How to download your Facebook friends list and see who unfriended you
Facebook shows your friends on your profile, but it has no button to save that list as a file, and it never tells you when someone removes you. What it does offer is an export of your own data. A small export with only Friends and followers gives you your complete friends list with the date each friendship started, plus your friend requests, followers and the people you follow.
This guide shows how to request that export on a computer, iPhone or Android, what the ZIP contains, how to turn it into a readable list or spreadsheet, and how to use two exports to find out who unfriended you. You need your Facebook password and a few minutes to set up the request. Facebook then prepares the file in the background.
Short version: Settings & privacy → Settings → Accounts Center (or Meta Account) → Your information and permissions → Export your information → Create export → your Facebook profile → Export to device. Under Customize information, select only Friends and followers, set Date range to All time and Format to JSON, then start the export. Download the ZIP when Facebook notifies you and select it in the Facebook tool.
Step 1: Open "Export your information"
The export tool is in Accounts Center. If you're logged in to Facebook in your browser, the direct link to Accounts Center → Your information and permissions takes you there; then choose Export your information. Otherwise, use the menus below.
On a computer (facebook.com)
- Log in at facebook.com and click your profile picture in the top-right corner.
- Click Settings & privacy, then Settings.
- Click Accounts Center (or Meta Account).
- Click Your information and permissions, then Export your information.
In the Facebook app (iPhone and Android)
- Tap Menu (☰ or your profile picture; its position depends on the app version and phone).
- Tap Settings & privacy, then Settings.
- Tap Accounts Center (or Meta Account).
- Tap Your information and permissions, then Export your information.
If you can't find it, type "export" into the search field at the top of the settings screen.
If your menus use different names
Meta is gradually moving accounts from Accounts Center to Meta Account. Facebook's Help Center already uses the new name, but many accounts still show Accounts Center. The steps after it are the same. Older app versions also use older labels:
| Older label | Current label |
|---|---|
| Download your information | Export your information |
| Download or transfer information | Create export |
| Some of your information | Customize information |
| Download to device | Export to device |
Step 2: Request a friends-only export
The goal is a small file that contains only your connections, in JSON, covering all time.
- Tap or click Create export.
- Select your Facebook profile (tap Next if the app asks). If an Instagram account is linked to the same Accounts Center, it appears in this list too. Each profile is exported separately, so make sure you pick Facebook.
- Choose Export to device. The other option sends your data to an external service instead of giving you a file.
- Open Customize information. Untick any categories that are already selected, then tick only Friends and followers in the Connections section. Save.
- Open Date range and choose All time. With a shorter range, friendships and follows from before that period can be missing.
- Open Format and choose JSON. HTML is easier to read by eye, but JSON has exact dates and a fixed structure (more on that below).
- Leave Media quality as it is. You aren't exporting photos or videos, so it doesn't matter.
- Check the email address under Notify. Facebook sends the "your export is ready" message there.
- Tap Start export. Facebook asks for your password first and may ask for an extra verification step.
Meta renames items now and then. If you don't see Friends and followers, tick the item under Connections that mentions friends. Meta's own help article on exporting your information describes the current menus.
Step 3: Wait for Facebook
You don't need to keep the page or app open after starting the export.
- How long: Facebook doesn't promise a time. A friends-and-followers export is small and is often ready within minutes to a few hours; a full account export takes much longer.
- How you're notified: by email to the address you chose and by a notification on Facebook.
- Checking the status: open Export your information again. Pending and finished exports are listed there.
Step 4: Download the ZIP
- Open Export your information and find your export under Available downloads. You can also use the link in the email, but if you aren't sure an email is really from Facebook, go to Export your information yourself.
- Tap Download and enter your password if Facebook asks for it.
- Save the ZIP. Its name usually starts with
facebook-, followed by your username and the date. Keep that name.
A finished export stays available for 4 days. After that, you have to create a new one.
Where the file ends up:
- iPhone (Safari): Files app → Browse → Downloads. If the download in the Facebook app does nothing, log in at facebook.com in Safari and download from there.
- Android (Chrome): Chrome menu (⋮) → Downloads, or the Files app under Downloads.
- Windows: your Downloads folder.
- Mac: your Downloads folder. Safari unzips downloads by default, so you may get a folder instead of a ZIP. That still works (see Troubleshooting).
What's inside the ZIP
In current exports, the lists are in two folders, connections/friends/ and connections/followers/. Which files you get depends on your account: Facebook leaves out a file when the list is empty.
| File | What it contains |
|---|---|
your_friends.json | Your friends when the export was created, with the date each friendship started |
removed_friends.json | People you removed as friends, with the date. Not people who removed you. |
sent_friend_requests.json | Friend requests you sent that are still open |
received_friend_requests.json | Friend requests you received and haven't answered |
rejected_friend_requests.json | Friend requests you declined |
who_you've_followed.json | People and Pages you follow |
people_who_followed_you_1.json | People who follow you (large accounts get several numbered files) |
Older exports use other names, such as friends.json in a folder called friends_and_followers. The content is the same.
Two things surprise most people:
- Names only. Each entry is a display name and a date. There are no usernames, profile IDs or profile links, so two friends with the same name look alike in the file.
- Garbled accents. Meta stores non-English letters in a way most text editors display wrongly, so "Jürgen" shows up as "Jürgen" when you open the JSON file yourself.
Step 5: Turn it into a readable list
Option A: Open it in the Facebook tool
- Open the Facebook tool in the browser on the device where the ZIP is saved.
- Tap the upload area and choose the ZIP. On a computer you can also drag it onto the upload area. You don't need to unzip it first.
- The results appear below the upload area after a moment.
