.
2. Tap and hold the name of the account that you want to block.
3. Tap Block > Block.

Unblocking accounts

1. From the Home tab, tap

.
Note: Tap here to go to Settings from your main device.
2. Tap Friends > Blocked accounts.
3. Tap the account you want to unblock or Edit.
4. Tap Unblock > Unblock.
Note: It may take some time for the changes to be applied.

Hiding and unhiding accounts:
By hiding accounts, you can have them no longer appear in your friend list.

To hide and unhide accounts, see the following steps.

Hiding accounts

1. Tap the Home tab > Friends.
2. Tap and hold the name of the account that you want to hide.
3. Tap Hide or Hide from list > Hide.

Unhiding accounts

1. From the Home tab, tap

.
Note: Tap here to go to Settings from your main device.
2. Tap Friends > Hidden accounts.
3. Tap Edit next to the account you want to unhide.
4. Tap Unhide.
Note: It may take some time for the changes to be applied.

Deleting accounts:
You can delete accounts from your friend list.

There are ways to delete accounts from your Hidden accounts list, Blocked accounts list, or friend list.
Note: For the differences between deleting, hiding, and blocking accounts, see Differences between deleting, hiding, and blocking accounts.

Deleting hidden or blocked accounts

1. From the Home tab, tap

.
Note: Tap here to go to Settings from your main device.
2. Tap Friends.
3. Tap Hidden accounts or Blocked accounts.
4. Tap the account you want to delete or Edit.
5. Tap Delete.

Deleting accounts from your friend list

1. Tap the Home tab > Friends.
2. Tap and hold the friend you want to delete.
3. Tap Delete > Delete.

Was this page helpful?

LINE

Help center

Search Help articles

Friend safety/security

Topics covered

Friend safety/security

About the use of the information in your contacts

Topics covered

Preventing others from adding you as a friend

Differences between deleting/hiding/blocking LINE accounts and doing/undoing these actions