How to Find an Instagram Account by Photo: 5 Methods

For many reasons, you might wish to locate someone's Instagram profile using a photograph, whether it's due to personal curiosity about someone you're interested in or professional reasons such as reconnecting with an old acquaintance or expanding your business network. This skill is especially beneficial for private investigators in training, recruiters, law students, or entrepreneurs seeking collaborations with influencers. It's also useful for checking someone's background on Tinder. Here, I'll detail reliable methods for finding individuals or businesses on Instagram via photos. Sound These methods have been ethically and legally tested on consenting individuals and public profiles.

Key Insight:

To locate Instagram profiles, I employed reverse image search tools, including Social Catfish. Search engines like Google and Bing, as well as other social networks such as Facebook and Snapchat, also proved beneficial to some degree. Another effective method is asking for assistance from mutual friends or utilizing Instagram’s own search functionality and hashtags. It’s important to conduct these searches with respect for privacy and within legal boundaries. While these methods were generally successful, some limitations were encountered.

Can you find an Instagram account by Photo?

Locating an Instagram account using a photo can be straightforward but also challenging. The success of your search largely depends on the technique you use.

Since Instagram doesn’t provide a direct reverse photo search feature, you'll need to rely on third-party tools to identify an account from a picture. Here are the methods I've used effectively to find an account through a photo.

Method 1: Find an Instagram account by picture using third-party tools

Here are the top third-party reverse image search sites I used to locate an Instagram account using a photo:

1) Social Catfish

Social Catfish is designed to help people avoid catfishing and online scams. It offers multiple search parameters that can provide comprehensive information about individuals. I utilized its image search feature to locate an Instagram account.

This tool can perform an in-depth scan of social media platforms and the internet, delivering rapid results when I am searching for a particular influencer.

Features:

• Unlimited Searches: Regardless of the Subscription you choose, Social Catfish allows you to conduct unlimited searches. During a 3-day paid trial that cost $6.87, I was able to generate detailed reports on various notable influencers, including Diana Korkunova, who boasts 1.3 million followers on Instagram and even discovered her fashion label, Yandi World, on the platform.
• Search History: The platform's search history retention is especially convenient, allowing me to revisit past searches without the need to restart from the beginning. This feature saves considerable time and effort.
• Detailed Reports: The depth of the reports provided by Social Catfish is impressive, catering to investigative needs with access to over 200 billion records. These reports include social profiles, emails, usernames, educational backgrounds, contact information, images, relationship details, and more.
• Background Checks: The service also offers thorough background checks, revealing sensitive information such as marital status, divorce records, and criminal history. This is invaluable for verifying the safety of online connections before meeting in person.

Pros:

• Subscription plans can be terminated at any time.
• Enables the identification of duplicate images of oneself or one's artwork.

Cons:

• No free reports are available; access to information requires payment.

Pricing:

• 3-Day Trial: $6.87
• Post-Trial Subscription: $28.97 per month

How to Locate an Instagram Account Using an Image with Social Catfish:

Step 1) Navigate to the reverse image search page on Social Catfish at https://socialcatfish.com/reverse-image-search/.

Step 2) Upload an image to the search bar. For example, I uploaded an image of the influencer model Diana and clicked "Search."

Step 3) After clicking "Search," the system initiated the search process and prompted me to provide my email address once the search was completed.

Step 4) I entered my email and opted for the 3-day paid trial, which costs $6.87, to obtain the detailed report.

The report provided not only her Instagram username but also her phone number, address, email address, other social media profiles, additional images, educational background, and more.

2) TinEye

TinEye offers popular reverse image search functionality where users can either upload their own photos or insert a URL to discover identical or comparable images online. This tool is also available as a browser extension, enabling quick searches right from your browser.

I experimented with the TinEye extension on various browsers, including Chrome, Opera, Firefox, and Edge. It integrated well with all, though it occasionally ran a bit slower on Firefox. Despite this minor hiccup, the search outcomes were consistently pertinent to my queries.

