What App Is This? How to Identify an App or a Name

You see a screenshot in a group chat, a video with an interesting interface, or an icon on a friend's phone, and the question is always the same: what app is this? The good news is that your phone can usually answer it in under a minute. The same tricks also work for the other common puzzle, a profile screenshot where you want to know whose account it is.

This guide is practical. It covers identifying an app from a screenshot or an icon, finding the app behind a notification, and reading a username out of a profile screenshot. It ends with a short note for anyone who arrived here searching "what is this.name", which is a programming question rather than an app one.

What's the app called? Start with Google Lens

Visual search is the fastest way to answer "what's the name of the app" when all you have is a picture.

• On Android with Circle to Search: on supported phones, including recent Pixel and Samsung Galaxy models, open the screenshot, press and hold the home button or the navigation bar, then circle the app icon or the distinctive part of the screen. Results appear in a panel without leaving the photo.
• With Google Lens: open the screenshot in Google Photos and tap the Lens button, or open the Google app and tap the camera icon in the search bar, then pick the screenshot.
• On iPhone: use the Lens button in the Google app the same way, or long-press the image in Photos and try the built-in Visual Look Up when it appears.

Crop tightly. An icon on its own, or a logo, matches better than a whole busy screen. If Lens returns lookalike images instead of a name, crop to any text visible in the interface, such as a menu label or button, and search that text instead.

Confirm it in the Play Store or App Store

Visual search gives you a likely name. The store confirms it, because lots of apps share similar icons.

1. Search the name Lens suggested in the Google Play Store, or the App Store on iPhone.
2. Compare the icon and, more usefully, the screenshots on the listing with your picture. Interface details such as tab bars, colors and button shapes are hard to fake.
3. Check the developer name and the install count or review count. Popular apps attract copycats with nearly identical icons.
4. If you have no name at all, search the store for what the app does, for example "photo filter retro film" or "habit tracker streak". Store search reads app descriptions, and browsing the top results often turns up the one you saw.

Only install apps from the official store listing, from the developer you expect. A search result that pushes you to download an APK from a random site is a good reason to stop.

What apps are on this phone? Finding an app you can see but not name

Sometimes the mystery app is on your own device: a strange notification, an icon you do not remember installing.

• From a notification on Android: long-press the notification. The app's name appears, with a shortcut to its notification settings.
• From an icon on Android: long-press the icon and tap App info. Settings, then Apps, also lists every installed app by name.
• On iPhone: swipe to the App Library and use its search bar, or check Settings, then Apps, for the full list.

If an app you do not recognize has access to your location, messages or accessibility features, uninstall it and change your important passwords. That is how stalkerware often hides.

What name is this? Finding the username in a profile screenshot

A screenshot of a profile or a post usually carries the account's handle somewhere, even if it is small. Look in these spots:

• The top of the profile. Instagram, TikTok, X and Threads show the @handle at the top of the profile screen, separate from the display name.
• Watermarks. Saved TikTok videos carry a watermark with the creator's @username that moves around the frame.
• The address bar. Screenshots taken in a browser often show the profile URL, which contains the handle.
• Tags and replies. Usernames in comments, mentions and reply lines are readable even when the main name is cropped out.
• Copy the text. Google Lens and the iPhone's Live Text can pull text out of an image, so you can copy a handle instead of retyping it.

Once you have the handle, you can answer "whats its name" on other sites too. Search the username across 3,165+ sites to see where else a public profile with that exact name exists, along with the display name, avatar and bio where sites provide them. Remember that two people can use the same handle, so a match on another site is a lead to confirm, not proof.

If the screenshot has a display name but no handle, a display name is not unique and searching it rarely helps. A reverse image search on the profile photo is a better check, especially if you suspect a fake account using someone else's pictures. Our guide to finding fake accounts using your name covers that.

Platform by platform

Each network shows handles a little differently. Our platform guides cover what to look for and how to open a profile once you have the name:

• Instagram username search
• TikTok username search
• X (Twitter) username search
• Snapchat username search
• Discord user search

"Tell me the name" questions that need a different tool

A few related questions come up often, usually typed in a hurry as "tell me name" or "what name of" followed by the thing in the picture:

• "What is this name" for a song: use your phone's built-in song recognition or a music recognition app while the track plays.
• "What name is this" for a plant, product or landmark: Google Lens handles these well. Point the camera or use a photo.
• "What is its name" for a font in a screenshot: font identifier sites match letter shapes from an uploaded image.
• A name of a person in a photo: we do not help identify strangers from their faces. If you are checking whether a dating match or seller is real, see our dating app safety guide.

If you searched "what is this.name"

That one is JavaScript. this.name reads the name property of whatever object this refers to at the moment the code runs. Inside a method called as user.greet(), this is user, so this.name is the user's name. In a plain function in a browser outside strict mode, this falls back to the global window, and window.name is the browser window's name, usually an empty string. That surprise is why this.name sometimes comes back blank. Arrow functions do not get their own this; they use the one from the surrounding code.

FAQ

Can Google Lens identify any app?

It identifies most well-known apps from a clear icon or screen. Small or new apps may not be recognized, and then searching visible interface text in the store works better.

How do I find out what app a video was made with?

Look for a watermark or an end card first. Many editing apps add one. Otherwise, the creator's caption or comments often name it.

Is it OK to look up an account from a screenshot?

Opening a public profile is generally fine. Use it to verify, not to track or contact someone who does not want to hear from you. Read our responsible-use guidelines.

WhatsMyName Apps is not affiliated with Google, Apple or any app mentioned here. Their names are trademarks of their owners.