How to Turn Off Comments on a Facebook Post in the Facebook App?

How to Turn Off Comments on a Facebook Post in the Facebook App (2026 Guide)

By App World Team · Updated August 2026 · 8 min read

If a Facebook post is attracting spam, off-topic replies, or a comment thread you no longer want to manage, you can restrict or switch off commenting directly from your phone. The steps are different depending on whether the post is on your personal profile, a Facebook Page, or inside a Group — and one common misconception trips up a lot of users: personal profiles don't get a true "off" switch, only a "who can comment" restriction. This guide walks through exactly what each surface of the Facebook app actually lets you do in 2026, plus how to fix it when the option is missing.

Quick Answer

In the Facebook app, tap the three dots (•••) in the top-right corner of your post. On a Page or Group post you'll usually see Turn off commenting (or Turn off comments in Groups) — tap it and new comments are blocked immediately. On a personal profile post, that exact toggle isn't available; instead tap Who can comment on your post? and choose the most restrictive option, Profiles and Pages you mention, which blocks everyone else from commenting if you haven't tagged anyone.

Table of Contents

• Why turn off comments on Facebook
• Personal profile posts: restrict who can comment
• Setting comment permissions before you publish
• Facebook Page posts: the real "turn off commenting" toggle
• Facebook Group posts
• Ads and boosted posts
• Other comment moderation tools in the app
• How to turn comments back on
• Troubleshooting: option missing or greyed out
• Profile vs. Page vs. Group: quick comparison
• Frequently asked questions

Why turn off comments on Facebook

People and businesses disable commenting for a range of practical reasons, not just to shut down conversation entirely:

• Spam and bot floods — a post that goes unexpectedly viral can attract link spam and scam replies faster than you can moderate them.
• Sensitive announcements — legal notices, product recalls, or layoffs where open debate isn't appropriate and you'd rather direct people to an official channel.
• Memorial or personal posts — keeping a respectful, low-traffic space instead of an open comment thread.
• Scheduled downtime — turning comments off over a weekend or holiday when your moderation team is offline, then re-enabling them Monday.
• Reducing notification overload — a personal post that's collecting more replies and tags than you want to keep up with.

Whatever the reason, it helps to know upfront that Facebook treats this differently depending on where the post lives.

Personal profile posts: restrict who can comment

This is the part of the process that surprises the most people. On a personal profile, Facebook does not currently offer a literal "off" switch inside the post menu. What it offers instead is an audience control for commenting, and if used correctly it produces the same practical result.

1. Open the Facebook app and go to the post on your profile.
2. Tap the three dots (•••) in the top-right corner of the post.
3. Tap Who can comment on your post?
4. Choose from the available options. For a public post you'll typically see Public, Friends, Friends of friends, and the narrowest option, Profiles and Pages you mention.
5. Select Profiles and Pages you mention. If your post doesn't tag or mention anyone, this removes the ability to comment for everyone else — the closest thing to "no one can comment" that a personal profile allows.

This setting applies to that single post only; it does not change the comment permissions on your other posts, so you can lock down one sensitive update without adjusting your general privacy defaults.

Setting comment permissions before you publish

You can also decide who can comment while you're still writing the post, rather than going back to edit it afterward:

1. Start creating a new post in the Facebook app.
2. Tap the audience selector (it shows Public, Friends, or your current default audience) near the top of the composer.
3. Look for More options or a similar link within the audience menu.
4. Select Who can comment on your post?
5. Choose the audience you want, then finish writing your post and tap Post.

Quick tip: if your post is set to Public, remember that anyone can still share it even after you've restricted who can comment — restricting comments controls the conversation under your post, not who can see or reshare the content itself.

Facebook Page posts: the real "turn off commenting" toggle

Business and creator Pages get a more direct control. Page admins and editors can switch commenting off for an individual post with a single tap — this is the closest thing Facebook offers to a genuine on/off switch outside of Groups.

1. Open the Facebook app and go to your Page.
2. Find the post you want to adjust — either by scrolling the Page's timeline or opening it from a notification.
3. Tap the three dots (•••) in the top-right corner of the post.
4. Select Turn off commenting.

Once this is applied, existing comments remain visible but no new comments can be added. Only Page admins and editors typically see this option — if you have a more limited Page role (such as Moderator or Advertiser), you may not have access to it.

For Page-wide settings rather than a single post, go to Settings & Privacy → Settings from your Page, then look for Page and tagging (naming may vary slightly by account) to adjust who can comment or post across the Page by default, and to turn on the built-in profanity filter or a custom keyword filter that automatically hides comments containing specific words.

Facebook Group posts

Groups are the one place in the Facebook app with an unambiguous, dedicated switch for comments:

1. Open your group and find the post.
2. Tap the three dots (•••) on the post.
3. Select Turn off comments.

You can do this on your own posts. Group admins and moderators can additionally turn commenting off on any post in the group, and can adjust broader posting and commenting permissions under the group's Membership Questions and Permissions or Posting Permissions settings.

