Upload a face photo and instantly find out who it belongs to

Common questions

What people ask before they search

How does face search work?

detsherlock reduces the face in your photo to dozens of reference points and compares that geometric signature against 1.4 billion indexed faces. What gets searched is the measurements, not the file — which is why a cropped, filtered or years-old photo of the same person can still match.

How do you find someone from a photo?

The fastest free route is Google Images or Yandex reverse image search, which show where the same photo has been published elsewhere. They stop working the moment the picture is cropped or it is a different shot of the same person — that is where face search comes in, because it looks for the facial geometry rather than the file. detsherlock does that from a single photo.

How long does a search take?

Usually under a minute. The report page updates itself, so you can leave it open and walk away. At busy moments a search can queue behind another one; the page still resolves on its own without you doing anything.

Are my card details safe?

Payment goes through Stripe and your card details go straight to them — they never touch detsherlock's servers, and we neither see nor store them. All we keep is the amount, the currency and Stripe's reference for the transaction.

Can I get back to my report later?

Yes. The report is tied to your account and opens from "My searches" whenever you want, at no further charge. If you would rather it were gone, deleting it removes the report and the photo together.

Is my photo stored, and who else sees it?

Your photo is kept only for as long as your report exists, and you can delete it from your account at any time. detsherlock never adds it to an index and never sells it. Running a search passes it to the matching infrastructure that performs the comparison — beyond that it goes nowhere.

Is there a free face search?

detsherlock runs a real search across a 100,000-face sample before you pay, and tells you how many matches it found for free. The full search covers all 1.4 billion faces and is paid, because every search costs us real money. Google Images and Yandex reverse image search are also free — try those first if you only need to know whether a photo has been used elsewhere.

How is this different from Google reverse image search?

Google reverse image search looks for copies of the same file. Crop it slightly and it finds nothing. detsherlock searches facial geometry instead, so it can find a completely different photo of the same person.

What happens if the search finds nothing?

Your report says so plainly. The search genuinely ran against the full index and cost us a credit, so it is not refunded — but no result is information too: that face is not in any source we index. If a search fails for a technical reason, we re-run it at no charge.

Is face search legal?

It depends what you use it for. Searching your own face, searching with someone's permission, or verifying who you are talking to online are legitimate. Stalking someone, or using results for hiring, housing or credit decisions, is not — the detsherlock terms forbid it, and every search is logged.

Which photo gives the best results?

A sharp, well-lit, front-facing photo where the face fills a good part of the frame. Glasses, masks, side angles and heavy filters all reduce accuracy. detsherlock lets you attach up to three photos of the same person to one search at no extra cost, which improves the match.