The ZIP is opened by JavaScript in your browser tab and isn't sent to our server. You never enter your Facebook login on our site. To see what the results look like first, use Try with sample data; the names are made up.
You get one tab per list in your export: Friends, Removed friends, Sent requests, Received requests and Declined requests. If the export has both follow files, you also get Don't follow you back, You don't follow back and Mutual, plus All following and All followers. Accented names are shown correctly. Because the export has no profile links, the results show names only and don't link to profiles.
Each list has a count, a search field and sorting (newest, oldest, A–Z). Download this list (CSV) saves the whole list as a spreadsheet file, for example unfollowtool-facebook-friends-2026-09-27.csv, with the name and the "Friends since" date. The Username and Profile URL columns stay empty, because Facebook's export doesn't contain them. The file opens in Excel, Numbers or Google Sheets.
Option B: Read the files yourself
If you only want to look at the list once, request the export in HTML format instead. Unzip it and open your_friends.html in any browser: it shows a plain page with names and dates. The JSON version can be opened in a text editor, but it's harder to read and has the garbled accents mentioned above.
The tool reads HTML exports too, but it has to pick names and dates out of the page layout, which is less reliable than JSON. If you plan to compare lists later, use JSON.
Who unfriended me? Compare two exports
Facebook doesn't notify you when someone unfriends you, and no file in the export lists the people who removed you. The Removed friends list is the opposite: it contains the people you removed yourself.
What works is a before-and-after comparison of two friends lists. The tool does this for you:
- Analyze your first export with Remember this result on this device switched on (it is on by default). The tool saves the names from your friends, followers and following lists in this browser's storage, plus your username or profile ID if the export or its file name contains one, so it can match later exports to the same account. Nothing else from the export is kept, and nothing is sent to us.
- Some weeks later, request a new export with the same settings.
- Open it in the same browser on the same device.
- A note at the top shows how many people are no longer your friends since your last analysis. The No longer friends tab lists them; New friends shows the reverse.
A name under No longer friends means the friendship ended without you removing them: the person unfriended you, one of you blocked the other, or their account was deactivated or deleted. The export doesn't say which. People on your own Removed friends list are left out, because you ended those friendships yourself. Before drawing conclusions, look the person up on Facebook: a deactivated account can come back.
What to keep in mind:
- It only covers the time between two exports. Nothing before your first saved analysis can be recovered.
- Names are the only identifier. Someone who changed their name appears once under No longer friends and once under New friends.
- Keep the ZIP's original name. The tool can use it to recognize that two exports belong to the same account. If the saved names and the new ones barely overlap, it assumes a different account and shows no comparison.
- History stays in this browser. A private window, clearing site data, or switching browser or device starts over. The tool keeps your five most recent analyses per account, and Delete saved history removes them.
- No friends list, no friends comparison. If your exports contain no friends file, the tool compares your followers instead.
Prefer to do it by hand? Download the Friends list as CSV each time and compare the two files in a spreadsheet. Keeping each ZIP also works: a friends-only export is small, and it's your record of that date.
The Facebook tool page explains the comparison in more detail, including why friends are left out of "Don't follow you back".
Troubleshooting
"We couldn't find follower data in your upload."
The ZIP doesn't contain friends or follow lists. Usually Friends and followers wasn't selected, or you picked a different file. Create a new export as described in Step 2.
"This looks like an export from Instagram, but this is the Facebook tool."
You exported your Instagram profile instead of Facebook. Create a new export and select the Facebook profile. If you wanted to check Instagram, use the Instagram tool.
"This export is in HTML format. Please request the download again and choose JSON as the format."
The tool couldn't read the names from the HTML pages in your export. Request a new export with Format set to JSON.
The ZIP "could not be opened"
The download is probably incomplete. Download it again from Available downloads while the 4 days are still running.
The file "could not be read"
This often happens when the ZIP sits in iCloud Drive, Google Drive or a similar folder and isn't fully on the device. Save it to local storage first and try again.
The download became a folder (Mac)
Safari unpacks ZIPs after downloading. You don't need to download again: on a computer, drag the whole folder onto the upload area, or select the JSON files from connections/friends/ and connections/followers/ inside it. To keep ZIPs in future, turn off Open "safe" files after downloading in Safari's General settings.
The download link expired
Exports are available for 4 days. Create a new export; the setup only takes a few minutes.
"Export your information" doesn't offer your profile
According to Facebook, a profile that is deactivated or scheduled for deletion can't be exported. Reactivate it or cancel the deletion first.
You exported everything, including photos and videos
That usually still works: the tool skips photos and videos without reading them. But a full export takes Facebook longer to prepare and can be several gigabytes to download. If it arrived as several ZIP files, select all of them together. For regular checks, a friends-only export is quicker.
More fixes for all four platforms are in the tutorial's troubleshooting section.
Common questions
Can I download my Facebook friends list without the export?
Not as a file. Your profile's Friends tab shows the list, but Facebook has no option to save it as a file. The export is the official way to get it as a file.
Does anyone know that I downloaded my friends list?
No. Exporting your own information is a private action in your account settings. Nobody on your lists is notified, and the tool never connects to Facebook.
Can I download someone else's friends list?
No. The export only covers profiles you can log in to, so it contains your own friends, nobody else's.
Why aren't there profile links in the results?
Facebook's export contains display names only. The tool doesn't guess a profile address from a name, because that would often open the wrong person. Search for the name on Facebook instead.
What about apps that show who unfriended me?
Facebook's developer platform only shows an app the friends who also use that same app. Apps and browser extensions that promise your full friends list, or who deleted you, usually need your login or run inside your logged-in browser. With the export, nothing logs in as you.
How often should I export?
There's no rule. Each new export in the same browser is compared with your last saved analysis, so the time between two exports is the period the "No longer friends" list covers.