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You can request a copy of your Facebook information through Accounts Center and check its friends-related files for clues about when you became friends. The export does not necessarily include a definitive friendship-start date for every friend, so treat it as a way to look—not a guaranteed answer.
Request your Facebook information
Facebook’s Download Your Information tool lets you view and download data about how you have used Facebook. Meta notes that its data tools evolve and may include additional information as they are updated: Meta’s Download Your Information overview.
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Open Facebook and go to Accounts Center. On desktop, a current third-party walkthrough places the option under Your information and permissions → Download your information. On mobile, it describes starting at Menu → Settings & privacy → Settings → Accounts Center. Labels and paths can change; look for the download option in Accounts Center if yours differs. See Zapier’s walkthrough.
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Select the Facebook profile whose friendship information you want to check.
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Choose all available information, or select the friends-related category if Facebook offers that option. If you are looking for an older friendship, use a broad date range. Facebook has described data-type and date-range selection as export options, though the available choices may change: Facebook’s 2019 submission.
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Choose a format, then create the files or submit the download request. Facebook’s historical description covers both HTML and JSON exports; the current interface may present different or additional choices.
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When Facebook makes the export available, download it and extract the archive on your device.
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Choose HTML or JSON
The format affects how convenient the export is to inspect, not whether it contains a friendship date.
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Format |
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What to expect |
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HTML |
Browsing the information yourself |
Facebook described HTML as easy for a person to view. |
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JSON |
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These format descriptions come from Facebook’s 2019 submission; export options and presentation can change.
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- Designed for the home. With a sleek picture frame design, quick setup and intuitive voice and touchscreen controls, Meta Portal fits easily and seamlessly into your home.
- Privacy by design. Easily disable the camera and microphone, or block the lens with the camera cover.
Look for friends-related information in the archive
Open the extracted folders and files and look for names or sections related to friends or friend requests. The exact folder names, filenames, and fields can vary; the available documentation does not establish a current export schema, so there is no reliable filename or field to promise.
If a record includes a date, read its label carefully. A sent or received friend-request record is not necessarily the date the request was accepted or the date the friendship began. Older Facebook Help Center material reproduced in a PDF lists pending sent and received friend requests as a data category, but does not establish that the archive gives a definitive accepted-friendship date for every current friend: the reproduced Help Center material.
What to do if you cannot find the friendship date
If the friends-related files contain no clearly labeled start date, the export may not tell you precisely when you became friends. The reviewed documentation does not confirm that every export includes such a field. Do not treat a request date, if present, as proof of the date the friendship began.
You can still use any dated entry as a clue, provided you distinguish what it records from the accepted friendship date you are trying to find. Avoid drawing a precise conclusion from a record whose meaning or status is unclear.
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