Can I search for a person by photo? Absolutely yes. Many tools on the market help you run a reverse image search. However, finding someone with a picture is only the beginning. The need to know specific information about the person drives your search. Whether you want to get your crush’s contact information, check if the person you met on a dating app is a catfish, or find out the name of the person who violated your rights, we’ll show you how to find someone with a picture and how to run further searches to get the information you need.

Method 1: Quick face search (free)

As long as you have a good photo, no matter what you’re looking for, always start with a reverse image search using popular search engines like Google, Bing, and Yandex. These tools are easy to use and can provide immediate results. If you’re lucky, you can find what you want right away.

Running a reverse image search on Google, Bing, and Yandex is pretty much the same. Since Google is the most popular search engine in the world, we will use it as an example for reverse image searching a picture used by scammers:

1. Go to Google and click the camera icon.
   
2. Select “upload a file” and search.
   
3. Check the result page.
   

Through the given links, you can see the person’s real name and his Facebook page. On Pinterest pages, comments say this person’s real name is Joe XXX and scammer using his picture. 

This free method is useful for checking if you’re talking to a catfish online. Especially when the owner is an active netizen, a social media influencer, or a celebrity, you can find related photos and info easily through this method. However, it’s common to find nothing or wrong images from these search engines.

If you want to find information about ordinary people using photos, a professional facial recognition search tool is a better option.

Method 2: Facial recognition search

Facial recognition engines are specifically designed to recognize and match faces, providing images with similar faces from various sources, including social media, news websites, and other readable web pages.

Consider this situation, you’re looking for someone on Instagram by picture, but Instagram does not have a built-in feature for reverse image search. Therefore, you have to find other ways to run an Instagram reverse image search. According to our research, the tools in Method 1 rarely return Instagram results (despite rumors that Google doesn’t index images on IG, it does), and these tools often search for objects in the photo instead of faces.

It turns out that PimEyes and FaceCheck are effective tools that return similar faces with previews and are super easy to use. 

FaceCheck.ID VS PimEyes

FaceCheck and PimEyes are two popular facial recognition search engines in the market. You can see them in TikTok videos, YouTube, and many posts. So are they good? Which one would suit you?

We used the same image from an Instagram account to run a test. You can see both of them can find related pictures on their result pages. PimEyes find the exact image, though FaceCheck doesn’t show the exact image, it did find the right person.

Both of them require payment to access the source of the image. We suggest that those who only need related pictures and people who want to check if someone is a catfish can stop at the free part.

💡Tips:

• You can take a screenshot and save the photo listed in PimEyes or FaceCheck, then go back and search with the tools in Method 1.
• When someone’s profile image is degraded or pixelated, it’s pretty clear the image is from another source.

Differences between PimEyes and FaceCheck

PimEyes and FaceCheck have quite similar steps: just upload the image and click search, then wait for the results. Both tools can return good results for clear and visible photos, but for those who only have low-quality photos, we recommend FaceCheck. Based on our test, PimEyes can’t find results for blurred images and faces with masks, while FaceCheck provides fairly good results. This indicates that FaceCheck has a higher tolerance for lower-quality images.

All-in-one search engine

If you’re looking for a cheaper alternative, try Social Catfish. Social Catfish is an online dating investigation service offering both reverse image search and people search functions. This tool also features facial recognition helps you find a person using their picture, and the additional information can be used for further searches.
While it may not be the top choice for reverse image searches, Social Catfish stands out as the only tool I know that combines both reverse image and people search capabilities, making it a versatile option for finding someone using a picture.

1. Go to Social Catfish.
2. Click the Image tab to run a reverse image search.
3. Upload image and click Search.
   💰Price: Unlimited image searches require $6.87 for 3 days then $28.97 per month. (The prices listed are as of the date the article was updated.)
   
4. Social Catfish will generate a result page. You can use the information to run further searches. Social Catfish supports Name, Email, Phone, Address, and Username search.
   

This tool is handy for dating site users, saving you time and effort in using different tools.

Bonus tips:

1. Other ways to find someone with a picture :

• Asking around in the place where you met the person might help.
• Post a photo and tell the story of why you want to meet the person again on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and X (formerly Twitter). Kindhearted netizens may give you some clues or help you find the person. 

2. Gather additional information about someone (name/address/contacts)

I believe the need to know more about the person drives you to get the source of an image. The URL of the image may provide various details, such as social media accounts, or information about their friends and family. However, facial recognition engines like FaceCheck and PimEyes don’t reveal the name of the person pictured, and there’s no guarantee they’ll find specific accounts like Instagram. As Giorgi Gobronidze, CEO of PimEyes, said, “We identify websites that identify images similar to the search material.”^[1] Therefore, you’ll need to do some additional online research to piece together the person’s identity.

Comment
byu/Necessary_Drive969 from discussion
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Once you have some clues about the person in the picture using the previous methods, you’re more likely to discover additional information, such as their real name, possible address, and contact details. With certain searching techniques and the right tools, you can find what you need. However, if you lack such knowledge, people search tools can help you quickly access a lot of basic information.

People search services aggregate a massive amount of data from different sources and process it to compile detailed individual reports. There are many people search services online, both free and paid. Most of them only support searches with names, phone numbers, and addresses. Therefore, we suggest trying BeenVerified, a powerful and reputable people search service. Its reverse username lookup helps you find out who is behind a social media profile. Supported platforms include Snapchat, Facebook, Instagram, X (formerly Twitter), and much more.

1. Go to BeenVerified.
2. Enter a username and click Search.
   
3. Wait for a few minutes for BeenVerified to find matches. Click the drop-down menu to check potential owners’ names, or click Search Person to run people search.
   
