A reverse image search can reveal an image’s origin, locate related images, or verify its authenticity. The number of ways to do a reverse picture search on your phone is enormous, whether you have an iPhone or an Android phone.
For example, here’s how to use Google Lens on Android to look for an image backwards:
- Pick a picture from your computer’s picture file or the web.
- Press the Lens button.
- The app will then do a reverse image search, find the image, and show you other similar photos.
This guide will go into more depth about this and a few other tools, apps, and websites that you can use to do a reverse search on your phone.
Google Chrome’s built-in picture search functionality
It’s easy to look for pictures on Google if you’re on an Android or iPhone and using Chrome. Start by following these steps.
- Step 1: Open Chrome and go to the picture you chose.
- Step 2: Hold down on the picture and tap it again to bring up a choice.
- Step 3: On iOS 14, tap on Search Google For This Image. On Android 10, tap on Search with Google Lens.
- Step 4: Look at the end effect.
Methods for doing a Google Lens picture search in reverse
Your phone may have come with Google Lens already installed, and you can still get it from the Google Play Store for Android. Lens is now part of the main Google Search app for iOS, so iPhone users don’t need to download a different app.
- Step 1: Find a picture on the web or in your photo file.
- Step 2: To start the image recognition process, tap the Lens button.
- Step 3: The app will then do a reverse image search, find the image, and show you other similar photos.
The Android method for doing a reverse image search
You can upload a picture to Google to do a reverse image search if someone sent it to you or if you already have it on your phone. All Android browsers can use this way. This is the desktop version of Google’s image search, and you need to add an image to do a reverse image search. Start by following these steps.
- Step 1: Let’s begin by going to images.google.com in your web browser.
- Step 2: Choose the PC version that suits your needs. To enter the More menu in Chrome, simply touch the menu icon located in the top right corner of the screen.
- Step 3: Mark the box that says Desktop Site.
- Step 4: Tap on the small camera button to add a picture.
Methods for doing a reverse image search on an iOS device
You can also look for pictures backwards on an iPhone. Start by following these steps.
- Step 1: Go to google.images.com.
- Step 2: Ask for the PC version since that’s what you want. To get to the share menu in Safari, tap the share button with the up arrow. Click on Chrome’s “More” menu icon, which appears as three dots in the lower right corner.
- Step 3: Find Request Desktop Site and tap it.
- Step 4: Tap on the small camera button to add a picture.
Methods for doing a reverse image search on Bing
It’s the same on all devices that do reverse image searches on Bing. To do this, go to the home page of Bing and click on the picture search icon in the address bar. After that, share at least one picture.
- Step 1: Type the address of the Bing home page into the address bar of any browser, whether it’s on a computer or a phone.
- Step 2: Press the Lens button in the middle.
- Step 3: To start a visual search, tap “Allow Gallery Access.”
- Step 4: Press “Allow” to grant the app permission to track your whereabouts and movements.
- Step 5: Auto-identify anything nearby by looking your phone’s camera straight at it, and the app will tell you right away what it is.
- Step 6: Press the magnifying glass button to find out more.
- Step 7: You can also take a new picture with your camera app or pick one or more pictures from your gallery to help you identify and find them.
Tips for doing a reverse image search on TinEye
If you want to do a reverse picture search, you have a few more choices, no matter what kind of phone or web browser you’re using. TinEye is a well-known website that can help you look for images backwards.
- Step 1: Open your favourite online browser and go to tineye.com.
- Step 2: Click the arrow icon to the left of the search box to add a picture.
- Step 3: Use your device’s camera to take a new image, browse your photo library, or explore elsewhere. The choices depend on your phone.
- Step 4: Once your picture is uploaded, you’ll see if there are any matches.
You may do a reverse picture search with the help of an app.
On Android or iPhone, there are a number of apps that can do reverse image searches for you, so you don’t have to open your computer every time you want to look up a picture. These are some of the best.
Image Search app
You can look for images by keywords or file name in the free Image Look app. You can also share images with other apps, download images to use as phone wallpaper, search for animated GIF images, see your search history, and change the size of the image display. And find filters for time, type, colour, size, and content.
Photo Sherlock app
To swiftly search for images in reverse on Google and Yandex, you can use Photo Sherlock to upload an image from your gallery or even take your own picture. Select the photo album or camera icon from the window’s bottom. You have the option to crop the image and search for additional details if desired.
Google Photos app
The Google Photos app has a function that can recognize photos. This feature was first released as a separate app called Google Lens. This tech has been used by the Google Lens team in their search engine, Google Photos, and Google Assistant for both iPhone and Android since 2017. This lets people look at pictures on the web and search for photos backwards. If you pick out a saved picture and then tap the Google Lens icon, you can do a reverse image search on that photo.
Reversee app
The iPhone app Reversee is excellent because it lets users flip and crop their pictures before they start their search. For iOS users, Reversee also works well as a plugin that lets you use it in Photos, Safari, and Chrome. If you choose the professional version without ads, you get a lot of extra benefits. One of these is the ability to change photos, look through pictures from Google, Bing, and Yandex, paste picture URLs, and gather a lot of information about the pictures you see.
Search By Image app.
Like Reversee, the Search By Image app for Android lets you make simple changes to photos before you use them in searches. As a reverse picture search app, this one has everything you could want. It works with Google, Yandex, and Tineye, and you can even open photos that other people have shared on Facebook and Twitter.
Reverse image search tools to check for stolen work.
Apps that do reverse image searches, like the ones above, can help graphic designers, fashion designers, interior artists, and other people who work with photos find photos that look a lot alike. For example, if you are one of these artists, reverse picture search apps can make it easy to find out if someone has stolen your original work.
With this goal in mind, some businesses have created reverse picture search tools that can help you look for stolen work. Here are two good choices to think about.
Berify search tool
Berify is a reverse image search service made to help workers like artists, models, vloggers, and others keep their work safe. This is the only app that lets you look for stolen content by tracking similar videos. This makes it an essential tool for people who make content online.
Pixsy search tool
Pixsy is a free website that was made by a photographer who had his pictures stolen online. Today, the tool has five features that shooters and people who make content for the web can use to protect their work: One way to keep track of where your photos are online is with Monitor. Another way is with Resolve, which lets you get paid for stolen work. Finally, Takedown lets you get rid of stolen photos from the internet. Finally, Register keeps your photos from being stolen and misused.