How to Do a Reverse Image Search From Your Phone (2024)

Image Search is the ability to search on a term and find images related to what you typed. Most search engines offer it, and it's great.

But what if you have an image and want to know its origin? Or find similar photos? That's areverse image search.

Google's reverse image search is a breeze on a desktop computer. Go toimages.google.com, click the camera icon to open Google Lens, and either paste in the image link (URL) for an image you've seen online, upload an image from your hard drive, or drag an image from another window.

Google Image Search on the desktop (Credit: PCMag)

But what about when you're on a mobile device and want to do a reverse image lookup? There are a number of different ways to do it:

Google Reverse Image Search on Mobile

Google offers its reverse image search function on phones and tablets, albeit on a limited basis.

When you fire up images.google.com on mobile devices, the camera icon for Google Lens does appear in the search bar, but it doesn't offer the same search options—it'll ask you to look at something with your camera or access images from your camera roll. But you can't enter the URL of an image. To get that option, you must load the desktop version of google.com on your mobile device.

In Safari on iOS, go to google.com then tap the aA icon on the top left and select Request Desktop Site.

In Chrome, go to google.com, then tap the three-dot menu, scroll down on the menu that pops up, and selectRequest Desktop Site.

(Credit: PCMag)

On both browsers, that will load the desktop version and the camera icon will appear. Then, you can enter a URL for an image or upload saved images.

The mobile Chrome browser also supports a reverse image search for images you see online. Hold your finger on the image until a pop-up menu appears; pick Search Image With Google at the bottom, and it'll appear in Google Lens. Note: This will NOT work in the Google app or other browsers (not even in Safari)—it only works in Chrome.

(Credit: Google)

You can also select Open Image in New Tab. Then copy the URL, go back to images.google.com, and paste in the URL. With either method, reverse image search results then appear.

Google Lens is also useful for tasks like instant translation, identifying things, finding a product to buy, or even helping to diagnose skin problems.

Bing Visual Search on Mobile

Bing Visual Search as viewed in Safari on iOS (Credit: PCMag)

That other big search engine,Bing from Microsoft, also does reverse image searches— the only difference is that it calls the feature "visual search."

To use it, click Bing's camera icon on any mobile browser or in the Bing app. A pop-up will say that in order to search with an image, you'll need to give Bing access to your camera; accept or decline with a tap.

On the next screen, tap the Browse button on the bottom left. A pop-up menu will let you take a photo, browse your photo library, or browse third-party services. Tap Browse to find photos stored in third-party services like iCloud Drive,Google Drive, and Dropbox.

The latest versions of the Bing app (iOS,Android) let you snap a photo and image search it immediately. You can upload a photo from your camera roll, scan a QR code, or point your camera at text or math problems (cheaters!). Of course, you can also chat with Copilot about what you see on your camera because AI is everywhere.

That workaround we mentioned above for Chrome searching images in Google with a finger tap can also be used with Bing, but only if you use the mobile version of the Edge browser.

If you want to enter a URL for an image you found online, you have to again go to the Bing desktop site by clicking the aA button in the Safari browser address bar, then access Bing Visual Search from there.

Third-Party Image Search Engines

There are a few search engines out there dedicated to looking up just pictures, but not all of them work directly with your smartphone or the default browsers.

Lenso.ai

(Credit: Lenso.ai)

Lenso.ai is the newest reverse-image search engine to come to market, and you can tell from the URL that it promises (as most things do today) to use artificial intelligence to help find matching images. One thing that offers is the ability to add written descriptions or keywords, or limit searches to one domain name. It did a good job of searching several images we tried, and it works just fine in mobile browsers, including Safari. It handles a maximum file size of 10MB but needs minimum dimensions of 200x200 pixels to search an image. You don't need an account to use it, but you can get email notifications if you sign up for one. You can also request that Lenso take your own copyrighted images out of its index.

TinEye

(Credit: PCMag)

Canada-based TinEye has crawled over69.3 billion imagesto date and was probably the first image search engine, since it launched in 2008. TinEye allows search by URL, upload, or drag-and-drop on the desktop. On mobile, just click that upload (up arrow) icon to get options to take a photo, use one from the library, or upload from third-party services.

Image Raider at Infringement Report

Image Raider used to be a pretty standard reverse image lookup tool, but it has since been absorbed into the services at Infringement Report, a site that is all about helping photographers, artists, and lawyers find works being used without attribution or payment. It will cost you to do that, but probably pays off if you're being ripped off. Paste in a URL or upload an image to see a few results, even on your mobile device...just don't expect the full magilla of results.

PimEyes

The goal of PimEyes is a little different. It wants to help you find images of yourself specifically, so you can take back control of your likeness being out on the internet. It's as much about facial recognition as it is about reverse image search. The search is meant to be ongoing and for that PimEyes will charge you $29.99 a month.

Artist Ninja

You can search via Artist Ninja to find your art that's been misappropriated online, plus you can send notices to the crooks and ask for payment. But you can only search for three images per day for free. For $9.99 a month you can do up to 25 searches per day.

Apps for Reverse Image Search

If you prefer apps over the browser, you can easily access reverse image searches on your smartphone at all times.

CamFind

Free on AndroidandiOS
This is a basic tool for taking shots with your smartphone and searching for similar items, as well as getting price comparisons ifit'sa product shot.

Reversee

Free on iOS
This app sends your pics directly into the Google Images database to search for similar images, but you can upgrade to the pro version for $3.99 via an in-app purchase to get results from Bing and Yandex (an image search company out of Russia) as well.

Reverse Image Search: Eye Lens

$2.99 subscription for iOS
This one isn't an app you go into, but rather an app that adds an extension to other apps. It will put one of those extension buttons inside Photos, Facebook, and other apps, so along with Copy or Send, you'll have an option to search an image. Results appear in your mobile browser and come from Bing, Google, TinEye, and Yandex.

Photo Sherlock

Free on iOS and Android
Photo Sherlock has a website that should work fine on a mobile browser (just ignore all the advertising), or grab the mobile apps. It promises a full search of Google and Bing results. Photos to search can be shared from just about any app, even dating apps, so you can make sure that the person you swiped right on isn't a model stolen from another site.