Features:

• Image Tracking: TinEye excels at tracing the usage of uploaded images across the internet. For instance, when I uploaded a user's photo, it not only identified its usage but also linked to their Instagram profile, showcasing its efficacy in digital footprint tracking.
• MatchEngine: This feature proved invaluable for verifying the authenticity of images. I utilized it to confirm the authenticity of pictures from an online acquaintance, which accurately matched images they had posted on Instagram. However, the process wasn't flawless; some images returned errors or were absent in TinEye's database, necessitating multiple attempts.
• Works on Blurry Images: TinEye demonstrates a strong capability to conduct reverse searches on blurry or low-resolution images. I tested this with several indistinct Google images, and TinEye consistently retrieved similar results quickly.
• MulticolorEngine: This tool is particularly useful for individuals seeking specific visual content based on color schemes, such as locating brands, artworks, or fashion collaborations on Instagram. The multicolor engine analyzes and differentiates images based on the precise percentage of each color present.

Pros:

• Provides a substantial search capacity of up to 50 million searches each month.
• Delivers rapid results, often in as little as 2 seconds during some of my testing.

Cons:

• Limited database coverage; fails to retrieve all potential images and links, suggesting a smaller repository compared to other leading search platforms.

How to Locate an Instagram Account Using a Photo on TinEye:

Step 1: Navigate to the official TinEye website at https://tineye.com/. Here, you can either upload a photo directly or enter an image URL in the designated areas.

Step 2: For demonstration, assume I've used a publicly available bird image found on Google, originally posted by a wildlife photography Instagram account. Once the image is uploaded, TinEye will automatically begin the search process.

Step 3: Upon completion of the search, TinEye will display a list of similar images along with corresponding links. Browse through these results and select the link that leads to an Instagram account to locate the one you are searching for.

Link: https://tineye.com/

3) Berify

Explore Berify’s robust reverse image search engine, which houses an impressive collection of over 800 million images. Begin with its no-cost trial that enables you to conduct reverse searches on five images. Whether on a smartphone or desktop, Berify is convenient and easy to navigate. A particularly useful feature of Berify is its update mechanism, which informs you of any newly discovered duplicates of your images on the internet, making it perfect for monitoring the usage of images from social media accounts like Instagram.

Features:

• Bulk Uploads: The ability to upload multiple images simultaneously is a significant time saver. In my experience with the paid plans (during the free trial period), I could easily sync images from my social media, including bulk uploads from Pinterest, to trace profiles across platforms like Instagram.
• Versatile Image Sourcing: Berify supports image uploads from diverse sources. You can use sitemaps, RSS feeds, Dropbox, direct website links, and various social media platforms to streamline your workflow.
• Diverse Applications: Ideal for professionals like photographers, models, vloggers, lawyers, and marketing agencies. It aids in tracking the distribution of original content and managing online reputations effectively.
• Pro API Access: For heavy-duty users, the Pro API provides enhanced image verification and access to a more extensive database.?

Pros:

• Real-time notifications via email are sent when duplicate images are detected online, enhancing the ability to monitor image usage.
• It is useful for gauging the reach and impact of marketing campaigns and public relations efforts through its tracking capabilities.

Cons:

• The free version limits users to single image uploads, restricting the efficiency of reverse image searches for those not subscribed to a paid plan.

Pricing:

• Free Basic Plan: Offers a lifetime option to check up to 1000 images free for the first three days.
• Paid Subscription: After the trial, the service costs $5.95 per month, allowing for ongoing access and additional features beyond the basic plan.

How to Locate an Instagram Account Using a Photo with Berify:

Step 1: Visit https://berify.com/ and use the search bar to upload your desired image or choose one from your files, then click on 'Search.' For multiple image uploads, consider using the sitemap or RSS options.

Step 2: Berify offers several subscription levels. I opted for the no-cost option, which allows searches for up to 5 images. Alternatively, you might explore the 3-day trial of their premium services.

Step 3: Once registered, I obtained the search results in under a minute.

Link: https://berify.com/

Method 2: Find Instagram accounts by photo using search engines.

Google and Bing, two leading search engines globally, both feature reverse image search capabilities, which I decided to test.

1) Google Images

Google Images offers multiple options for uploading images: you can directly upload a file, use the drag-and-drop feature, or insert a link. I found the platform user-friendly, and its extensive database enhances its effectiveness for reverse image searches. The tool also allows you to crop images directly on the site and search for similarly cropped versions.

While you might not always directly find the specific Instagram account you're looking for, Google Images can still reveal closely related images, including photos of the same subject captured from various perspectives. In my experience, I successfully located the Instagram account of a cake shop I was interested in.