   Note: No results were found for Rihanna Fenty on BeenVerified. Her team may have removed her report from the service.

We noticed some people are looking for detailed information about someone with a picture due to self-protection. That’s very brave and clever. But don’t forget to seek help from the police, family, and friends. 

3. How to track someone with a picture

Some users have asked, “Can someone trace my location from a picture” due to safety concerns^[2]. In fact, there are ways to track someone with a picture but you don’t need to worry about it too much. Read on to find out why.

Method 1: Reverse image search with Google

Just like the method mentioned earlier, upload the photo and search. Google may provide valuable information about the location or other related details, helping you find out where the photo was taken. This method is good for identifying tourist attractions but not for private houses or communities.

Method 2: Viewing GPS coordinates within the image

Besides the visual elements, an image file contains valuable additional information called image metadata. Image metadata is a set of text information that provides specific details about the photo itself and how it was taken, including GPS coordinates. 

EXIF (Exchangeable Image File Format) is the most common type of image metadata in digital photos. By viewing EXIF data, you may find GPS coordinates and determine where the person was when they took the picture.

• For Windows users: Select the file, then right-click and choose “Properties” from the pop-up menu. Click the “Details” tab, then scroll down to check EXIF data.
  

• For Mac users: Select the photo you want to remove and press Command+i together to open Inspector. Under the Info tab, choose GPS, and then you’ll see GPS coordinates.  
  
• For iPhone users: Select an image in the Photos app, then tap the Info button (an “i” in a circle) under the image.
  
• For Android users: Find the photo you want to view in Google Photo app, swipe up on the photo or tap the three-dot menu icon in the top right corner. You’ll see the photo’s EXIF data.
  

You can also use online services to extract EXIF data from images. There are many online tools for this, such as jimpl.com. This tool provides a clear visual for users to check EXIF data. You can also use the image URL to check without downloading the photo. If there are any GPS coordinates attached to the data, you can see them right there.

Does it mean we can easily find GPS coordinates from images online? No. In fact, it’s really hard to find an image with EXIF files on the internet, let alone one containing GPS coordinates. It’s because EXIF files are easily removed, and most popular social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and X (formerly Twitter) automatically strip out EXIF data and do not display this information to the general public. So, you don’t need to worry about the pictures you’ve already shared on the internet.

How to protect your privacy

The first important step is to set your phone’s camera Location Services to Never. Both iOS^[3] and Android systems allow you to turn off location services. In this case, the photos taken with your camera will never contain GPS coordinates. Note that other information, such as camera settings and camera model will still be recorded in the metadata.

Second, check your photo’s metadata before sending original photos to others, especially those taken before turning off location services. These photos may contain GPS coordinates. I’ve tested several times and found that when sending the original image with the actual size to someone by email, the metadata could still be retained and unintentionally reveal your personal information, such as GPS coordinates. Remove metadata when needed. 

In short, to protect your privacy, disable location services on your camera and check the metadata before sending or removing metadata from existing photos.

How to remove Metadata

• For Windows users: Right-click on the file and choose “Properties” from the pop-up menu. Head to the “Details” tab and then click “Remove Properties and Personal Information”.
  
• For Mac users: Open the photo you want to remove location info, then click Tools > Show Inspector. In the open window, click Info>GPS, then click “Remove Location Info”.  
  
• For iPhone users:
  1. Select an image in the Photos app, then tap the Info button (an “i” in a circle) under the image.
  2. Tap “Adjust” in the right corner of the map.
     
  3. Then tap “No Location”.
     

• For Android users: Google Photos doesn’t allow you to edit or remove the location if the location was automatically added by your camera^[4]. You can only remove estimated locations in the photo. The steps are the same as how to view metadata on Android:
  1. Select the photo on Google Photos.
  2. Swipe up on the photo or tap the “three-dot” menu icon in the top right corner.
  3. Click the “Edit” icon beside Location.
     
  4. Tap “Remove location”.
     

There is an easier way to remove EXIF data from your photo for smartphone users. You can use a third-party photo editor app to edit your image; for example, Snapseed doesn’t preserve EXIF when exporting the photo.

Conclusion

There are numerous tools available in the market to find someone using a picture, and we recommend starting with free options, especially for those needing to verify identities or avoid scams. Advanced facial recognition tools can assist in identifying individuals and providing additional context. However, discovering someone’s photo online is just the initial step toward understanding their identity.

If you have specific needs, such as locating an Instagram account and facial recognition tools don’t yield results, consider using people search tools when you have additional information beyond just a photo. These tools can provide deeper insights into the person’s background.

Moreover, image metadata often goes unnoticed in today’s social media landscape. Being aware of this can help protect your privacy and encourage caution when sharing images online. By adopting the right approach, you can uncover hidden details within an image and make informed decisions based on your discoveries.

FAQ

1. Allyn, B. (2023, October 11). ‘Too dangerous’: Why even Google was afraid to release this technology. NPR. https://www.npr.org/2023/10/11/1204822946/facial-recognition-search-engine-ai-pim-eyes-google↩
2. r/discordapp [InternationalBag7]. (2020, September 3). Can someone trace my location from a picture sent on discord [Online forum post]. Reddit. https://www.reddit.com/r/discordapp/comments/ilp9si/can_someone_trace_my_location_from_a_picture_sent/↩
3. Apple Support. (2023, September 18). Stop and remove location metadata in Photos. Apple. https://support.apple.com/en-sg/guide/personal-safety/ips0d7a5df82/web↩
4. Google Photos Help. (n.d.) Understand, find and edit your photos’ locations. Google. https://support.google.com/photos/answer/6153599?hl=en-GB&co=GENIE.Platform=Android↩