How to Recover Your Facebook Password Without Email and Phone Number

Locked out of Facebook? Don’t worry, all is not lost!

A woman is using her phone and looking serious.

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by Karen Marcus
Karen Marcus has been a freelance writer in the tech industry for 20+ years. She's written for companies like HP, Intel, IBM, Samsung, and others.
Updated March 19, 2019

Maybe it’s been awhile since you last logged into Facebook, or maybe you just started your account and can’t remember the email address or phone number you used to create it. No matter why you’ve forgotten your credentials, you’re far from the first person to do so. Still, if it happens to you, it can be frustrating to lose access to your account. Luckily there are some ways to quickly regain access to Facebook even without an email or phone number.

Login With an Alternate Email Address or Phone Number

If you’re unable to login to Facebook using your usual login credentials, try using an alternate email address or phone number. If you’ve listed more than one email address or phone number on your account, but still remember your password, this could be all you need to do.

It’s possible that if you’re not able to login with your regular credentials, your account has been hacked, so, once you regain access, change your password (make sure it’s secure), and visit Facebook’s troubleshooting page for this issue.

Once you’ve regained access, take a few minutes to make your account even more secure. To do this, go to your home page and click the down-arrow in the upper-right corner. Click Settings > Security and Login. Explore the Two-Factor Authentication, Setting Up Extra Security, and Advanced sections to implement or update security measures. For example, two-factor authentication requires you to have a code sent to your phone in addition to your login credentials to log in to Facebook.

Find Your Account With Your Name or Username

Another strategy you can try is using Facebook’s Find Your Account page to find your account using your name or username. When searching for your name, try any nicknames you might commonly use as well as your formal name. You’ll see a list come up of possible accounts. Choose This is My Account when you see your profile photo, and follow the instructions from there to reset your password and regain access to your account.

If you’re not sure what your username is, ask a friend to login to Facebook and navigate to your profile, then send you the URL that shows up. It will be something like https://www.facewbook.com/jane.smith.4421. The last part, jane.smith.4421, is your username. If Facebook is able to find your account, you’ll be guided through instructions to reset your password and regain access to your account.

Use Trusted Contacts to Recover Your Account

If you’ve tried the above methods, and nothing works, you can recover your Facebook account using trusted contacts. The challenge with this method is that you’ll need to have identified who your trusted contacts are before this situation happens. Here are the steps for the initial setup. 

  1. Login to Facebook (remember, for this part of the process you need to still have access). 

  2. On your home screen, in the upper-right corner, click the down-arrow and select Settings.

  3. In the left column, select Security and Login.

  4. In the Choose Friends area, click Choose Friends.

    Facebook is showing a screen to choose trusted contacts.

  5. In the What Are Trusted Contacts dialog box, click Choose Trusted Contacts.

  6. In the Choose Trusted Contacts dialog box, type the names of three to five Facebook friends, then click Confirm. 

    Facebook is showing a Choose Trusted Contacts dialog box.

  7. You will see the contacts you selected. If you need to later, you can edit or remove contacts. For now, click Close. 

To use your trusted contacts to regain access to your account, follow these steps. 

  1. Go to Facebook’s login page. 

  2. Under the Password field, click Forgot Account. 

    Facebook is showing a login screen.

  3. On the Reset Your Password page, click No longer have access to these. 

    Facebook is showing a Reset Your Password dialog box.

  4. On the How Can We Reach You page, enter an email address or phone number you can access, then click Continue. 

    Facebook is showing a How Can We Reach You dialog box.

  5. Click Reveal My Trusted Contacts and type the name of one of the contacts you previously assigned. 

  6. Next you’ll see additional instructions and a recovery code link. Send your friend the link and ask them to follow it and send you the code they see. 

  7. Use the code to access your account.