A reverse image search starts from a picture instead of words: you give it a photo, and it shows you where that photo, or similar ones, appear online. On your phone it takes less than a minute, and it's the quickest way to check whether a dating profile uses stolen photos, whether someone copied your pictures, or where an image originally came from.
This guide covers the easiest methods on iPhone and Android, based on Google's own instructions, plus two free alternatives and the one thing reverse image search can't do.
On iPhone
Search a photo from your camera roll
- Open the Google app or Chrome. In Safari, go to google.com.
- Tap the Google Lens icon (the camera icon) in the search bar.
- Choose a photo from your camera roll, or take a new one.
- Drag the corners of the selection box around the part you want to search. A smaller, tighter selection gives more specific results.
- Scroll through the results. In the Google app you can tap Add to your search to add keywords.
Search an image on a website
- Google app: open the page in the Google app, touch and hold the image, and tap Search inside image.
- Chrome: touch and hold the image, then tap Search image with Google.
On Android
Search a photo from your gallery
- Open the Google app.
- Tap the Google Lens icon in the search bar.
- Take a photo, or pick an existing one, including screenshots.
- Adjust the selection box around the part you want to search.
- Review the results, and tap Ask about this image to refine with keywords.
Search an image on a website
In Chrome, touch and hold the image and select Search image with Google Lens. Adjust the box if needed, then scroll through the results.
How to search a profile picture from an app
You can't touch-and-hold photos inside most apps, such as Instagram, Tinder or WhatsApp. The workaround:
- Open the profile photo as large as the app allows.
- Take a screenshot.
- Search the screenshot from your camera roll or gallery using Google Lens, as above.
- Crop out the app's buttons, names and text, so the search focuses on the photo itself.
If you're checking a dating match, our guide on how to check if someone is catfishing you covers what to look for in the results.
Free alternatives to Google Lens
- TinEye works in any phone browser: go to tineye.com and upload the photo. It's good at finding exact and edited copies of an image, and at showing where it first appeared.
- Bing Visual Search is built into the Bing app and bing.com. It sometimes finds results Google doesn't, so it's worth a second try when Google comes up empty.
What reverse image search can't do
Google Lens, TinEye and Bing match images. They're very good at finding copies of the same photo, even cropped, resized or filtered. But they usually won't find a different photo of the same person, taken on another day, in another place.
That matters in two common situations:
- Checking a suspicious profile. A catfish who stole photos from someone's account may use pictures that were never posted publicly in that exact form, so the image search comes up empty even though the photos are stolen.
- Finding your own photos. If you want to know where photos of you appear, not just copies of one picture, you need to search by face.
Face search engines compare the face itself, so they can connect different photos of the same person. Our guide to reverse image search vs face recognition explains the difference, and our face search engine comparison covers the options. Use face search responsibly: search for yourself, or for someone else only with good reason, and remember that a similar face isn't proof of identity.
Sources: Google Search Help: search with an image (iPhone and iPad); Google Search Help: search with an image (Android). Checked October 2026.
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