Facebook is the world’s largest social network, but that doesn’t mean it’s on everyone. After multiple scandals and persistent data mining allegations over the past few years, many have either deleted their Facebook accounts or turned to newer and more content platforms like Twitter and TikTok. So, if you are one of those people who are not on Facebook but want to search for someone on the website, we have detailed the best ways to search Facebook without having an account or signing in.
Search Facebook Without Account
Until a few years ago, you could call almost every user on Facebook in one way or another. In most cases, you can even see all of their posts, photos, videos, comments, likes and more. However, after fierce backlash from its user base and growing pressure from lawmakers, Facebook has tightened its privacy somewhat. It now limits what and how much information people can see about other users. However, there are still some ways to search or search for individual users who do not have accounts, and here we will tell you how to do it.
Note: The methods described here will only work if the target user has not locked their FB profile with the highest privacy settings. For searchable profiles, you can see the name, profile pictures, and a few other pieces of information without an account, depending on the security settings.
1. Search Engines
One of the best ways to search Facebook without an account is to use search engines like Google, Bing or DuckDuckGo. Do a regular web search to find someone’s Facebook profile, but specify that you only want to see results from Facebook.
For example, if you’re searching for Lionel Messi on Facebook, type your search like this: ‘Lionel Messi site: facebook.com’ To view the profiles of all users named Lionel Messi. Google will only show results from Facebook, thanks to the “site:” qualifier at the end.
Note that the search engine will only list profiles under this name unless these users have set their privacy controls to restrict visibility. This is an option every Facebook account owner has. They can make their profile available for search or hide it from search engines. Moreover, users can also restrict the visibility of other Facebook users who are not in their friend list. Unlike personal accounts, business accounts will usually be visible in public search results.
2. Social Search Engines
Social search engines use algorithms to specifically sift through a wide variety of information about individuals on social media. Some of the most popular free ones are Social Searcher (Web site) and snitch.name (Web site), both help you search Facebook without an account. However, if you’re a business owner and are serious about doing in-depth research before hiring, you can also subscribe to the likes of Mentionytics (Web site) and Social Mention (Web site). Many such services are available online, but again, they only work according to the privacy settings of the user you are trying to find.
Social search engines work similarly to general search engines, but let you narrow the scope of the search with a set of filters, including location information. This immediately narrows your search to a specific area. Therefore, when calling John Doe from New York City, for example, you won’t be bombarded with information about John Doe from London, Sydney or Los Angeles. Some social search engines also offer the ability to return results based on specific hashtags and topics.
3rd Person Search Engines
There are also dozens of ‘people search engines’ on the internet that help people search for long-lost friends or someone they met at a party or concert. There are several contact finder services that allow you to search for contacts and get details around them. Its results are not unique to Facebook, but a collection of everything web crawlers can find about a person.
Some of the most used services in this segment are: Pipl (Web site) and PeopleFinder (Web site) allows users to find more information about people on Facebook. Note that Pipl is a premium service with monthly subscription fees and is not intended for personal use. However, if you are a business user, Pipl is one of the best options to go for. You can do turn to PeopleFinder if you want to get some basic information for free. While people search engines fetch details from the web, Facebook results stand out compared to other websites. However, once again, it depends on your target’s privacy settings.
4. Get Help from Real-Life Friends with Facebook Accounts
I know this is a bit of an escape, but one of the best ways to search for someone who doesn’t have a Facebook account is to enlist the help of a Facebook account holder. Think about it, you’ll probably get the best results with this method, especially if the person helping you is a Facebook friend with your target.
Again, how much information you have access to will depend on your privacy settings. And most of the time, you’ll see more than what you’re looking for from the outside. Like the previous methods, this one isn’t perfect either. But unless you’re a creep or trying to follow someone, looking at someone’s Facebook profile without an account is your best bet.
Note: Previously, it was possible to search Facebook without an account using the official Facebook Contacts Directory. However, this particular method is no longer available. Facebook only allows you to access the Contacts Directory after logging in with your Facebook account.
View Facebook Profiles Without Account Or Login For Complete Anonymity
Once upon a time, Facebook allowed any random person to search for information about everyone on the platform, but those days are long gone. As part of an enhanced push for privacy in the face of increasing pressure from lawmakers and users alike, the company now allows users to remove third-party app access and delete their Off-Facebook activity for an extra layer of privacy. Moreover, users, profile information, photos, etc. They can even lock their profiles to prevent anyone other than their Facebook friends from looking at their personal information, including
All this has seriously affected how you can search for information about Facebook users, who may or may not have an account. Even the browser extensions that once allowed you to search for people on Facebook have since been deprecated and no longer work as intended. When it comes to FB Directory, it is more complex and difficult to review than ever before. It’s probably only a matter of time before it becomes nearly impossible to search for people without an account on Facebook. But until then, try the methods described above and let us know if it works for you.