Find a person using their photo, rather than its name, may seem like something out of a science fiction book. However, this is exactly what the reverse lookup based on facial recognition.
In this article, we will present the most efficient free tools to carry out this task.
How does it work?
When you provide a photo of a person, the system first looks at the facial features in the image. He identifies distinct elements such as the shape of the eyes, the nose, or the mouth.
Then, these characteristics are transformed into a digital code. It's like creating a digital ID card for the face. This code is then compared to a large collection of images available online, for example, images on social media or other public sources. The sharper and more well-framed the photo, the higher the chances of success.
If the system finds a similar face in its database, it can then provide information related to that person, such as their name or online profiles.
Yandex
Yandex Pictures uses advanced technologies to recognize faces, thanks to significant financial support. This support is reflected in the high quality of the results.
To use Yandex Images, visit their international site and click on the tab Pictures. You can upload a photo from your computer or mobile, or paste it directly.
After uploading your photo, Yandex Images gives you the option to crop it to focus on a face. You also have the possibility to select a specific object or item of clothing with a small cursor.
The results appear as a slideshow. At the bottom left, links are available to find the origin of the photos.
Find a person with their photo with Facecheck.id
FaceCheck.id is a good tool that helps find a person on the internet using his photo. You post a photo of a person, and the site searches the internet to find photos that look similar.
It's like a big photo album with over 500 million faces. The site looks everywhere on the internet, like Facebook, Twitter, or blogs, to find these faces. After searching, it shows you photos of people who look like the one you posted, starting with the most similar.
Additionally, FaceCheck.id compares uploaded images with millions of faces of sex offenders, dangerous criminals and suspects, primarily in the United States. This makes the site useful for identifying and avoiding people with questionable pasts.
You can also use this tool to ensure that the people you meet online are real and not trying to deceive you.
To use the tool, upload a photo of the person concerned (formats: .jpg, .png, .webp, .bmp). Artificial intelligence analyzes the photo and gives a match score of 50 to 100, indicating trustworthiness. High-quality photos improve results. Note that the tool is very precise, but not infallible.
We recommend verifying the results with other information. Its effectiveness depends on the person's online presence and the absence of lookalikes.
During an internal test, the tool failed to identify certain members of our team, which highlights the importance of cross-referencing information for reliable conclusions.
EagleEye
EagleEye is a program that helps find people using photos from social networks like Facebook, Twitter, and others.
To use it, you need a photo of the person and a name or a clue to the name. You put this information into EagleEye, and it searches for profiles of this person on the internet.
EagleEye only works on Linux. You need to know a little about using Linux commands to use them. It is an open source program, that is, anyone can use it for free.
If you want to try EagleEye or learn more, you can go to this site: github.com/ThoughtfulDev/EagleEye
TinEye
TinEye is an online tool that helps you find where a photo has been used on the internet. For example, if you have a photo of a person and want to know if that image appears elsewhere online, TinEye can find out for you.
You simply upload the photo or paste the image URL, and TinEye searches across the web to find all occurrences of that image, including if it has been edited or resized.
This makes TinEye particularly useful if you are trying to locate a person by their photo, discover the origin of an image, or check if an image has been used in other contexts. It's easy to use, requiring no special technical skills – you simply go to their website, upload an image, and let TinEye do the searching for you.
Identify a person in a photo with PimEyes
pimeyes is another advanced online tool designed to find a person with their photo on the internet. It allows users to find where images of faces appear online just by using a photo. You upload a photo of a person, and PimEyes quickly scans the web for matching images.
What makes PimEyes unique is its ability to identify similar faces even in different lighting conditions, angles or changes.
Using PimEyes is quite simple, just follow these steps:
- First of all, launch the PimEyes website.
- Next, upload a photo of the person whose identity you want to verify.
Identify a person on Pimeyes - After downloading, PimEyes gets to work, scanning a wide range of websites to find images that match the face in the photo.
Results obtained on Pimeyes
It scans a wide range of websites to find images that match the face in the uploaded photo.
In our tests, PimEyes proved extremely effective. Not only did it successfully identify members of our team, but of all the tools we tested, PimEyes offered the most conclusive results in terms of accuracy and reliability.
This tool can be a valuable asset for those looking to verify a person's identity.