The present invention provides a method, an apparatus and a system for device discovery. The method includes: acquiring, by a first device, a user identification of a target user, and acquiring, according to the user identification of the target user, broadcast information of a second device which the target user logs in; when broadcast information of another device is monitored through a D2D function, matching, by the first device, the monitored broadcast information with the broadcast information of the second device, and if the match is successful, determining, by the first device, that the second device and the first device are within a preset distance. According to the present invention, the accuracy of discovering a short distance user is improved and, thus, the problem in the prior art that the accuracy of discovering a user in a short distance cannot be guaranteed by using a cell ID is solved.