FaceSearch for iPhone and Android

Get the app

Download FaceSearch from the App Store for iPhone or from Google Play for Android. Sign in with the account you use on the website, or create one in the app. Your first search is free either way.

What is the same as the website

• The search. One photo in, matching public pages out, ranked closest first, each with its source. Normal search and deep search both run from the app.
• The account and the credits. Sign in with the same account and your plan, your normal and deep credits and your saved scans are there. Spend a credit on the phone and the website shows one fewer, and the other way round.
• The plans. Starter at $5 a week, Daily Pro at $20 a month and Business at $50 a month, as on the pricing page. Store prices can differ slightly by region because Apple and Google set local pricing and taxes.
• The index. Publicly accessible pages only. The app does not see anything the website cannot see: no private profiles, no stories, nothing behind a login.
• The privacy rules. Photo metadata is stripped before the search, the upload is never sold or used to build a face database, and you can delete a scan or the whole account. See privacy by design.
• Removal. Anyone can ask for their face to be hidden from results, for free, on the removal page. It applies to searches from the app and the web alike.

What is different

Searching from your phone

1. 1

   Take a screenshot

   Most apps block saving other people's photos, so screenshot the profile or post instead. For your own photos, the camera roll works directly.

2. 2

   Crop to the face

   Use the phone's photo editor to cut away the interface and any other faces. One clear, front-facing face filling most of the frame matches best; the photo tips page has the details.

3. 3

   Open FaceSearch and pick the photo

   Choose the cropped image from your camera roll. The app checks the format and size the same way the website does and tells you if the face is too small.

4. 4

   Run the search

   A normal search takes seconds. A deep search reaches further across the public web, takes longer and uses a deep credit; it needs an account.

5. 5

   Read the results

   Closest matches first, each with its source page. Open the source to check the name, date and place before you draw a conclusion. Reading your results explains why look-alikes appear and what a missing result does not prove.

How store billing works

A plan bought inside the app is a subscription with Apple or Google. They take the payment, send the receipt and handle refunds under their own policies. You manage it from your App Store or Google Play subscription settings, not from the FaceSearch billing page. The plan is tied to your FaceSearch account, so signing in on the website shows the same plan and credits. Deleting your FaceSearch account does not cancel a store subscription; cancel it in the store first, as the delete your account page explains.

Privacy on the phone

• The app asks for photo access only when you pick a photo. It does not scan your camera roll in the background.
• The photo you pick is used to run your search and nothing else, with metadata such as location stripped before it leaves your device.
• Saved scans live in your account, not on the phone. Delete one from your history, or delete the account, and it is gone on every device.
• Nothing is posted anywhere, and the owner of a source page is not notified that you searched.

Which should you use?

Use whichever is in your hand. The app is quicker when the photo is already on your phone, which is where most dating, marketplace and messaging screenshots start. The website is easier for reading a long list of results side by side and for managing billing. Since the account is shared, you can start a search on one and read it on the other.