Ads and boosted posts

If a post has been boosted or is running as an ad, comment settings are best managed from Meta Business Suite rather than the main Facebook app, since ad-level comment moderation (including the profanity and keyword filters) applies across the campaign, not just the organic post. From Meta Business Suite you can open the post composer or an existing ad, locate the commenting settings, and apply the same "who can comment" restrictions before or after the ad goes live. Comment settings applied at the post level generally carry over to the ad version of that post, but it's worth double-checking once the ad is running.

Other comment moderation tools in the app

Turning comments off completely is a blunt tool — it stops all new discussion, good and bad. If you only want to deal with specific problem comments or people, the Facebook app has narrower options:

• Hide a comment — tap the three dots next to the comment and choose Hide comment. It disappears for other viewers but the commenter can usually still see it, which avoids an obvious confrontation.
• Delete a comment — tap the three dots next to the comment and choose Delete to remove it entirely.
• Block or restrict a person — go to their profile, tap the three dots, and choose Block or Restrict to stop them from commenting on your content going forward.
• Profanity filter (Pages) — under Page settings, enable filtering to automatically hide comments and ad comments containing profanity.
• Custom keyword filter (Pages) — add specific words, phrases, or emojis you want automatically hidden from your Page's comments.

For Pages that get a high comment volume, combining moderation filters with selective "turn off commenting" on sensitive posts is usually more effective — and better for engagement — than switching comments off by default.

How to turn comments back on

Every method above is reversible:

• Page or Group post: tap the three dots again and select Turn on commenting (Pages) or Turn on comments (Groups).
• Personal profile post: tap the three dots, go back into Who can comment on your post?, and choose a broader audience such as Friends or Public.

Troubleshooting: option missing or greyed out

If you open the three-dot menu and don't see Turn off commenting or Who can comment on your post?, check these common causes:

• You're not the original poster. You can only control commenting on your own posts, unless you're a Page admin/editor or a group admin/moderator.
• Outdated app version. Update the Facebook app from your device's app store — comment controls are periodically moved or renamed in updates.
• You're viewing the post through a scheduler. Some third-party scheduling and social media management tools don't expose Facebook's native comment-control options during scheduling. Publish the post first, then adjust commenting from the Facebook app or facebook.com directly.
• Account or post type limitation. Some post types (for example, certain shared posts or specific ad formats) may not support the toggle the same way a standard post does.
• Desktop vs. mobile inconsistency. The full set of options, including Turn off commenting on Pages, tends to appear more reliably on desktop (facebook.com) than in the mobile app. If it's missing on your phone, try the same post on a browser.

Profile vs. Page vs. Group: quick comparison

Post type	True "off" switch?	What you actually get	Who can do it
Personal profile	No	"Who can comment on your post?" — restrict to Friends or Profiles and Pages you mention	Only the post's author
Facebook Page	Yes, per post	"Turn off commenting" toggle in the post's three-dot menu	Page admins and editors
Facebook Group	Yes, per post	"Turn off comments" toggle in the post's three-dot menu	Post author, group admins, and moderators
Ads / boosted posts	Partial	Comment restrictions and profanity/keyword filters via Meta Business Suite	Page admins with ad access

Frequently Asked Questions

Can you completely turn off comments on a personal Facebook profile post?

Not entirely. Facebook does not give personal profiles a true off switch the way Groups and Pages have. Choosing Profiles and Pages you mention under "Who can comment on your post?" is the closest equivalent — it blocks everyone except people you've tagged.

How do I turn off comments on a Facebook Page post in the app?

Open the post on your Page, tap the three dots, and select Turn off commenting. Existing comments stay visible; new ones are blocked until you switch it back on.

Why can't I find the "Turn off commenting" option on my post?

Most often it's because you didn't create the post, your app needs updating, you're viewing it through a third-party scheduler, or the option is more visible on desktop than in the mobile app for that particular post type.

Does turning off comments delete existing comments?

No. It only blocks new comments. Anything posted before you turned the setting off stays visible unless you hide or delete it manually.

Can I turn off comments on a Facebook group post?

Yes. Open the post inside the group, tap the three dots, and choose Turn off comments. Group admins and moderators can do this on any post in the group; regular members can only do it on posts they authored.

Will turning off comments hurt my Page's reach?

It can. Comments are a strong engagement signal, and Pages that habitually turn off commenting may see lower relevance in Facebook's algorithm and higher advertising costs over time. It's generally better to use comment filters and selective moderation for routine posts, and reserve full comment shutoff for specific sensitive announcements or short windows when you can't moderate.

Final Thoughts

Facebook's comment controls aren't one-size-fits-all: personal profiles work through audience restrictions, while Pages and Groups get an actual on/off toggle. Knowing which control applies to your post — and where to find it in the current app — saves you from hunting through menus that don't exist for your account type. For most everyday situations, combining light moderation (hiding spam, blocking repeat offenders, using keyword filters on Pages) with an occasional full comment shutoff on sensitive posts gives you control without sacrificing the engagement that keeps a Page or profile active.

This guide reflects the Facebook app's comment-control options as of August 2026. Facebook periodically renames or relocates these settings, so if a menu item looks slightly different on your device, the underlying options described here should still be there under a similar name.