Facebook Image Search: 5 Ways to Reverse Image Search [2023]

In Summary

Sometimes, we get into situations where we need to find someone on Facebook based on their Facebook photo.
In this case, we can use reverse image search to find Facebook posts that have used the image.
In this article, we have looked at how to perform a Facebook image search, including how to use reverse image search tools.

Facebook is a popular social media platform with over 3 billion users worldwide. This makes it one of the best places to find people based on their names, phone numbers, and the like.

However, there are cases when you only have a photo of a person and want to look for more details about the person or find out where a picture was used on Facebook. It can also be about finding out who has used a certain picture of you or other cases.

Facebook image search is a method to find the Facebook user’s profile using Photo ID, Photo search, or advanced Facebook search.

Here’s a detailed guide describing the different methods to perform a Facebook image search without much effort. Let’s get started!

Table of Contents

Can I Search on Facebook by Image?

Yes, you can use one of Facebook’s photo search methods to search for a person on Facebook based on a photo and perhaps get the information you want. But it’s not as easy as it sounds because Facebook does not have a built-in feature for searching by image.

If the person has made their information available to the public, you can successfully search for the person you are looking for using these Facebook reverse image search tools.

How to Perform Facebook Image Search

Now let us turn to the different methods of Facebook photo search. However, before you start dealing with them, you should be aware that these are just workarounds and that they are effective only under certain conditions.

If the image you are looking for does not match the parameters, such as privacy settings and everything that this particular workaround works with, it might not deliver the desired results. Photos with a ‘Public’ privacy setting will easily appear in search results. If the images are posted with a privacy setting of ‘Friend’ or ‘Friend of a friend’ by a user, then it is difficult to find the images unless you are closely associated with the person in some way.

With this in mind, let’s discuss the five Facebook Image Search methods below.

Method 1: Search Photo with Facebook Image ID

The FB image ID is a series of digits that Facebook has previously used to assign a name to each of the image files it downloads. With this number, you can access the profile from which the image was shared and learn more about it, including where it was posted and possibly any information you need.

Ultimately, the effectiveness of this approach depends on whether the name of the image has changed since you downloaded it from Facebook and on the privacy settings of the image you are using.

But you can not tell if something works unless you try it. So let us talk about how to search for photos on Facebook based on the image name:

1. Go to the image file you want to search and pull up the file name. If it’s from Facebook, it’s numeric, and its digits are divided into three parts and separated by underscores.

Something like this: 178696_436095929768187_414916441_o.jpg

2. Now copy the image ID, which is a series of numbers in the middle of the image file name, to find the source on Facebook. In the case of the image name presented in Step 1, the image is ID 436095929768187.

3. Open a browser and log in with your Facebook account. Then type the URL https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=XXXXX in the address field. The picture ID will be where the XXXXX is. So for the image example used in this article, we’ll paste https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=436095929768187 into the address bar.

This will take you to the page where the image was used and downloaded, so from there, you should be able to find what you are looking for.

However, since Facebook has changed its naming convention, only some images – especially those from 2012 and earlier – are suitable for this workaround.

Method 2: Search with Google Image

If the former method does not work for you, you can use Google Image Search to search the images on Facebook properly. Google Image Search is an algorithm that searches its database/Internet for images that are similar or identical to the image you are looking for and connects you to the web pages where the image has been used.

Since Facebook is one of the most popular websites from which Google indexes image results, Google Image Search will most likely help you find what you are looking for.

It is important to note that Google can only access Facebook images that have been set to “public.” So, if the image you are looking for is not private, you might not find a meaningful result.

Below are the steps you need to follow to search for images in Google Images:

1. Open a browser on your device and visit images.google.com.

2. On the page that appears, click the camera icon in the search box and select Upload Image.

3. Select the image you want to search on Facebook and let Google do the rest for you.

If the image is clear enough for recognition and unique, Google will display several image results from which you may be able to find a match for your search.

The likelihood that you will find the exact photo you are looking for in the search results depends on a number of variables, including the popularity and uniqueness of the image. Also, we have found that it can be difficult to find images of people wearing various accessories such as hats, glasses, and others.

If you are looking for a generic photo, you should be aware that the image has most likely already been used by numerous people. Therefore, you’ll have to take this into account when choosing a result and use other parameters to evaluate it to make sure you get the right result.

Method 3: Use Third-Party Reverse Image Search Tools

In case the above methods have not been successful in finding the Facebook image you are looking for, using third-party reverse image search engines may be a possible solution. These tools use an algorithm that searches multiple websites looking for images that are either identical or similar to the one you have.

While these tools have been shown to work best with well-known photos, you can also try them with lesser-known photos. TinyEye, Berify, and SourceNAO are some of the best reverse image search tools you can use.

All you need to do is go to one of the websites and specify the image you want to use for your search. The Facebook page where the image was used should appear in the search results when the program crawls that page.

Method 4: Use Bing Image

Bing Image uses an algorithm, just like Google Image Search, to search for images that are identical or similar to the image you are looking for. This is one of the techniques on our list that will most likely help you get the desired result.

Even though it takes a bit of time to scroll through some results, Bing Image has proven to be effective several times. To use this method, go to Bing Image and upload the image for a search.

Method 5: Search with keywords related to image

facebook photo search — Image: Joshua Hoehne (Unsplash)

This is a bit of a departure from the usual way of doing an image search, but it might be useful for some types of images, especially those that have text inscriptions or show something that can easily be expressed in text.

In these cases, you can search Facebook for text captions or a term that describes the image since it’s likely that the keyword was used in the image caption on Facebook, and Facebook includes an option to search for words in posts.

Here’s how to use this method:

1. Open Facebook on your device and go to the Search box.

2. Type the keyword(s) from the image in the Search box and press Enter.

3. On the results page, switch to the Posts category and scroll through the posts to find a match to the image you are looking for.

Searching Facebook Images is Deliberately Made Tough

In this article, we have explored various methods of using Facebook image search to find people or learn more about them. However, it’s not as easy as it may seem because the search takes into account many factors to get a result, and if your image doesn’t fit these criteria, you may not get what you’re looking for. But it can’t hurt to try.

FAQs about Facebook Photo Search

Can I search on Facebook by image?

No, you can not search for images on Facebook. You'll have to use the alternate methods like reverse image search we have covered in this post to find images on Facebook since the social network does not offer a built-in tool for Image search.

Can Google Image Search find Facebook photos?

Yes, Google Image Search can find Facebook photos since Facebook is one of the sites that Google usually indexes in image searches. However, it depends on a number of variables, such as the popularity of the image and the privacy setting, whether this method of Facebook image search is fruitful for you or not.

How do I find someone on social media with a picture?

Google Image or Bing Image are the best tools to find someone on social media with an image. This technology has a powerful algorithm that searches numerous websites for similar and identical images when you perform a search.

Do third-party reverse image search tools work?

Third-party reverse image search tools are useful, but mainly for popular photos. One of the most popular of these tools, Tinyeye, claims to search over 60 billion pages for matches for each image you search, although this is no guarantee of a result. So if you use these tools to search for a lesser-known image, you probably will not find anything.