Look up any Gmail account

What a Gmail lookup can find

Results depend on how the owner uses Google and what they have chosen to make public. A search can return any of the following.

• Name and profile photo

  The display name and picture on the Google account, plus when the profile was last edited.

• Google account ID

  The permanent numeric ID (often called the Gaia ID) that links the address to the rest of Google. It stays the same when the owner changes their name or photo.

• Google services in use

  Signs of activity in services such as Maps, Photos, YouTube and Play Games.

• Maps reviews and photos

  Public reviews, star ratings and uploaded photos, with the places they were posted for. These often show which city or neighbourhood someone spends time in.

• Play Games profile

  The public gamer name and avatar, if the account has one.

• Public calendar

  Event titles and dates when the owner has shared their Google Calendar publicly.

• Account type

  Whether the address is a personal Gmail account or a Google Workspace account run by a company or school.

How it works

You enter an address and IdSnoop asks Google which account it belongs to, the same way Google does when you add someone to a shared document or calendar. With the account ID in hand, it checks each Google service for a public profile and collects whatever is visible to anyone on the internet.

1. 1

   Enter the address

   Type the full email address, for example name@gmail.com or name@company.com.

2. 2

   Run the search

   Press search. Most lookups finish in 10 to 30 seconds.

3. 3

   Review the profile

   Read the profile card, then scroll through Maps reviews, photos, games and calendar events if the account has any.

Built on GHunt, the open-source Google OSINT tool

IdSnoop's Gmail search is powered by GHunt, the open-source tool for investigating Google accounts created by security researcher mxrch and published on GitHub as mxrch/GHunt. GHunt is widely used in OSINT (open-source intelligence) work by journalists, fraud investigators and security teams, and it is the reference tool for finding what a Google account exposes publicly.

GHunt is a command-line program written in Python. It can look up an email address, a Google account ID or a shared Google Drive file, and it can estimate a location from Maps activity. It is powerful, but it was built for people comfortable in a terminal. Running it yourself looks like this:

# Install GHunt
$ pipx install ghunt
# Connect a Google account using cookies from the GHunt Companion extension
$ ghunt login
# Look up an address and print the results
$ ghunt email name@gmail.com

GHunt online vs running GHunt yourself

IdSnoop is a GHunt online alternative. The setup, the Google session and the updates are handled on our side, and the raw output is turned into a profile card with photos, reviews and links you can click.

If you need GHunt's other modules, such as Drive file lookups or bulk investigations, running GHunt yourself is still the better choice. For a fast check on a single Gmail address, IdSnoop gets you the same public data in a browser.

Good reasons to look up a Gmail account

Most people use a Gmail lookup to decide whether to trust someone they only know by email.

• Buying and selling online

  Check a seller or buyer on Facebook Marketplace, Kijiji or Craigslist before you meet or pay.

• Phishing and impersonation

  Spot an email claiming to be from your bank, boss or a delivery company that comes from a Gmail address with no history.

• Landlords and contractors

  Screen a landlord, tenant, contractor or new business contact before you sign anything.

• Online dating

  Check a match is who they say they are before meeting in person.

• Your own exposure

  See what your own Gmail address reveals, so you can tighten your privacy settings.

Signs a Gmail address may be fake

A real person's Google account usually builds up history over time. Be careful when a lookup shows:

1. No profile photo, no name and no activity in any Google service.
2. A name on the account that does not match the name used in the email or chat.
3. A profile photo that also appears on unrelated accounts. Run it through a reverse image search to check.
4. A profile that was created or edited very recently, right before they contacted you.
5. Maps reviews in a country or city that does not match where they say they live.

How to protect your own Gmail account

Search your own address first. Anything that shows up is visible to everyone, and most of it can be hidden in a few minutes.

• Profile photo and name

  The name and photo on a Google account can be seen by anyone who has the address. If you do not want them linked to you, change them under Personal info at myaccount.google.com.

• Google Maps reviews

  Open your Maps profile, go to its profile settings and turn on the restricted profile option, or delete reviews you no longer want public.

• Play Games

  In the Play Games app, open Settings and set your profile visibility to private or friends only.

• Google Calendar

  In Calendar settings, open each calendar under Access permissions and untick "Make available to public".

• YouTube

  Hide your subscriptions, playlists and channel details if you do not want them tied to your name.

• Separate addresses

  Keep one Gmail for banking and close contacts, and another for sign-ups, marketplaces and dating apps.

Limits of a Gmail search

A Gmail lookup only shows information Google already makes public. Accounts with private settings may return little more than an account ID, and some Google Workspace organisations block lookups entirely.

Frequently asked questions