Table of Contents
This article will show you how to Use Google Reverse Image Search. With Image look, you can look for a word and find pictures that go with it. It’s great, and most search engines offer it. What if you have a picture and want to know where it came from? Or find pictures like them? That’s a picture search in reverse.
Depending on the mobile browser you use, it might not be clear at first how to do a reverse picture search on your phone. The easiest thing to do is to get Google’s free Chrome browser for iOS or Android and use it. Reverse picture searches can be done quickly and easily with this browser’s built-in tool.
Google’s mobile site hides the camera icon you’d click to upload your picture so it’s not clear how to do a reverse image search from your phone. We’ll show you how to get around that in this guide. If you don’t know how to do a picture search from your desktop, we’ll also show you how to do that. In either case, it’s very easy to do and doesn’t take long.
How to Use Google Reverse Image Search On Smartphone
Using an image from the search results
Before you can use this method, you’ll need to download the Google Chrome mobile app to your phone or tablet so you can do a reverse picture search.
- Open google.com in the Chrome app on your iPhone or Android.
- Describe the image you want to search. For example, you could type “tuxedo cat.”
- Tap the Images tab at the top so you can only see the image search results.
- Select an image from the search results by tapping it to enlarge.
- Tap the Google Lens icon in the bottom left corner of the image.
- After a moment, Chrome will give you images that match your search terms.
Using an image from your files
For this choice to work, your device needs to have Google for Android or Google for iOS installed.
- Open the Google app on your iPhone or Android.
- Tap the camera icon in the search bar. The app might ask for permission to access your camera and image gallery. When it does, grant permission.
- Either tap the camera icon in the top section to take a picture, or look for the image in your gallery in the bottom section and then tap on the image to perform the search.
- After a moment, Google will display the results of the image search.
How to Use Google Reverse Image Search On Computer
Using an image from the internet
- Right click on the image you found in Google.
- Choose Copy image address in the pop-up.
- Open images.google.com in a web browser.
- Click the camera icon.
- Paste the picture’s URL in the text box that says Paste image link.
- Click on the Search button, and you’ll be taken to a page of results related to your image.
Using an image from your files
- Open images.google.com in a web browser.
- Click the camera icon.
- Either drag and drop your image where it says Drag an image here, or click on the upload a file link to search for the image on your computer.
- If you choose to upload the image, find it on your computer, click on it, and select Open.
- After the image is uploaded, you’ll be taken to a page containing similar images or information about the image.
FAQs
On a desktop machine, it’s easy to do a reverse image search on Google. Go to images.google.com, click the camera icon, and then either paste the image link (URL) for an image you saw online, upload an image from your hard drive, or drag an image from another window.
Google reverse image search, which is actually called Google Search by Image, is a service that lets users find images by starting with an image instead of a written or spoken search query.
If you don’t want to use Lens, you can do a Google picture search by typing “images” into the search bar on Google’s home page and then typing in what you want to find. You can also use the filters on the left side of the results page to limit your search by size, color, and type of picture.