Embodiments of device-to-device (D2D) discovery, authentication, and connection techniques are generally described herein. In an example, a device-to-device connection establishment technique may be performed directly between peer-to-peer wireless communication devices without obtaining authentication information from a cloud network or an external service. The device-to-device connection establishment technique may include a transmission of a discovery request to available devices, a transmission of a response from available devices including authentication data, and a verification of the authentication data. The authentication data may include previously stored image data associated with a device or human user associated with a device. In further examples, image processing and image recognition techniques may be used to verify a particular device or human user associated with a device.