A family privacy check for parents

Kids and teens pick usernames for games, video apps and school tools, and those names often end up public. A family privacy check is a sit-down session where you search your household's own usernames across 3,450+ sites, look at what strangers can see, and tighten the settings together. It works best when everyone is in the room.

Free, no sign-up. Up to five usernames, 3,450+ sites. The username is not stored or logged.

What families tend to overshare

Usernames give away more than people expect. A handle like emma_lincolnhigh_09 carries a first name, a school and a birth year. The same handle on a gaming site, a video app and a music site lets a stranger connect those profiles and learn a lot about a child without ever talking to them.

Parents add to the picture too. A public photo album, a running club profile or an old forum account with a family member's name in the bio all count. The aim is to see your family the way a stranger would, then decide together what should stay public.

A shared spreadsheet keeps the review in one place: download the account inventory template (CSV), add one row per account and agree on keep, secure or delete together.

How the tool helps

Enter up to five of your household's usernames, yours included, and the tool checks each on 3,450+ sites. Each site comes back as Found, Not found, Blocked or Unknown. Treat every one of them as a lead to verify, not a verdict. Found results show public profile details where available, so you can spot an avatar, a real name or a school in a bio straight away.

The search sees only what any visitor could see. It doesn't sign in, read messages or follow activity, and it isn't a monitoring tool. For a longer walkthrough of reviewing your own exposure, see the digital footprint checker.

Step by step

Sit down together. Explain that you are checking what strangers can see, not reading anyone's messages. Let each person list their own usernames.
Search the family handles. Enter up to five usernames separated by commas and run the search with all categories on.
Open the Found profiles together. Look at each profile as a logged-out visitor would. Note real names, school names, locations, birthdays and photos of the house or neighborhood.
Fix settings or remove details. Set accounts to private where the platform allows, remove identifying details from bios, and delete accounts nobody uses. Consider new handles that do not include a name, school or birth year.
Agree on rules and repeat. Agree on what is fine to share publicly and plan to repeat the check every few months or when someone joins a new app.

Username ideas that protect kids

Leave out the full name, school, town, team and birth year.
Use a different handle for gaming than for school or family accounts, so the profiles are harder to link.
Check each platform's age rules and built-in parental settings; our platform username checkers link to their help pages.

Frequently asked questions

Can I use this to monitor my child's accounts?

No. It shows which public profiles exist for a username, and this page is about reviewing them together. It does not read messages, track activity or send alerts.

What if a Found profile is not my child's?

Many usernames are shared by unrelated people. If the photos and details do not match, it is someone else. Do not contact or report them.

What should a safe kid username look like?

Something that leaves out their real name, school, town and birth year, and that differs between gaming and school accounts.

Can I check our email addresses or phone numbers?

Not yet. Email and phone checks are coming soon. Today the tool searches usernames only.

Are the usernames we search saved?

No. They are sent to our server only to run the check and are not stored or logged.

Related tools and guides

FreeUsername is an independent tool, not affiliated with or endorsed by the WhatsMyName project, Sherlock, Maigret or any site it checks. Results are leads to verify.