Can You Hide Your Connection Count on LinkedIn?

So you were browsing LinkedIn, landed on someone's profile, and noticed something odd. You could see your mutual connections, but their total connection count was nowhere to be found. Naturally, the first question that pops into your head is: wait, can I do that too?

Short answer: sort of, but probably not in the way you are hoping. Let me walk you through exactly what LinkedIn lets you hide, what it does not, and why you might be seeing profiles without a visible connection count.

What Does LinkedIn Actually Let You Hide?

LinkedIn gives you a decent amount of control over your network visibility, but there is one big catch that trips almost everyone up. Here is what you can actually control from your settings:

• Your connections list: You can hide the full list of who you are connected to. When set to "Only you," other people cannot browse through your connections.

• Your follower count visibility: You can adjust who sees your followers in some contexts.

• Your activity and profile viewing mode: You can browse in private mode and limit what shows up in feeds.

Now here is the part that frustrates people. Even when you hide your connections list, LinkedIn still displays your connection count on your profile. So visitors will see "500+ connections" or "312 connections" even though they cannot see who those connections are.

On top of that, there is one thing you can never hide, no matter what your settings say: mutual connections. If someone visits your profile and you share connections, LinkedIn will show them. That is by design. LinkedIn treats mutual connections as information that belongs to both parties, so your privacy settings cannot override the other person's right to see who they know in common with you.

So Why Did That Profile Show Mutual Connections but No Count?

This is the interesting part of your question, and there are a few likely explanations:

1. You Might Have Been Looking at a Company Page or Creator Profile

Company pages and profiles in creator mode display things differently. Creator mode, before LinkedIn phased parts of it into the default experience, emphasized follower count over connection count. Some profiles that lean into follower mode show "X followers" prominently and tuck the connection count away or drop it from certain views entirely.

2. LinkedIn Tests Features Constantly

LinkedIn is famous for rolling out UI experiments to small slices of users. What you see on one profile today might look different tomorrow, and different again for your colleague sitting next to you. It is entirely possible you caught an A/B test where connection counts were hidden or moved. If that test performs well, it could become a real setting later, but as of now there is no toggle in your settings that says "hide my connection count."

3. Viewing Context Matters

The mobile app, desktop site, and logged-out public profile views all render profiles differently. A public profile viewed without logging in often shows less information, including sometimes omitting the exact count. If you were logged out or viewing through a shared link, that could explain it.

4. Very New or Restricted Accounts

Brand new accounts, accounts under review, or profiles with certain restrictions sometimes display incomplete information. It is rare, but it happens.

Can I Hide My Connection Count Right Now?

Honestly, no. There is currently no official setting that removes the connection count from your profile. What you can do is minimize what people learn from it:

• Hide your connections list. Go to Settings and Privacy, then Visibility, then "Connections" and set it to only you. People will see your count but not who is in it.

• Switch the emphasis to followers. If you turn on follow as your primary action, your profile leads with follower count, which slightly de-emphasizes the connection figure.

• Cross the 500 threshold. Once you pass 500 connections, LinkedIn just shows "500+" forever. Whether you have 501 or 15,000, visitors see the same thing. For a lot of people, that is privacy enough.

If you want a visual walkthrough of LinkedIn's privacy settings, this YouTube search for LinkedIn privacy settings tutorials has several up-to-date guides worth ten minutes of your time.

Why Do People Want to Hide Their Connection Count Anyway?

This question comes up a lot, and the reasons are usually pretty practical:

• Recruiters and salespeople protecting their network. If you have spent years building relationships, you do not want competitors mining your list. Hiding the list solves most of this, even if the count stays visible.

• Avoiding judgment. Some people feel a low connection count makes them look junior or inactive. Others feel a huge count makes them look like a spammy connector.

• General privacy. Some folks simply do not want to broadcast the size of their professional circle.

Here is a slightly contrarian take though: your connection count matters far less than what you do with your network. A profile with 800 connections and genuine engagement will outperform a dormant profile with 20,000 connections every single time. If you are curious about how LinkedIn's algorithm actually weighs activity and relationships, this breakdown of the LinkedIn algorithm by Buffer is a solid read.

What Should You Focus on Instead?

If you are worried about the number on your profile, redirect that energy toward the things that actually move the needle:

• Post consistently. Even one thoughtful post a week keeps you visible to your network.

• Engage before you broadcast. Commenting on others' posts often drives more profile visits than your own content.

• Connect with intent. Quality connections in your industry beat random accepts every time.

• Optimize your headline and about section. That is what people actually read, not your connection count.

Quick Recap

• You can hide your connections list, but not your connection count.

• Mutual connections are always visible to people who share them with you. No setting changes that.

• The profile you saw was likely a creator-mode layout, a UI test, or a different viewing context, not a new privacy setting you are missing.

• Once you pass 500 connections, everyone just sees "500+" anyway.

So no, you are not overlooking a hidden toggle. Your settings are correct, and LinkedIn simply does not offer count hiding yet. If it ever becomes an official feature, it will show up under Settings and Privacy, then Visibility, so keep an eye there.

One Last Thought

If you care enough about your LinkedIn presence to fine-tune privacy settings, you are probably also thinking about how to grow and manage your network more intentionally. That is exactly the kind of thing we built exeedin for. It is a LinkedIn SaaS that helps you understand, organize, and get real value out of your network instead of obsessing over the numbers on your profile. Give it a look, your future connections will thank you.