How to Find Someone with a Photo (9 Search Methods)

Finding someone using images has become quite easy due to modern search tools and databases. You can track down individuals to find and reconnect with long-lost friends and relatives. It may be necessary to find some unknown people with their pictures for finding their contact information for business, location their social media to approach them for work or friendship, etc.

However, finding someone with a picture without their consent can be illegal if you have malicious intent. It is also considered an invasion of privacy and violation of various privacy guidelines and laws worldwide.

Therefor, keeping all these in mind I have provided some of the best apps and methods that I reviewed firsthand to find someone by using their picture: Read more…

Method 1: How to find a person by photo using Social Catfish

During my analysis of Social Catfish’s Reverse Image Search, I found it to be an established leader in reverse search. It is a trustworthy service for finding someone using the name, email, phone, address, or image. I particularly find it perfect for users looking to identify and investigate an individual through an image.

Its database consists of 200 billion records that get updated frequently. Hence, Social Catfish offers mostly accurate results with occasional false positives. I like that it ensure anonymity in its searches, thus, you can search without worrying about notifying the target person. 

Features:

• Locate Lost Connections: I could find old friends and colleagues online using their images. Social Catfish offered me a lot of helpful personal information, including alternative names, email addresses, phone numbers, and more.
• Track Online Accounts: It helped me discover a person using a photo to find their social media profile. There were also several duplicates of the same image that was posted on their other social media accounts. 
• Avoid Being Scammed: If you are currently seeing someone online but doubt their legitimacy, you can use Social Catfish. This tool can bring up the real identity of a person, including their age, real name, educational background, occupation, criminal background, etc. 
• Find Address History: I wanted to connect with an old childhood friend, but I couldn’t reach her number or her email. Hence, I decided to look up her address so I could meet her face-to-face. Social Catfish provided their complete address history, including past and current addresses. 
• Supported Platforms: It supports all popular platforms like Web, Windows, Android, and iOS.

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5-Day Free Trial for $5.73 – Unlimited Searches

Here are the steps that I used to find someone using Social Catfish Reverse Image Search:

Step 1) Go to socialcatfish.com on your browser and select the image option.

Step 2) Upload the Image from your local storage on the Social Catfish’s server and click the Search button.

Step 3) After searching and analyzing your image, a new page will open. Here, click “Yes, I Understand.”

Step 4) Then, the payment page will appear for downloading a detailed report of the searched person.

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5-Day Free Trial for $5.73 – Unlimited Searches

Method 2: Using Spokeo for Reverse Image Search

When I first tried to find someone using just a picture, I realized it was more complex than I hoped. Hence, I recommend combining a reverse image search with Spokeo to make it achievable. I began by uploading the image to Google Images for a reverse search. This step helped me uncover where the picture had appeared online, leading me to a name and a couple of usernames associated with the person.

Armed with this information, I turned to Spokeo, a comprehensive people search engine that aggregates data from public records and online sources. By entering the names and usernames I found, Spokeo provided me with detailed contact information, social media profiles, and even some public records. It was fascinating to see how much more depth I could get beyond the initial image search results.

Features:

• Billions of Records: Finding someone on Spokeo is instant since it has billions of records, including data records from the property, consumers, courts, businesses, history, and more. 
• Social Media: After I found the social media username linked to my target’s image when I searched on Google, I came straight to Spokeo to perform a username search. Spokeo helped me look up this username and took me to their Snapchat through its report. I also found additional long-lost images in the report, which was quite helpful. 
• Anonymity: I learned that Spokeo maintains complete privacy of your searches. It never notifies the person being searched; hence, you can continue playing detective in peace. 
• Sends Alerts: Every time a piece of new information is added to your existing search record reports, you will get updates or alerts. This helped me find out the new number of the friend who I couldn’t get in touch with.
• All Apps: It can scan up to 120+ social networks. Therefore, it is capable of uncovering a person’s details, including e-commerce accounts, dating apps,  and much more.

