Tick Check With Your Smartphone
Find Ticks With Your Smartphone Camera
Check skin, hair and fur step by step, and use your phone camera to take a closer look at small or suspicious spots.
Camera images are not uploaded to our servers.
The Tick Camera is a visual checking aid. It cannot identify a tick with certainty or replace medical or veterinary advice.
Who Are You Checking for Ticks?
Choose the person or animal you want to check and learn where ticks commonly hide.
Quick Help
What Do You Need Help With?
Choose your current situation and go directly to the most useful next step.
Smartphone Tick Check
Take a Closer Look With Your Phone Camera
Use your smartphone camera to inspect small spots on skin or areas hidden by hair or fur.
Open the Camera
Position the suspicious area clearly inside the camera view.
Adjust the View
Use zoom, light or available viewing options to make the area easier to see.
Inspect the Area
Look for a small body, visible legs or other features that may indicate an attached tick.
Common Hiding Places
Where Should You Look for Ticks?
Ticks can be easy to miss. Some areas should be checked especially carefully depending on the person or animal.
Found a Tick?
Stay Calm and Follow the Next Steps
If you have found an attached tick, remove it carefully, clean the area and continue to monitor the bite site.
Ticks on Children Can Be Easy to Miss
Small ticks may attach in areas that are overlooked during a quick check. Carefully inspect the scalp, hairline, behind the ears, around the waist and behind the knees.
Find Ticks Hidden in Your Pet’s Fur
Small ticks can be difficult to see in thick or long fur. Check your pet systematically and inspect any unusual bump or dark spot closely.
Knowledge and Next Steps
Essential Tick Guides
Find clear guidance for common questions, uncertain situations and important next steps after finding a tick.
Safety and Limitations
What the Tick Camera Can and Cannot Do
The Tick Camera helps you inspect and document suspicious areas, but it does not provide a medical or veterinary diagnosis.
The Camera Can Help You
- Take a closer look at a small spot
- Inspect areas hidden by hair or fur
- Use zoom and available lighting controls
- Document a bite area for later comparison
- Follow a more systematic tick check
The Camera Cannot
- Confirm with certainty that a spot is a tick
- Diagnose Lyme disease or another infection
- Determine whether a bite is harmless
- Replace a healthcare professional
- Replace veterinary examination or advice
Trust and Transparency
Clear Tick Guidance Based on Reliable Sources
Our content is carefully researched, regularly reviewed and based on reliable medical, scientific, public-health and veterinary sources.
We prioritize public-health agencies, medical organizations, veterinary organizations, universities and peer-reviewed research.
Important guidance is reviewed and updated when recommendations or relevant evidence change.
Relevant guides include references so readers can understand where the information comes from.