Facebook is the world’s largest social network, but that doesn’t mean everybody is on it. Following the slew of scandals and persistent data-mining allegations over the past several years, many have either deleted their Facebook accounts or drifted away to newer and more involving platforms, like Twitter and TikTok. So if you’re one of those people who are not on Facebook but want to look up somebody on the website, we have detailed the best ways to search Facebook without having an account or logging in.
- Search Engines
- Social Search Engines
- People Search Engines
- Enlist the Help of Your Real-life Friends With Facebook Accounts
Note: The methods described here will only work if the target user hasn’t locked their FB profile with the highest privacy settings. For searchable profiles, you can see the name, profile images, and a few other tidbits of information without an account, depending on their security settings.
One of the best methods to search Facebook without an account is by using search engines like Google, Bing, or DuckDuckGo. To find somebody’s Facebook profile, do a regular web search, but specify that you only want to see results from Facebook.
Social search engines use algorithms to specifically sift through the vast array of information about individuals on social media. Some of the most popular free ones include Social Searcher (website) and snitch.name (website), both of which help you search Facebook without an account. However, if you’re a business owner and serious about doing in-depth research before hiring, you can also subscribe to the likes of Mentionytics (website) and Social Mention (website). Many such services are available online, but again, they only work based on the privacy settings of the user you’re trying to locate.
3. People Search Engines
There are also dozens of so-called ‘people search engines‘ on the web, helping folks search for their long-lost friends or looking up somebody they met at a party or concert. There are several people finder services that let you search for people and get details around them. Their results are not Facebook-specific but an aggregation of everything that their web-crawlers can find about a person.
I know this is a little bit of a cop-out, but one of the best ways to search for someone on Facebook without an account is by enlisting the help of a Facebook account holder. Come to think of it, you will likely get the best results with this method, especially if the person helping you happen to be a Facebook friend with your target.
Again, how much information you will have access to will depend on the privacy settings. And more often than not, you will get to see more than if you’re searching from the outside. Like the earlier methods, this one isn’t perfect either. But as long as you’re not being a creep or trying to stalk someone, it is your best option to look up someone’s Facebook profile without an account.
At one time, Facebook allowed any random person to look up information about everybody on the platform, but those days are long gone. As part of an enhanced push for privacy in the face of mounting pressure from lawmakers and users alike, the company now lets users remove third-party app access and delete Off-Facebook activity for an extra layer of privacy. What’s more, users can even lock their profiles so as to prevent anyone other than their Facebook friends from looking at their personal details, including profile info, photos, etc.
