Trying to identify someone from a photo? You’ve come to the right place. This article explains different methods to perform a reverse image lookup and dig out information associated with a picture.

1. Google Images

Google Images is a free and powerful image search tool. It allows you to find out where a photo appeared on the web – usually someone’s social media page, and similar photos to the one you have. This is helpful when you suspect your social media contact is lying about their identity or you simply want to do a little background check on them.

If you were on a desktop, you could go to Google Images, and click the camera icon.

Drag the image or click upload a file to upload any picture you want to look up; you can also just paste the image URL into the search box, and hit Search.

If you’re using the Chrome browser, you can search the photo on any web page by right-clicking on it and selecting Search image with Google Lens to perform a reverse image search on Google.

2. TinEye

If you are constantly looking for images online, you must have come across TinEye Reverse Image Search.

TinEye is also an excellent and FREE reverse image search engine, known for its accuracy in finding images. With its distinct ability to track down different versions of the submitted image and similar images, TinEye has become a valuable tool for copyright holders of visual works to find infringements of their work.

You can perform a reverse image search with this tool by going to TinEye, clicking Upload, and uploading the image you want to search.

TinEye will scan the image and then spit back all other instances of that image it finds on the web. This might help you find web pages where the image has been used or visually similar images. 

For example, if you wish to find someone’s social media accounts, just grab their profile pic from their Facebook or Twitter account and plug it into TinEye. Since many people recycle profile pictures and usernames, you’re very likely to track them down this way.

3. PimEyes

PimEyes is an accurate search engine for reverse image searching and facial recognition. It allows you to upload an image and track down the face on the internet.

You can run free searches to find out if PimEyes can find pictures containing given faces, but the returned links are incomplete. If you would like to view the complete source link, you’d need to pay for it.

4. FaceCheck

FaceCheck is another paid search engine that lets you search people by photos and discover their social media profiles and appearances on other websites.

Similar to PimEyes, you can run 10 free searches with this tool, but the links would be incomplete if you’re on the free account.

5. Bing Images

Powered by Microsoft, Bing Images is another well-known search engine after Google. It allows you to look up an image to see whether the same or similar images exist online. Its interface is similar to Google Images and it also allows you to filter results by size, color, and other criteria.

Just go to Bing’s image search page, click the camera icon, and upload the image you want to search by dragging the photo into the search field or pasting the image URL. Bing Images will then retrieve results and provide related searches and suggested tags to help you refine your search.

6. Yandex Images

Yandex is a Russian search engine with remarkable reverse image search capabilities. (Since most of its users are in Russia, you would see its interface is in the Russian language – just right-click the webpage and select Translate to English to proceed with your search).

With sophisticated image recognition technology and advanced AI involved in the algorithm, Yandex analyzes submitted pictures and compares them to the billions of other pictures in its databases before returning with matching or similar results.

Just go to Yandex Images, click the camera icon in the search bar, and upload your image.

7. Baidu Images

When it comes to finding people online, you might want to repeat your search with multiple tools for comprehensive results. Because different tools use different algorithms, they can sometimes produce different results.

Another tool you can try is a Chinese search engine called Baidu. Not a surprise, its interface is in Chinese. So, as we do with Yandex Images, right-click on the webpage and click on Translate to English.

Similar to the tools we mentioned before, this tool allows users to comb the internet for related images simply by uploading a photo or URL.

8. Social Catfish

Still no luck? Try a people search engine like Social Catfish.

Social Catfish is an online investigation service with the most comprehensive collections of social media accounts and background information.

You can run a reverse image search with Social Catfish Reverse Image Search to find lost connections or verify someone’s online identity using images.

If the image search keeps throwing you off, try running a background search using other information you know about the person. Social Catfish also allows you to search by name, phone number, address, and email address.

Social Catfish will comb through its database and compile all information associated with the person into one place. The report you get might include the person’s contact information, background information (e.g. education history, work history, criminal records, properties, etc.), and social network accounts on Facebook, Instagram, Tinder, and so on.

If you are serious about finding the person, consider hiring a search specialist from Social Catfish. The search experts at Social Catfish have access to databases and resources that are not available to the public. They will tailor their search to your specific needs, which increases the likelihood of finding out who is in the photo.