How to reverse image search
A reverse image search looks for other copies of a picture. It's the quickest way to find where an image came from, and often the quickest way to find out it isn't what it claims to be.
Updated
What it can tell you
- Who posted the image first, and when.
- The original version: uncropped, larger, sharper, or with its first caption.
- The original context: a different country, a different event, a different year.
- The same scene from other angles, taken by other people.
- Whether it's a stock photo, a film still, or from an artist's or AI creator's gallery.
- For face swaps, the original photo: same body, same clothes, same background, different face.
The main tools
Each search engine has its own index and its own idea of what "similar" means, so try more than one. All of these can be used for free.
- Google Lens: built into Google Images, the Google app and the Chrome browser. Good at recognising objects, places and products, and at finding visually similar pictures.
- Bing Visual Search: Microsoft's equivalent, built into Bing and the Edge browser. Its results often differ from Google's, which is the point.
- TinEye: a dedicated reverse image search engine focused on finding copies of the same image, including cropped and edited ones. Useful for sorting results by date to find older copies.
- Yandex Images: many researchers find it strong on buildings, landscapes and places outside Western Europe and North America.
On a computer
- In Chrome, right-click an image and choose the option to search it with Google.
- On Google Images or Bing, click the camera icon in the search bar, then upload a file or paste an image link.
- On TinEye, upload a file or paste the image's address.
- To get an image's address, right-click it and copy the image link. Use the image's own link, not the page it's on, where you can.
On a phone
- In the Google app, tap the Lens (camera) icon and pick the image from your photos.
- In Chrome on your phone, press and hold an image and choose the option to search it with Google.
- For images inside apps that won't let you save them, take a screenshot and crop it tightly to the image before searching.
- For TinEye, Bing or Yandex, open the site in your phone's browser and upload the saved image.
Search smarter
- Crop to the distinctive part: a face, a sign, a landmark, a logo. Search engines match what dominates the frame.
- Search the whole image too, then compare.
- For videos, pause on a clear frame, screenshot it and search that.
- If the image might be mirrored, flip it and search again.
- Type out any text you can read in the image (a shop name, a slogan) and search for it as words.
- Add a keyword or two to the image search, such as a place or event name, to narrow the results.
- Look for the biggest copy in the results. Larger, sharper versions are usually closer to the original, and better for any later checks.
Reading the results
Dates are the tricky part. A page's date isn't always the image's date, and the oldest copy a search engine knows about isn't always the original. Look for the earliest copy you can confirm, ideally from a named photographer or outlet.
No results doesn't mean an image is new, or that it's AI. Fresh photos, private accounts and messaging apps aren't well indexed. Many results doesn't mean an image is true either: a viral fake can have thousands of copies within hours.
AI images sometimes turn up on prompt-sharing sites or in a creator's portfolio, labelled as AI. That's one of the most useful finds there is.
Write down what you find as you go: the link, the date shown and who posted it. Results change, posts get deleted, and you may need to show your working later.
When search runs dry
If you can't find the image anywhere else, move on to the image itself. Check it for Content Credentials, look for visual giveaways, and run a detector. Use the biggest, cleanest copy you found during your search: detectors work best on the original file, and Checkobot refuses images under 256 pixels on the short side or heavily compressed JPEGs rather than guessing.
Checkobot runs two detectors, whole-image analysis and face analysis, and tells you which one fired and why.
Questions
Does a reverse image search tell me if an image is AI?
Not directly. It finds other copies, and those copies often reveal where the image came from, including AI galleries. If nothing turns up, a detector is the next step.
Can I use it to find out who someone is from their face?
Some search engines match faces, but please use reverse search to check images, not to identify private people. Tracking down a stranger from a photo can put them at risk.
Why did my search find nothing?
The image may be new, posted only in private groups or messaging apps, or heavily cropped. Try another search engine, crop to a distinctive detail, or search for any text in the picture.
Which search engine is best?
None is best for everything. Use at least two: their indexes and matching differ, and an older copy found by one can be missing from another.
Is it safe to upload private photos to a search engine?
Think before you do. Uploading sends the image to that company, and what they keep depends on their policy. For private or sensitive images, read the service's terms first, or search with a cropped detail instead of the whole picture.