Here’s how I conducted a reverse Image search with Spokeo

Step 1) Do a reverse image using Google – evaluate the results

Step 2) Collect identifying information like Full names, nicknames, aliases, Usernames, or handles on social media platforms. Associated email addresses or any contact information can also be used.

Step 3) Visit Spokeo’s website. Enter this information such as full name, email address or username collected in Step 2 to perform the search.

Step 4) Spokeo provides:

• Up-to-date contact information.
• Links to social media profiles.
• Even public records like address history.

Note: Check for accuracy of results and pay to access the information.

I encountered a few issues while using these reverse lookup sites. First, some of the information was outdated, so I had to cross-reference details to ensure they were current. Second, not all profiles had complete data—occasionally, I’d find limited information due to privacy settings or a lack of public records.

Despite these hurdles, the combination of reverse image search and Spokeo proved to be a powerful method for finding someone starting with just a picture. If you’re looking for the best way to find a person by image, using a photo lookup tool alongside reverse image search engines can enhance your results significantly. It turned a simple image into a gateway to a wealth of information.

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7-Days Trial for $0.95

Alternative Tools to Spokeo

Name	BeenVerified	Intelius
Social Media Search	Yes	Yes
Facial Recognition	No	No
Search Filters	Name, City, Age, etc.	Name, Email, Phone Number, etc.
Our Review	Excellent – 9.8	Excellent – 9.7
Free trial	7-Day Trial for $1	5-Day Trial for $0.95
Link	Learn More	Learn More

While Spokeo is a powerful resource for uncovering detailed information about a person using initial details from a reverse image search, there are other platforms that can help you achieve similar results. Here are some alternatives I found useful:

1) BeenVerified

I tried BeenVerified, a comprehensive people search engine that compiles data from public records and online sources. By entering the name, email, phone number, or username I gathered from the reverse image search, BeenVerified could offer me detailed background reports.

This included contact information, social media profiles, criminal records, and more. The platform was user-friendly and offered a wealth of information to help me learn more about the person I was searching for.

Features:

• Search Parameters: BeenVerified has numerous search parameters, including people search, phone lookup, email search, address lookup, username search, vehicle search, ancestry search, and more.
• Identification: BeenVerified helps you identify individuals using its searches. For example, I received a full name detail about an image that I looked up on Bing. However, I wasn’t satisfied with its details; therefore, I decided to use BeenVerified. This allowed me to get an in-depth report on the person, including their contact details. 
• Phone App: I like that it offers a phone app, hence, I can lookup people anytime I want, on-the-go. This has also helped me find accurate details on a person my friend decided to meet up after chatting online. I used their image from Hinge and found their Instagram username; then I used BeenVerified to look them up. 
• People Directory: If you find a name associated with the image, you can also use its people directory. This directory includes names from A to Z, and it has helped me find numerous people with whom I lost contact. You can try it, especially if this individual has a common first name. 

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7-Day Trial for $1

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2) Intelius

Another tool I used was Intelius, which offers background check services and access to public records. With Intelius, I searched for individuals by name, phone number, or address. It helped me uncover contact details, address history, relatives, and potential criminal records.

It is also not a direct reverse image lookup tool that can help you find someone with a picture. However, I used its other search parameters by looking up the target person’s photo on reverse image lookup sites. That’s because Intelius offers a lot of detailed information that you wouldn’t want to miss out on. 

Features:

• Background Check: The image lookup site found me the name of my person of interest; hence, I could finally look them up on Intelius. This site provided me with complete background information on this individual, including their job, educational history, address, marital status, etc. 
• Criminal Background: If you are worried that your kid or a friend is talking to a stranger online. You can use a reverse image search engine and then bring any small piece of information found, such as email or name, and look them up. I was able to gather criminal background details on a guy that my friend started talking to after meeting him at New Years Eve. 
• Best for the US: Intelius can only look up people residing in the US, which sounds like a disadvantage, but not when you need a narrowed-down result. Hence, I was able to find my target people with a less overwhelming list of results.
• Directories: Intelius offers a people directory with names from A to Z. It also has a directory for trending names and phone numbers with area codes.  

