PimEyes opt out

The PimEyes opt out works — but it is tedious, and PimEyes is not the only engine

You can opt out of PimEyes yourself for free. The catch: it requires uploading your photo and a redacted government ID, it takes weeks to process, and PimEyes is only one of several face-search engines indexing you. We do the whole thing for you — across PimEyes, FaceCheck.ID and Lenso.ai — for a one-time $49.

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Use case

The PimEyes opt-out form needs your photo plus a redacted government ID, and processing takes 2–6 weeks.

Use case

PimEyes is not the only engine — FaceCheck.ID and others index your face too, each with its own process.

Use case

We file every opt-out for you and confirm when each one clears — handled by real people, not software.

What the opt-out actually does

The PimEyes opt-out suppresses you in PimEyes results. It does not reach the websites hosting the photographs. If a conference gallery, a press release and an old forum thread all carry your face, those pages are untouched by the opt-out and remain exactly as public as they were.

This distinction matters when you are deciding whether the process is worth the effort. It is worth it, because the search engine is what turns scattered public pages into a single queryable identity. But it is a de-listing, not a deletion, and expecting deletion leads people to conclude the process failed when it worked as designed.

Why it asks for a government ID, and what to redact

The awkward part of the process is that opting a face out requires proving the face is yours, which means submitting identity documents to the company you are trying to be less visible to. There is no way around this that any engine currently offers.

What you can control is how much you hand over. The requirement is a government ID showing your name and your photograph. The identification number, address and date of birth are not needed to match a face to a name, and can be blacked out before you upload.

One engine is not the job

PimEyes is the best known face-search engine, which makes it the one people opt out of and then consider the matter closed. FaceCheck.ID indexes independently, with its own crawl and its own opt-out process, and it is not the only other one.

Each engine you skip leaves a working route from a photograph of your face to your identity. The work is per engine, the forms differ, and none of them notify the others.

It is not permanent, and that is not a failure

These engines re-crawl. A new photo of you published next year on a page they index can reappear in results even though your earlier opt-out was honoured. The opt-out applied to what was indexed at the time it was processed.

Plan for it as maintenance rather than a one-off. Re-check periodically, run the removal again if something surfaces, and reduce how often a clean new reference photo of you enters circulation in the first place.

Guide

How to opt out of PimEyes yourself (free)

Open the opt-out form directly

Go to pimeyes.com/en/opt-out-request-form — it is not linked from their main navigation.

Upload your photo and a redacted ID

Use a clear, recent, full-face photo and a government ID with your name and photo visible (you can black out the ID number, address, and date of birth).

Submit and wait — then repeat per engine

PimEyes confirms by email in 2–6 weeks. Then do it again on FaceCheck.ID, and re-check periodically, since these engines re-index over time.

Keep reading

Related guides

Remove photos from PimEyes

For people who already found their face there and want it down.

Read

Does face-search removal work?

Every engine we can find, what its opt-out really demands, and what happened when we filed.

Read

What reverse face search is

How face-search engines index a photo, and why a public headshot is the easiest kind to match.

Read

All guides

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Can I just do this myself?

Yes. PimEyes, FaceCheck and Lenso.ai all publish free opt-out forms — the steps above are the real process. Lenso.ai is the easiest of the three: one photo, no ID, usually under a day. We exist for people who would rather not deal with the ID uploads, the per-engine paperwork, and the follow-up. We do it for you for $49.

Does opting out remove my face from the internet?

No. An opt-out de-lists you from that engine’s search results; it does not delete the original photos from the websites that host them. We remove you from the face-search engines, not the whole web.

Is the removal permanent?

Not always. These engines re-index over time, so new photos of you can reappear. If that happens you can run the removal again.