Here’s how to search for an account using a photo:

Step 1: Navigate to https://images.google.com and click the camera icon to upload a photo. You can either drag and drop the image from your computer or paste a link, then press the 'Search' button.

Step 2: Once I uploaded the photo, it promptly displayed the Instagram account I was looking for.

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

2) Bing Visual Search

Bing Visual Search, developed by Microsoft, enables users to take a photo, select an image from their files, paste an image or URL, or use drag and drop to start a search.

In my experience testing this tool, I found that Bing and Google offered very similar results, with only minor differences. Interestingly, each time I made slight alterations to the image's crop, Bing showed varied images in the results.

Here's how I located an Instagram account using a photo on Bing:

Step 1: I navigated to the Bing Visual Search page at https://www.bing.com/visualsearch, where I uploaded an image from my computer. You can also choose to paste an image or URL, search for an image online, or take a new photo directly through the site.

Step 2: Bing immediately displayed the search results, requiring no further action like clicking a search or magnifying glass button.

Step 3: The Instagram account didn't appear at the top of the search results initially, but I did find the name of the celebrity, Sabrina Carpenter, associated with the same image I uploaded. This information helped me locate her Instagram profile.

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

Method 3: Find an Instagram account using Instagram

At times, no matter how thoroughly you search, reverse image searches and other search engines may not lead you to the profile you're seeking. Nevertheless, don't give up—Instagram remains a useful tool for tracking down the individual or account you're interested in.

It's important to remember that Instagram doesn't support reverse image searches to find profiles. Your options are limited to either typing their name directly into the search bar or utilizing tags to discover their account.

• Typing their name into the search bar: For instance, when I was looking to reconnect with an old classmate, I simply entered her name in the search bar and successfully located her profile. This approach works if you know their real name or username. It's less effective if they do not use their actual name as their username unless it appears in their bio.

• Using tags: Details such as their hobbies, educational background, location, favorite foods, or restaurants can serve as useful tags. After entering a tag, you can narrow your search to specific accounts or tags to improve your chances of finding them.

For example, if someone attends the University of San Francisco, you might search for tags like #SanFranciscoUniversity or #SanFranciscoStudents to see if they appear in any posts. Similarly, tags related to their hobbies, like #guitarlessons, #riverrafting, or #ballet, can be beneficial.

Keep in mind that using tags to locate someone will only be effective if they have a public profile or are tagged in a photo on another public profile.

Method 4: Use other social media

A reliable approach to finding someone online involves exploring various social media platforms. Individuals frequently share identical images on different networks like Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, and others.?

Additionally, they often maintain similar usernames across these platforms. Therefore, experimenting with these usernames on different sites can be advantageous in your search.

Method 5: Ask mutual friends

If your efforts through these methods don't yield the outcome you're hoping for, consider a more direct tactic: reach out to mutual friends. You can get in touch with them either online or in person.

When approaching mutual connections, it's best to be upfront about your intentions to avoid giving off an unsettling vibe. If these mutual friends are close to you, the conversation should be straightforward. However, if they are merely acquaintances, be sure to provide a sincere explanation for your inquiry to prevent any misunderstandings about your motives.

How does Instagram account finder by photo work?

An Instagram account finder tool utilizing photo analysis employs image recognition to locate identical or similar images across the internet. These applications rigorously search online databases to detect photos that are alike or identical and provide links to the original sources.

The underlying algorithms of these tools analyze images based on attributes such as color, shape, and size, among other distinctive features. Several of these tools incorporate facial recognition technology, enabling them to precisely identify the individuals depicted in the images.

Users can initiate a search by uploading a photo, pasting a URL, or dragging and dropping an image into the search field. After hitting the search button, the tool scans its database and returns results that resemble the input image or are exact duplicates. Additionally, some tools provide comprehensive background information, including the subject's name, age, gender, contact information, and social media handles.

Verdict

After comparing various techniques, I have chosen these methods because they have shown substantial reliability in locating Instagram accounts through photos. Nonetheless, they are not infallible and might not deliver the expected results on every occasion. Currently, no tool can provide a 100% accurate result, but as search engines and image recognition technologies advance, this may improve. On the other hand, changes in Instagram's privacy policies in the future could make it more difficult for these tools to retrieve user information.