The quickest way to reverse image search on a phone is Google Lens: on iPhone, open the Google app and tap the Lens icon in the search bar; on Android, do the same or long-press the home button or navigation bar to use Circle to Search. For images on a web page, long-press the image in Chrome and choose the Google Lens option. TinEye and Bing work in any mobile browser when you want a second opinion.
Key takeaways
- Google Lens (in the Google app, Google Photos and Chrome) is the most capable free option on both iPhone and Android.
- Safari has no built-in "search for this image online" option. Apple's Visual Look Up identifies plants, pets, landmarks and art, but it doesn't show where a photo appears on the web.
- Circle to Search works on Pixel 6 and later, Samsung Galaxy devices running One UI 6.1 or later, and select other Android phones.
- For photos sent in chats or dating apps, screenshot and crop first, then search the cropped image.
- Run important searches on at least two engines. Google, Bing and TinEye index different parts of the web.
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Which method should you use?
The fastest method depends on where the image is right now.
| Where the image is | iPhone | Android |
|---|---|---|
| In your camera roll | Google app or Google Photos → Lens | Google Photos or Google app → Lens |
| On a web page | Chrome or Google app: long-press the image | Chrome: long-press the image |
| Anywhere on screen (app, video, feed) | Screenshot, or Visual Intelligence on supported models | Circle to Search |
| In a chat or dating app | Screenshot, crop, then Lens | Circle to Search, or screenshot and Lens |
| You want a second engine | tineye.com or Bing in the browser | tineye.com or Bing in the browser |
iPhone: Google app and Google Photos
On iPhone, Google Lens lives inside the free Google app, Google Photos and Chrome. The Google app gives you the most options.
Search a photo or screenshot from your camera roll
- Install or update the Google app from the App Store and open it.
- Tap the Google Lens icon (the colorful camera) in the search bar.
- Tap the photo picker icon and choose your image. If asked, allow photo access. You can grant Limited Access so Google sees only the photos you pick; change it later in Settings > Apps > Google > Photos.
- Drag the corners of the selection box around the part you care about. A tighter box gives more specific results.
- Scroll the results. To refine them, tap Add to your search and type keywords, such as a brand or "original source."
Search an image you see on a website
Browse to the page inside the Google app, touch and hold the image, then tap Search image with Google Lens.
Google Photos
If your photos are in the Google Photos app, open a photo and tap the Lens button at the bottom of the screen. This is handy for older pictures already backed up to Google Photos.
Reading Lens results
Lens mixes AI overviews, identified objects, shopping links, "visually similar" images and pages that contain the same picture. To trace a specific photo, ignore the lookalikes and look for an Exact matches option (when Lens offers it) or results that show the identical image on other sites. That's what tells you where a photo came from. Our guide to finding the original source of an image explains how to interpret dates and duplicates.
iPhone: Chrome
Chrome for iPhone has Google Lens built in, which makes it the easiest browser for searching images on web pages.
- Open the page in Chrome.
- Touch and hold the image.
- Tap Search image with Google or Search image with Google Lens. (Google's help page notes that Google must be your default search engine in Chrome for this option.)
Chrome can also search anything on the page, not just images you can long-press: tap the Google Lens icon at the left of the address bar, or tap More and choose Search Screen with Google Lens. Then draw over, highlight or tap the area you want. This helps on sites that block long-press menus or put images behind overlays.
To search a photo from your camera roll in Chrome, open a new tab, tap the Lens icon in the search box, then tap the photo picker at the bottom left.
iPhone: Safari workarounds
Safari doesn't offer "search this image on Google." Long-pressing an image gives you options like Save to Photos, Copy and, when available, Look Up (Apple's Visual Look Up, covered below). If you prefer to stay in Safari, these workarounds work:
- Use Google's Lens icon on google.com. Go to google.com in Safari and tap the Lens (camera) icon in the search box, then upload the image from your photos. Save the web image first (touch and hold > Save to Photos), or take a screenshot.