Visit Intelius >>

5-Day Trial for $0.95

Method 3: How to Search by Image with Google Lens

I found the Google Image Search method to be one of the best ways to find someone’s picture on the internet or trace an image’s source. It is easy to use on the web, desktop, and Android, and iPhone devices. This method is essential for anyone looking for a dependable instant image search tool.

Features:

• Easy Search: You can easily search images based on keywords or perform a reverse facial recognition image search. Additionally, you do not have to download a separate software or pay for any subscription.
• Recommendations: The Google Images search engine recommends similar topics and pictures that you might be interested in. I could find several images in the recommendation that were related to the image I was searching for. 
• Google Lens: With its Google Lens integration, you can identify objects, faces, and specific locations or landmarks in an image. It is instant and works both with or without uploading the image. 
• Save images: You can save search results and conveniently view all saved versions of searched images. It also helped me organize my saved images so that I could find them easily in the saved area. 

Steps to find someone using Google Image Search:

Step 1) Open Google Image Search on your browser to search by image. Click the camera icon in the search box.

Step 2) A dialogue box will appear; now paste the URL for an image you want to search for or upload an image from your device. Then click on the Search button.

Step 3) After searching the image, you can find the source/site.

Link: https://images.google.com/

Method 4: How to Use Bing Reverse Image Search to Find Someone

I evaluated the Bing Image Search engine and particularly liked its capability to find a person by picture. With its Visual Search tool, Bing returns similar images and results across the web. It is best for users who need detailed and quick search results when they want to use an alternative to Google.

Features:

• Image search: You can take a picture, browse, drag, and drop or paste a URL link to add an image on its interface. 
• Suggestions: Visual Search suggests similar topics and images that you might be interested in. It also takes you to all the pages with the image and all the related content with similar images. 
• Keywords: I could search for images using keywords directly in the image search bar. You can also filter them based on freshness, transparency, and usage rights.
• Identify: It helped me identify various animal breeds, landmark monuments, furniture, etc. I could also crop its lens and find specific objects from the images, such as furniture, vehicles, shoes, etc. 

Steps to find someone using Bing Visual Search:

Step 1) Go to bing.com on your web browser. Then, click the “Find an image” button below the picture and upload the image of the subject.

Step 2) Once the Image is uploaded, a new screen will appear.

Step 3) You can crop and search for a particular object in the image using the “Visual Search” option below or allow it to look for the entire picture.

Step 4) After your search, save the result, sources, and images in your “saved images” folder. (You can create your new collection by clicking the option below.)

Link: https://www.bing.com/visualsearch

Method 5: How to find people by photo with TinEyes’s robust Match Engine

While conducting my review, I discovered that TineEye’s MatchEngine is typically another best way to perform reverse image searches with unmatched image recognition technology. It can identify manipulated images, including resizing, cropping, edits, and color adjustments.

Features:

• API: It can find duplicate images, help with profile photo verification, and prevent fraud. I used it to look up an individual I met online and grew suspicious after talking to him a few times. It turns out he was using an image of an influencer, so it helped me block him instantly. 
• MulticolorEngine: I used this tool to find images accurately as it can detect the percentage of every color in the image. This helped me find more precise results on the pictures. 
• Scalability: This software is easily scalable as it enables you to include image recognition capabilities in your applications, enterprise solutions, and web services.
• Remove Redundancy: TinEye helped me identify and group duplicate product images, cropped pictures, and other image transformations and reconcile extensive image collections. It also includes a notification feature that helped me locate new duplicates when they appeared online.

Steps to find someone using Match Engine:

Step 1) Go to TinEye on your web browser and upload the Image of the individual you want to find.

