Public-web scope
221B Face Search is designed around publicly available pages, profiles, articles, and websites. It is not a private-record lookup product.
About 221B Face Search
Public-web face search built around source review.
221B Face Search helps users upload a face photo and review publicly available source pages with visually similar face candidates. The intended outcome is not automatic identification. It is a better manual review workflow.
Verification-first workflow
The product helps users prioritise candidate pages, then verify those pages manually using names, dates, context, and source credibility.
Research and safety use cases
Core use cases include catfish checks, public-source review, responsible OSINT research, and checking for public image misuse.
What users should understand before using it
Reverse face search is different from ordinary reverse image search. It is designed to surface candidate public pages whose photos may show a visually similar face, including in different images, rather than only exact duplicates of one file.
Because of that, match-quality scores should be treated as ranking signals, not probabilities or conclusions. Original pages, names, bios, timestamps, and source quality determine whether a candidate is meaningful.
A high score does not prove identity, intent, ownership, fraud, or safety. No result is also inconclusive. The methodology page explains the search scope and manual review process in more detail.
Founder and responsible editor
Di Tang
Founder and Product Builder
Founder and product builder behind 221B Face Search, focused on public-source review, responsible OSINT, and online-safety workflows.