- Use an upload-based engine. TinEye and Bing both accept uploads in mobile Safari (see below).
- Request the desktop site if a search site hides its upload button on mobile: open Safari's page menu (the aA or ··· button, depending on your iOS version) and choose Request Desktop Website.
- Copy the image address. Some engines, including TinEye, accept an image URL. Long-press the image, and if your version of Safari offers to copy the image link, paste it into the engine's URL field.
Apple Visual Look Up and Visual Intelligence
Apple has its own image recognition features. They are useful, but they answer a different question from reverse image search.
Visual Look Up (iOS 15 and later)
Visual Look Up recognizes things in a photo, such as plants and flowers, animals and dog breeds, landmarks, and works of art, and shows information from Siri Knowledge and the web. To use it, open a photo in Photos and tap the Info button. If it has a small sparkle badge, Visual Look Up has found something; tap the icon that appears on the photo (for example, a leaf for plants or an animal icon for pets). In Messages, Mail and Notes, touch and hold the image first; in Safari, choose Look Up from the menu. If there's no sparkle, Visual Look Up has nothing for that photo.
What it does not do: it does not list other websites where the same photo appears, and it isn't designed to identify people. So it can't tell you whether a profile picture was stolen. For that, use Google Lens, Bing or TinEye.
Visual Intelligence (Apple Intelligence iPhones)
On iPhones that support Apple Intelligence (iPhone 15 Pro and newer models), Visual Intelligence can search what's in front of your camera and, since iOS 26, what's on your screen. Take a screenshot (press the side button and volume up together), and Visual Intelligence options appear on the screenshot. You can draw over an object with Highlight to Search to run an image search, which uses Google by default, tap Search for a Google search, or tap Ask to send a question about the image to ChatGPT. If the Markup tools appear instead, tap the pen icon to switch to Visual Intelligence. On models with the Camera Control button, you can long-press it to use Visual Intelligence with the camera.
Android: Google Lens and Chrome
On most Android phones, Lens is built into the Google app, Chrome, Google Photos and often the camera app.
Search a photo or screenshot on your phone
- Open the Google app (or Chrome).
- Tap the Google Lens icon in the search bar.
- Pick an image under Screenshots or from your gallery, or point the camera at something and tap Search.
- Drag the box corners to select part of the image, then scroll the results. Tap Ask about this image to refine with keywords.
Search an image on a web page
In Chrome, touch and hold the image and tap Search image with Google Lens. As on iPhone, Google needs to be Chrome's default search engine for the option to appear.
Google Photos
Open a photo in Google Photos and tap the Lens button at the bottom of the screen.
Circle to Search (Pixel, Samsung and others)
Circle to Search lets you search anything on screen without leaving the app, which is ideal for photos inside social, dating and messaging apps.
- With the image on screen, touch and hold the navigation handle at the bottom of the screen (gesture navigation) or the Home button (three-button navigation).
- Circle, scribble over or tap the image. Drag the selection edges to adjust.
- Results from Google appear in a panel at the bottom. Add text to refine, or tap Translate to translate everything on screen.
Supported devices: Google says Circle to Search works on select Android phones, including Pixel 6 and later. Samsung says it's available on select Galaxy phones and tablets running Android 14 with One UI 6.1 or later. It has also come to select phones from other makers.
If it doesn't work: Google's troubleshooting steps are to make Google your default digital assistant (Settings > Apps > Default apps > Digital assistant app), turn on Use screen and app data, and update the Google app. On Samsung phones, also check Settings > Display > Navigation bar and make sure the Circle to Search toggle is on. On Pixels, the switch is under Settings > System.
Searching screenshots and chat photos
Many apps, including Instagram and most dating apps, don't let you save images directly. (A few, such as WhatsApp's view-once photos, block screenshots too.) A screenshot works almost everywhere, but it adds clutter that hurts matching. To get the best results:
- Take the screenshot with the image as large as possible. Open it full-screen first if the app allows.
