The Best Way to Reverse Image Search on iPhone

There are many reasons why someone may want to perform a reverse image search on iPhone. You can discover a lot about an image when you do this, including the original source, other websites using it, and the license agreement that can tell if you can use the image for private or commercial use.

Jump To:

• How to Do a Google Reverse Image Search on Chrome
• How to Google Reverse Image Search Using Safari

Before you begin, make sure you know how to save or copy an image on your iPhone.

How to Do a Google Reverse Image Search on iPhone

Although Safari is the default browser on iPhones, many users enjoy using Chrome to do their web browsing. If Chrome is your preferred app, here’s how to do a reverse image search with Google Lens on iPhone. For this example, I will check the Facebook profile image of a sketchy friend request to see if they are a catfish or not.

1. Tap and select the image or the URL of the image you’re investigating and save or copy it. For this example, we will be saving an image to Photos.
   
   
2. Open the Google Chrome app. This is possible using all browsers, but the steps are a little different. I will cover Safari in the next section.
   
   
3. Open images.google.com. You'll notice that "Images" is selected on top.
   
   
4. In the lower right corner, tap the more menu (three dots).
   
   
5. Scroll down and tap Request Desktop Site.
   
   
6. On the next screen, tap the camera icon in the search bar (you may need to zoom in by pinching out from the center of your screen to see it clearly).
   
   
7. Now you will use Google Lens on iPhone to search an image. Tap upload a file or paste an image URL.
   
   
8. Pick the location of the image. I'll tap Photo Library because that's where I saved the photo in the first step.
   
   
9. The first time you do this, you may need to give Google Lens permission to view your images. Tap Allow Access, then select the image you want to reverse image search.
   
   
10. Tap Done.
    
    
11. At the bottom of the screen, you can see the name of the person in the photo and their occupation, if Google can identify them. To learn more about them, you can tap Search.
    
    
12. To learn more about the image, such as licensing, tap Find image source.
    
    
13. Here you can scroll through sources that publish this image. In this case, the top two are irrelevant, and the bottom one shows another fake profile using this image with a different name.
    
    
14. Depending on the image, you may see some different options when you do this. When I searched a photo I took of my dog, I saw similar photos of other dogs.
    
    
15. Sometimes, once you tap "Find image source" in step 12, you can tap More Sizes to see your image posted in other sizes.
    
    

Now you know how to do a free reverse photo lookup using Google Chrome! You can also do the same thing using other browsers, but the 3rd and 4th steps may look a little different based on which browser you use. For more tips like this, such as how to photo search by location on your iPhone, sign up for our free Tip of the Day newsletter.

How to Google Reverse Image Search Using Safari

You can do a Google reverse image search with Safari in much the same way as in Chrome. If you are using Safari to reverse image search, open images.google.com in Safari. Then:

1. Your phone may automatically transfer you to Google Lens. If it doesn't, skip to step 5. The first time you do this, you will have to allow access to your photos. To do this, tap Allow access and follow the on-screen directions.
   
   
2. Tap the image to select it.
   
   
3. Here you will see anything that GoogleLens identifies, in this case, the breed of my dog. Tap the search icon.
   
   
4. Here you can see other websites that publish it or tap More Sizes.
   
   
5. Alternatively, you can tap the AA icon at the top of the screen.
   
   
6. Tap Request Desktop Website.
   
   
7. You'll get this familiar view from the section above, and you can follow the same steps to perform a reverse image search.
   
   

There you have it. Now you know how to search by image and how to reverse image search! Now you can spiff up your social media presence or blog knowing that you have done your due diligence and are using these images legally. Plus, you have a way of catching those pesky catfish, which you can then report to Google or the social media platform you are using so that they don't trick anyone. If you enjoyed this tutorial, you might want to check out how to delete frequently visited sites on the iPhone Safari app next!