Step 2) After uploading the image for comparison, you will get search results with the number of duplicates that have been used along with source links.

Step 3) You can then click on the source links to see where the image is being used for free.

Link: https://services.tineye.com/MatchEngine

Method 6: Use PimEye’s Reverse Image Search

I analyzed PimEye and was impressed by its power to perform reverse image searches by uploading a photo or pasting a URL. You can perform a reverse image search or even search people by image with different images, as it uses only standard parameters for comparisons.

Features:

• Monitor: You can set an alert and allow PimEyes to monitor your Image and Metadata for better online presence.
• Bulk search: It lets you upload 5 images simultaneously for reverse search. I could use formats like PNG, GIF, JPG, and BMP.
• Auto Delete: When I uploaded an image, it was saved temporarily for 48 hours and then automatically deleted from all its servers. This ensures the safety of your data and protects your images from misuse. 
• Search Results: It gives results and links to searched images and their sources. I could get links to publicly available records, news, media, blogs, company websites, etc.

Steps to find someone using PimEyes’s MatchEngine

Step 1) Go to PimEyes.com on your browser. Navigate to the “Upload a Photo” button, click it, and select a clean image from your device.

Step 2) Upload the photo to the search image bar by clicking the search button or taking a picture with your mobile device.

Step 3) After a short period, a dialogue box will appear on your screen to choose from options like:

• Search by time
• Safe Search (Adult Content Protection)
• Deep Search (for Advance Plan Users)
• Adding more images for better results.

Step 4) After some time, you will receive a list of results sorted by their level of resemblance to the searched photo, which can be unlocked by getting monthly subscriptions.

Link: https://pimeyes.com/en/

Method 7: Using the Facial Recognition Technology of Clearview

I discovered that Clearview is typically the best face recognition engine for crime solving. Unveiling alterations become quicker with this platform, providing users with a detective’s edge. A great way to make use of its 30+ billion image database built from open-source intelligence.

Features:

• Accurate: Clearview gave me bias-free recognition in the field with greater than 99% accuracy across worldwide demographics. You can use it for criminal trespass checks, IDing lost or homeless person or a victim, field interviews, and more. 
• Comparison: It helped me easily conduct a deeper visual analysis of a probe image against search results with Zoom and configure it for side-by-side comparison.
• Field Optimized: Its mobile-forward interface, with home screen access for rapid field identification and a case type selector, optimizes users’ field experience.

Steps to find someone using the Clearview Mobile App:

Step 1) Open the Clearview app on your device and click on Create an Account to conduct a search.

Step 2) Once you have registered, tap on the search bar at the top of the screen or click on the camera button located on the right side of the search bar.

Step 3) Clearview will then analyze the image and provide similar results or related content in its database or on the internet.

Link: https://www.clearview.ai/mobile

Method 8: Find Similar images using Yandex Image Search

Reviewing Yandex I realized it is also a viable option and similar to search engines like Google and Bing. It is a highly automated software that does not require users to do anything after a few commands, making it easy to use. Yandex is best for those who want an effortless experience and quick results for free.

Features:

• Search results: Users can find exact and similar images instantly, along with sites for more information and source details. The result may appear in Russian texts; hence, you can also use Yandex to translate it for you in any language you want. 
• Crop search:  I could crop the images to look for a certain object or element in the picture. This was very helpful for locating cropped duplicate images that may appear to be original at first glance.
• Filters: You can use filters such as moderate and Family Mode, which will steer you clear of explicit results.
• Ad Checks: I could quickly check if the ads have been copied from other sites with Yandex’s Ad-check feature.

Steps to find someone using the Yandex Image Search:

Step 1) Open Yandex.com on your browser. Click on the Search bar given on the screen, as shown in the image below.

Step 2) Here, you can upload an image from your local storage.

Step 3) After clicking “Upload Image,” a dialogue box appears on your screen. Now, give permission to Clipboard and upload the image or paste the URL. 