- Crop tightly in your Photos or Gallery editor, removing status bars, captions, buttons and borders.
- Search the cropped version with Lens, then on TinEye or Bing.
- If nothing turns up, mirror the image (flip horizontally in the editor) and search again. Reposted and stolen photos are sometimes flipped.
- Try a second crop of just the face or a distinctive object in the background.
Checking a dating match or online seller? Our catfish check guide covers what the results mean and the other checks to run, and verifying an online seller covers marketplace listings.
Checking a dating match?
If free searches turn up nothing and you're still unsure, a paid people search can look up a photo, name, phone number, email or username against social profiles and public records. Results vary, and it works best alongside the free checks above.
Try a Social Catfish searchTinEye and Bing on mobile
TinEye
TinEye has no app, but its website works in any mobile browser. Go to tineye.com, tap the upload button and pick an image, or paste an image URL. TinEye is good at finding exact and edited copies of a photo and lets you sort matches by oldest or biggest, which helps you find the original or a higher-resolution version. TinEye says it never adds uploaded images to its search index. Its index is smaller than Google's, so "0 results" on TinEye is common and not conclusive.
Bing Visual Search
On bing.com in your mobile browser, go to Images and tap the camera icon in the search box. Choose Take a photo or upload an image saved on your device. Bing shows similar images, pages that include the image, and shopping matches. Microsoft notes that photos you provide may be used to improve Bing's image processing services.
For more engines and their strengths, see our comparison of the best reverse image search tools and our list of TinEye alternatives.
Privacy and troubleshooting
What happens to the images you search
- Google: Visual Search History is an optional setting that saves the images you search with Lens and Circle to Search to your Web & App Activity. Google says it's off by default. To check, go to your Google Account > Data & privacy > Web & App Activity and look for Include Visual Search History.
- Bing: uploaded photos may be used to improve Microsoft's services.
- TinEye: says it doesn't add uploads to its index.
As a rule, don't upload photos of other people's ID documents, children, or anything intimate to any search engine.
Common problems
- No "Search image" option on long-press: set Google as Chrome's default search engine, or use the address-bar Lens button.
- The site won't show an upload button: request the desktop site (Chrome: ⋮ > Desktop site; Safari: see above).
- Only "similar" results: the exact image may not be indexed. Try another engine, a tighter crop or a mirrored copy.
- Low-quality results: blurry or tiny screenshots match poorly. Find the largest version of the image you can before searching.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a built-in reverse image search on iPhone?
Not in the classic sense. Visual Look Up identifies objects but doesn't show where an image appears online. On iPhones that support Apple Intelligence, Visual Intelligence on screenshots can run an image search, which uses Google by default. Otherwise, use the free Google app or Chrome.
Can I reverse image search a photo from WhatsApp or Instagram?
Yes. Save it if the app allows, or take a screenshot and crop it, then upload it to Google Lens, TinEye or Bing. On Android, Circle to Search lets you search it directly without saving.
Is reverse image searching on a phone free?
Yes. Google Lens, Circle to Search, Visual Look Up, Bing Visual Search and TinEye's basic search are all free to use.
Why does Google Lens show products instead of the same photo?
Lens is built for visual search, so it tries to identify and shop for what's in the picture. Scroll for pages containing the same image or use an Exact matches option when available. Our explainer on visual search covers the difference.
Does the other person know I searched their photo?
No. Reverse image search engines don't notify the person who posted or appears in the image.
Sources & further reading
- Google Search Help: Search with an image on Google (iPhone & iPad)
- Google Chrome Help: Search with Google Lens in Chrome (iPhone & iPad)
- Google Search Help: Search your screen with Circle to Search
- Samsung US: How to use Circle to Search on your Galaxy phone or tablet
- Apple Support: Look up what's in a photo with your iPhone or iPad
- TinEye Help: How do I search on TinEye?
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