You have surely seen closed profiles on VK. And perhaps you have asked yourself the question: why do people close their profiles? Or—how to close your own profile? We answer this and other questions about closed profiles.

Why close a profile on VK?

Personal boundaries

Everyone is different. Some like to live publicly, sharing the details of their lives openly. Others, on the contrary, refuse even to start social media accounts to keep nosy strangers out of their lives. But if you still want to share the joy of events with friends, you can create a VK page and make it private.

Protection from spammers

If you close your profile and set it up correctly, your profile will not be searchable or contactable without adding as a friend.

Protection from fraudsters

It is impossible to download photos or videos from a closed profile, meaning no one can download them to infringe copyrights or invade privacy.

Child protection

A closed profile reduces the likelihood of fraudsters or pedophiles accessing your child. Therefore, the level of safety is somewhat increased.

Drawbacks of a closed account

Along with the undeniable benefits of privacy, closed accounts have drawbacks. More precisely—one drawback. A closed account cannot become popular. After all, no one but your friends will see it. So, if you do not plan to earn money from a group or profile, you can safely close it. Otherwise, it's better to leave it open and accessible to everyone.

How to close a profile on VK from a computer

A closed profile reflects minimal information about a person. Usually, it's just the name and surname, an avatar that does not open as a full photo, the number of friends, online status, "Add Friend" and "Send Message" buttons. However, the city, date of birth, place of work, and "Send Message" button can be made unavailable.

Moreover, after closing, your profile is unlikely to appear in searches and recommendations. So, to close a profile on a PC, you need to act like this.

Step 1. Log into VK on your page and click "Settings."

Step 2. Now select the "Privacy" section in the right column.

Step 3. Scroll to the very bottom of the "Privacy" section and select the "Miscellaneous" subsection. There, in the "Profile Type," choose "Closed."

Step 4. Now, confirm that you want to close the profile. Click "Still close profile."

Now random visitors will only see the bare minimum of information about you. If you decide to open your profile, it will be enough to return to the settings and disable this option.

How to close a VK profile from a phone

The principle of closing a profile on VK in the smartphone app is about the same. First, you need to go into this very app, and then adjust the level of privacy.

Step 1. Open VK ID. To do this, click on the avatar icon in the top left corner.

Step 2. Now find "Privacy" and enter that section.

Step 3. In "Privacy," scroll to the "Miscellaneous" section and just click "Closed Profile." Then, as in the PC version, you will need to click the button "Still close profile."

Close even more

VK allows you to vary the degree of profile privacy. If it is not enough just to close it and make it inaccessible to random people, you can adjust additional privacy settings.

To do this in the "Privacy" section, you can activate the following options:

• prohibit sending messages. If you activate the "Contact me" option, only friends or no one at all can message or call you;
• restrict access to posts. You can select a group of people who can view or post on your page, see comments on posts, or comment on them;
• restrict access to photos. This option allows you to prohibit or allow tagging you in photos, seeing locations or tags on photos;
• restrict access to stories;
• make it so that not everyone on the internet can see your profile; - choose who can see basic information on the page, date of birth, photos, group lists, audio files, gifts, game activity, etc.

Summary

So, you can make your profile private, completely restricting other users' activities towards you. Or you can be open to everyone. It all depends on the tasks you set for yourself. By the way, viewing a closed VK profile is impossible from either a phone or a computer.

And if at some point you decide to reopen your profile, you can do so with a flick of the wrist: "Settings" — "Privacy" — "Make profile open."