# How to Find Someone on TikTok (With or Without a Username)

To find someone on TikTok, type their username or name into search and open the Users tab.

[![apidojo](/blog/authors/apidojo.png)**Apidojo** *15+ years of experience in data retrieval.*](/blog/authors/apidojo/)

**12 October 2026** Published

**4 min** Read

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**To find someone on TikTok, type their username or name into search and open the Users tab.** Without a username, sync your phone contacts from Profile, then Add friends, or scan their TikTok QR code; contact sync only shows people who allow TikTok to suggest their account to contacts.

TikTok search matches usernames and display names, so even a nickname often works. This guide covers 7 ways to find a person, why some people can’t be found, and how to check you’ve got the right account. Searching for anything else is covered in [how to search on TikTok](/blog/tiktok-search/how-to-search-on-tiktok/).

## How Do You Search for Someone on TikTok?

**You search for someone by typing their @username or name into the search bar and switching to the Users tab.** Listed below are the 4 steps.

1.  **Tap** the magnifying glass at the top of the Home screen.
2.  **Type** their username, without the @, or their name.
3.  **Tap** **Search**.
4.  **Open** the **Users** tab and check each result’s photo, bio and videos.

The username is the unique handle in the profile address, `tiktok.com/@username`. Display names are not unique, so many accounts can share one.

## 7 Ways to Find Someone on TikTok

**When a plain search doesn’t work, these 7 methods find most accounts.** The table shows what each needs.

| Method | What you need | Works when |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Username search | Their exact @username | Always, unless they blocked you |
| Name search | Their display name or nickname | Their display name matches what you type |
| Contacts sync | Their phone number in your contacts | They allow suggestions to contacts |
| Facebook friends | A Facebook friendship | Both accounts are linked to Facebook |
| QR code | Their TikTok QR code | They share it with you |
| Mutual connections | A friend who follows them | You can open your friend’s Following list |
| Web search | Their name | Their profile is public and indexed |

## How Do You Find Someone on TikTok by Phone Number?

**You find someone by phone number by saving the number in your phone’s contacts and syncing contacts in TikTok.** They’ll appear only if their number is linked to their account and they allow TikTok to suggest their account to contacts. Listed below are the 4 steps.

1.  **Save** their number in your phone’s contacts.
2.  **Open** your TikTok **Profile** and tap **Add friends**.
3.  **Choose** **Contacts** and allow access.
4.  **Browse** the list of contacts who have TikTok accounts.

There’s no way to type a phone number into TikTok search, and tools that claim to look up any TikTok account by phone number rely on data TikTok doesn’t publish.

## How Do You Find Someone on TikTok Without Their Username?

**Without a username, search their display name, a nickname, or words from their bio, then narrow the Users results by photo and location clues.** If you know who they’re friends with, open that friend’s Following list and look there. If you remember one of their videos, search its caption or sound and open the creator’s profile from the video. A web search for their name plus “TikTok” also turns up public profiles.

## Does Someone Know If You Search for Them on TikTok?

**No, TikTok doesn’t notify anyone when you search for them.** Opening their profile is different: if you both have profile view history switched on, your visit appears in their viewer list for 30 days. That’s covered in [TikTok profile views](/blog/tiktok-profiles/profile-views/), and whether searches themselves are visible is in [can people see what you search on TikTok](/blog/tiktok-search/can-people-see-your-searches/).

## Why Can’t You Find Someone on TikTok?

**You can’t find someone when they blocked you, changed their username, deleted or deactivated their account, were banned, or turned off suggestions.** Private accounts still appear in search; only their videos are hidden. If an account you used to see has vanished, check whether you’ve been blocked with [how to know if someone blocked you on TikTok](/blog/tiktok-profiles/who-blocked-me/).

## How Do You Check You’ve Found the Right Account?

**Check the account’s bio, profile photo, follower count and first videos against what you know about the person.** Impersonation accounts are common for well-known people, so look for the verified badge on public figures.

## How to Check Many TikTok Profiles at Once With apidojo

**When you have a list of candidate accounts, apidojo’s [TikTok User Scraper](https://apify.com/apidojo/tiktok-user-scraper) on Apify returns each profile’s bio, follower and following counts, total likes, video count, verification, region and language, so you can compare them in one spreadsheet instead of opening each one.** It takes profile URLs, or video URLs, from which it reads the creator’s profile. With follower and following collection switched off, a run needs at least 10 profile URLs. It charges $0.005 per URL (Apify).

For keyword searches across TikTok users, the developer guide is [how to scrape TikTok search results](/blog/tiktok-scraping/scrape-search-results/).

## The scrapers behind this

-   [TikTok User Scraper Users, followers and following lists by username or URL $0.005 / query + $0.50 / 1K users](/scrapers/tiktok-user-scraper/)

## Questions people ask

### Can you find someone on TikTok by email?

Not through search; email isn't searchable on TikTok.

### Can you search for someone on TikTok without an account?

Yes, `tiktok.com/@username` opens any public profile in a browser; see [how to watch TikTok without the app or an account](/blog/tiktok-search/watch-without-app/).

### How do you stop people finding you on TikTok?

Turn off suggestions to contacts and Facebook friends in Settings and privacy, then Privacy, and consider making your account private.

### Can you find someone's TikTok from Instagram?

Often, yes: many people link their TikTok in their Instagram bio, and the reverse.

## More on searching TikTok

-   [How to Search on TikTok: Filters and Hidden Features Search TikTok for videos, people, sounds and hashtags, use search filters, search with a screenshot, and fix search when it stops working.](/blog/tiktok-search/how-to-search-on-tiktok/)
-   [How to Clear Your TikTok Search History Clear your TikTok search history from the search bar or Activity center, remove single searches, and stop old searches shaping suggestions.](/blog/tiktok-search/clear-search-history/)
-   [Can People See What You Search on TikTok? Who can and can't see your TikTok searches, whether searching someone notifies them, what TikTok stores and how to keep searches private.](/blog/tiktok-search/can-people-see-your-searches/)
-   [Why Can't I Search on TikTok? (6 Fixes) Why TikTok search stops working, how to tell a glitch from a restricted search term, and 6 fixes in the order most likely to help.](/blog/tiktok-search/search-not-working/)
-   [Turn Off 'Find Similar' and Reset TikTok Suggestions Turn off TikTok's Find Similar bubble in Playback settings, reset You may like suggestions, and refresh your For You feed.](/blog/tiktok-search/reset-search-suggestions/)
-   [How to Watch TikTok Without the App or an Account Watch TikTok in any browser without installing the app or signing up, open profiles and videos by link, and know the limits.](/blog/tiktok-search/watch-without-app/)

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