Step 4) After uploading the image, you will get all the information about the picture. Here, you can see that my search results show similar images, sites containing these pictures, texts in the photo, etc.

Link: https://yandex.com/images/search?rpt=imageview

Method 9: Using reverse image search by Pinterest

I particularly liked Pinterest’s capability to find visually similar images, home, and style inspiration. Users can create Pins to share their ideas with other people on Pinterest. It is best for users to have a minimum age to sign up, with certain protections in place, especially for teens.

Features:

• Save: Users can save their searches, links, and images and organize them into boards. I usually save outfit ideas, quick recipes, fabrics, home decor inspirations, etc. 
• Reverse search: Pinterest has an inbuilt reverse image search feature that identifies the same or similar images within the application. These posts or pins can then lead you to the sites where the images are being used. 
• Identify elements: It provides white dots within the images to identify elements in the picture. For example, when I looked up home decor, I could click on the table lamp in the image with numerous elements to find similar lamps, which led me to accounts and sites where I could purchase them. 
• Support: I could use it on all popular platforms, such as the Web, Windows, Android, iOS, and MacOS.

Steps to find someone using Pinterest:

Step 1) Open Pinterest.com on your device. Create an account on it or sign up with your Google or Facebook account, as shown in the image below.

Step 2) Tap on the Search bar and search for the image that you want to find. You can then click on the image you find and use its reverse image search lens on this pin. If it is a specific picture you found somewhere else, I suggest you upload it first to your account and then perform the reverse search. 

Link: https://pinterest.com/

What Is Reverse Image Search?

Reverse image search is a robust technology used to identify people in a picture or find duplicates of an image itself. Instead of typing a query, you can upload a picture to any reliable software to identify the image on the internet or publicly available records. Usually, this type of search shortens the time spent looking for the person by providing a more precise query to the browser.

Is It Legal to Use Someone’s Picture for Searching?

The Internet is the most prominent digital information database regarding text and images. The images you see are up for use or repurpose for your project. But without proper consent, it is illegal to use someone’s image, whether you are an editor or a designer.

To use someone’s image in the public domain for reverse look-up, you should follow all the privacy guidelines. It is important to comply with law enforcement agencies and the privacy policies of various sites and locations.

Why It’s Important To Find Someone With a Photo?

Finding people with pictures online can be a bit challenging, but it is possible. It may be essential to verify someone’s identity, learn more about them, their criminal records, and public image, or know who’s behind a picture. Moreover, finding someone with just a picture sums down how important that person is for you. You can use various tools to find a person with a photo effectively.

However, it’s important to remember that not all methods will work for all situations. Usually, it may take some time and effort to find the person you are searching for.

Why It’s Hard To Find Someone Using a Photo?

Finding someone with a picture is not as easy as finding someone with a phone lookup, address, or name. Moreover, photos have many properties like clarity, brightness, format, etc. In fact, the person in the picture might not even be real, as there are now many AI-generated images, or they may have scanty public records.

What’s more important is you need to use the right search people by photo tools for your needs. Some of these are very expensive to subscribe to or require proper authorization from law enforcement agencies to use them. It would help to remember these reasons when searching for the person behind the image.

The Verdict

Every software that I wrote about in this article has its strengths and weaknesses. These tools can be trusted for data protection and user privacy, but you must also do your due diligence. However, depending on the area of use, some might be better than others for finding someone with a picture; thus, I have shortlisted the best tools below, as per my experience.

• Social Catfish: It is the best solution for checking the criminal records of a person according to my review. You can also find background reports on your potential online match and uncover numerous hidden information. 
• Spokeo: If you are interested in finding a random person who you do not know personally, then Spokeo is the right tool for you. It is not a direct reverse image search. Therefore, you can use it as a combination. However, its report accuracy was impressive most of the time during the review.
• TinEye: This tool is the best choice for comparing multiple images in parallel for better search results. I especially liked its MatchEngine, which helped me identify duplicates even if they were altered.