How Do You Remove Connections on LinkedIn?
Silent, immediate, and it leaves a loose end most people do not know about.
Open their profile, click More under their headline, and choose Remove connection. Confirm, and the connection is gone immediately.
You can also do it from My Network, then Connections, where each entry has a menu with the same option.
LinkedIn does not notify them. They find out only by noticing, and most people never do.
The part that catches people: removing a connection does not stop them following you. A first-degree connection is automatically a follower, and removing the connection leaves the follow in place — so they keep seeing your posts.
That loose end is worth understanding because it defeats the usual reason for removing somebody.
LinkedIn has two relationships and treats them as separate. A connection is mutual and gives both sides each other's updates and contact details. A follow is one-directional and gives the follower your posts.
When you connect with somebody, LinkedIn creates the connection and a follow in both directions. When you remove the connection, it removes the connection. The follows remain.
So a former connection continues to see everything you publish, indefinitely, unless you remove them as a follower too — which is a separate action in a separate place, under Settings, Visibility, Followers.
For most people this does not matter. For anybody removing a connection because they do not want that person reading their activity, it matters entirely, and the first action alone accomplishes nothing.
The reverse case is worth knowing too: if you want to stop seeing somebody's posts without ending the professional relationship, unfollow them instead. The connection stays, they are not told, and your feed stops carrying them. That is what most people searching for how to remove a connection actually want.
Removing from the profile
Open the person's profile. Under their name and headline there is a row of buttons, with More at the end.
Click More and choose Remove connection. LinkedIn asks for confirmation because the action cannot be undone from your side.
On mobile the layout differs by version but the More menu is in the same place, beneath the headline.
The change takes effect immediately. Their degree indicator on your screen goes from first to second or third.
Removing several at once
Go to My Network, then Connections, which lists everybody with a search box and filters.
Each row has a three-dot menu containing Remove connection. There is no multi-select, so a large clear-out is one at a time.
The list can be sorted by recently added, which is useful when the connections you want gone all arrived in one burst from a campaign you accepted carelessly.
LinkedIn caps total connections at 30,000, and people who hit it have to remove before they can add.
Unfollow, which is usually the right action
Unfollowing keeps the connection and stops their posts reaching your feed.
It is on the same More menu, and it can also be done from any of their posts in your feed through the post's own menu — which is the fastest route, because that is usually where you remembered you wanted to.
They are not notified, and your connection and their access to you are unchanged.
For colleagues, clients and anybody you may need later, this is the proportionate tool. Removing a connection to escape a noisy feed is throwing away the relationship to solve a display problem.
Removing them as a follower too
This is the second half nobody does.
Go to Settings, then Visibility, then Followers. The list can be managed there, and removing somebody stops them receiving your posts.
You can also switch your account so that only connections can follow you, which closes the gap for everybody at once.
If your reason for removing a connection was that you do not want that person watching your activity, this step is the one that accomplishes it.
Reconnecting, and why it is awkward
A removed connection can be re-sent as an invitation, and LinkedIn does not block it.
What it does do is keep a record visible to neither of you, and if they accepted an invitation from you previously, the second invitation looks exactly like the first from their side.
There is also a withdrawal limit: invitations you send and withdraw repeatedly count against your ability to send more, and LinkedIn restricts accounts that invite aggressively.
That makes removing connections slightly riskier than it feels for anybody who is also growing their network, because the account-level limits do not distinguish between a clear-out and a campaign.
Questions people ask about removing LinkedIn connections
Does LinkedIn tell someone I removed them?
No. The removal is silent and immediate. They can only notice that your degree indicator changed.
Can they still see my posts after I remove them?
Yes. Removing a connection leaves the follow in place. To stop them seeing your activity you also have to remove them as a follower, in Settings under Visibility.
What is the difference between removing and unfollowing?
Unfollowing keeps the connection and stops their posts in your feed. Removing ends the connection and does nothing about what they see of yours.
Can I remove many connections at once?
No. There is no multi-select in My Network, so a clear-out is one at a time through each row's menu.
Can I reconnect afterwards?
Yes, by sending a new invitation. Repeatedly inviting and withdrawing counts against account-level limits, so a large clear-out followed by re-adding is risky.
Is there a connection limit?
Yes, 30,000. People who reach it have to remove connections before they can accept any more.
Keep reading
- connections on a LinkedIn profile — Network size is the first filter recruiters and buyers apply before reading anything, and connections on a LinkedIn profile is that part of the picture.
- the difference between the two relationships — Almost everything confusing here comes from LinkedIn having two, and the difference between the two relationships sets them apart.
- removing someone as a follower — The second half of a clean removal is a different screen, and removing someone as a follower is where it is.