PimEyes Guide: Face Search, Privacy Risks, and Opt-Out Steps

Description of PimEyes Guide: Face Search, Privacy Risks, and Opt-Out Steps

PimEyes is a face-search engine that compares an uploaded facial image with images indexed from publicly accessible websites. Its most defensible use is checking where your own face appears online. Do not use it to identify, track, profile, intimidate, or investigate another person without a clear lawful basis and their appropriate authorization.

This guide was updated on September 8, 2026 from PimEyes' current product, privacy, terms, and opt-out pages. We did not upload a face or run an accuracy benchmark because doing so would require biometric data. Search quality, false matches, source coverage, and removal timing have not been independently verified.

What the service does

Function	Documented behavior	Important limit
Face search	Creates a face representation from an uploaded image and returns visually similar faces found on indexed public websites	A visual match does not prove identity, authorship, location, relationship, or wrongdoing
Source links	Qualifying access can reveal pages containing matched images	PimEyes does not host the source image and cannot by itself remove it from the original website
Alerts	Paid plans can monitor for newly indexed matches	Alerts can include false positives and should not trigger action without human verification
Opt-out	A free process can exclude a person's face from current and future PimEyes results	The requester must provide verification material, and exclusion does not erase the source website

Biometric and safety risks

Face-search processing can create biometric identifiers from facial features. The UK Information Commissioner's Office explains that a photograph becomes biometric data when specific technical processing extracts facial features for unique identification. Applicable rules vary by jurisdiction, purpose, organization, and person, so public availability alone is not permission for unrestricted processing.

• Search only with a photo you own and are authorized to upload.
• Do not search children or use the service for stalking, doxxing, harassment, employment screening, housing, insurance, credit, policing, or sensitive profiling.
• Never publish a result as a confirmed identity without reliable independent evidence and a fair correction process.
• Avoid uploading confidential, intimate, clinical, government, workplace, or client images.
• Consider the risk to bystanders whose faces appear in the same photograph.

What PimEyes says it stores

PimEyes' privacy policy distinguishes uploaded search images, search results, account data, face fingerprints from indexed web images, and verification material. It describes different retention periods for different workflows, including temporary storage for some uploads and longer retention for search results or takedown records. The current policy—not a directory summary—should be reviewed before every sensitive use.

The company says ordinary uploaded search photos are not used to build its web index. That is a vendor statement, not an independent audit finding. Confirm the exact retention, deletion, processor, location, and account settings that apply to your workflow.

How to remove your face from PimEyes results

1. Open the official PimEyes opt-out form.
2. Upload clear photos of your own face so the system can locate possible matches.
3. Follow the identity-verification instructions. PimEyes currently asks for an anonymized ID image with unrelated fields covered.
4. Provide a contact email and review the live privacy and terms disclosures before submission.
5. Keep the confirmation and recheck results after processing.
6. Contact the original website separately if you also want the source image removed.

Opting out of PimEyes affects its search index; it does not delete the image from the wider internet. Do not pay an unrelated third party or send unredacted identity documents to an unofficial address.

Bottom line

PimEyes can help a person locate reuse of their own likeness, but face search creates serious privacy, misidentification, and misuse risks. Limit it to authorized self-search, treat every match as unconfirmed, and use the official free opt-out route when you do not want your face searchable.

Sources

• PimEyes official website
• PimEyes Terms of Service
• PimEyes Privacy Policy
• PimEyes opt-out form
• UK ICO biometric-recognition guidance