Quick Answer
No, other LinkedIn members cannot see your phone number on your profile by default. LinkedIn gives you control over what personal information you make visible to others. Your phone number is hidden from public view and only visible to you when you are logged into your account. There are a few exceptions where LinkedIn may share your phone number with specific parties, such as employers you apply to through LinkedIn. Overall, LinkedIn aims to protect your privacy and allow you to choose what you share.
Explaining LinkedIn’s Privacy Settings
LinkedIn has robust privacy settings that allow you to control what information is visible on your profile. Your phone number is considered private information that is not made public to others on LinkedIn.
Here are the key things to know about LinkedIn’s privacy settings for your phone number:
- Your phone number is never shown on your public profile. It remains private and hidden from other members.
- You can view your phone number when logged into your account, but it is not displayed on your profile to others.
- You can choose to show your phone number when applying for jobs through LinkedIn. This allows employers to contact you.
- Some applications and services integrated with LinkedIn may request access to your phone number.
- LinkedIn’s privacy policy outlines appropriate uses for your data. LinkedIn does not sell or share your personal data without your consent.
In summary, you have control through LinkedIn’s privacy settings over who can view your phone number. By default, it stays private and hidden from public view.
Viewing Your Phone Number on Your Profile
While your phone number is not displayed on your public profile, you can view it when logged into your LinkedIn account by following these steps:
- Click on your profile icon in the top right corner
- From the drop-down menu, choose “View profile”
- This will take you to a preview of your public profile
- Scroll down and click “Contact info”
- Here you can see your phone number listed
Remember, this is only visible to you while logged in. Other members visiting your profile will not see your phone number.
When Your Phone Number May Be Shared
In most cases, LinkedIn will not share your phone number without your explicit consent. However, there are some exceptions where LinkedIn may share your phone number with specific parties:
- Job Applications: If you apply for a job through LinkedIn, you may choose to share your phone number with the employer so they can contact you.
- Advertisers: If you provide consent, LinkedIn may share your phone number with advertisers for direct marketing purposes.
- LinkedIn Applications: Third-party apps integrated with LinkedIn may request access to your phone number with additional consent from you.
- Legal Requests: LinkedIn may be required to provide information to comply with laws or respond to lawful requests from governments or law enforcement.
However, in these cases LinkedIn states they will limit sharing of your personal data to only what is required for the specific purpose.
Setting Your Phone Number Privacy on LinkedIn
LinkedIn makes it easy to adjust your privacy settings related to your phone number. Here are the steps to update who can view your phone number on LinkedIn:
- Click on your profile picture and select “Settings & Privacy”
- Choose “Privacy”
- Scroll down and click “How LinkedIn uses your data”
- Under “Setting visibility of your insights”, choose “Edit visibility of insights”
- This will open visibility controls for profile data like your phone number
- For phone number, choose from public, connections only, or private visibility
- Be sure to click “Save changes” to apply your new settings
Through these settings, you can easily control who sees your phone number on LinkedIn. The default setting is private visibility, meaning your phone number will remain hidden from public view but visible to you when logged in.
Selectively Showing Your Phone Number
While keeping your phone number fully private is the safest option, you may want to make it visible in certain situations, like when applying for jobs through LinkedIn.
You can choose to selectively show your phone number to:
- Recruiters: Display your phone number when applying for jobs so employers can call you.
- Your Connections: Broaden visibility to allow your direct connections to view your number.
- Public: Share your phone number on your profile for anyone to see (not recommended).
LinkedIn allows you to toggle visibility on and off for specific use cases. You control the dial when it comes to your phone number.
Best Practices for Protecting Your Phone Number
To keep your phone number secure on LinkedIn, here are some best practices:
- Maintain the default privacy setting of only visible to you.
- Be selective if showing your number to recruiters or connections.
- Avoid sharing your number publicly on your profile.
- Review applications that request your number and revoke access if needed.
- Use two-factor authentication on your account.
- Reset your password periodically and use a unique password.
- Be wary of requests for your number from people you don’t know.
Following these tips will help safeguard your phone number and prevent unwanted calls or spam.
Using Alternate Contact Options
If you are concerned about privacy, there are alternatives to adding your phone number on LinkedIn:
- List your LinkedIn profile URL to allow people to message you.
- Create a new professional email address to share instead.
- Consider listing just your city or state instead of full contact details.
- You can also keep all fields blank and engage first with new connections.
This allows you to control contact on your terms without openly sharing personal information like your phone number.
Who Can See Your LinkedIn Profile and Activity?
In addition to choosing who sees your phone number, it’s important to understand how your wider LinkedIn activity and profile are visible to others. Here’s a breakdown:
Publicly Visible to Anyone
These parts of your profile and activity can be seen by all LinkedIn members as well as anonymous visitors:
- Your photo
- Your name
- Your headline
- Your industry
- Your geographic location (city/state)
- Your connections in common
- Your company pages if you follow them
- Any posts or content you share publicly
This public information helps build your professional brand and network on LinkedIn.
Visible Only to Direct Connections
These parts of your profile and activity are only visible to your first-degree connections:
- Your experience and education history
- Your skills and endorsements
- Your accomplishments
- Your interests and groups
- Your contact details (including phone number if made visible)
- Full profile view showing all available info
- Your connections list
This provides privacy while still allowing your network to know your full professional background.
Visible Only to You
These parts of LinkedIn are only visible privately to you when logged into your account:
- Your phone number by default
- Your email address
- Other contact details like IM accounts or addresses
- Your birthday
- Your interests and hobbies
- Ads you’ve clicked on or viewed
- Pages of connections you’ve visited
- Salary insights
Keeping some profile sections fully private allows you to control sensitive information.
Conclusion
Your phone number is kept private by default on LinkedIn and not visible to others viewing your profile. You have complete control through LinkedIn’s privacy settings to determine when you selectively share your number, such as when applying for jobs or with your direct connections. However, the most cautious approach is keeping your phone number fully private to avoid unwanted calls or spam. With the right privacy settings, you can protect your information while still benefitting from LinkedIn’s professional networking tools.