The 10 Best Reverse Image Search Apps for iPhone and Android
Posted by MAHIT HUILGOL
Search engines make it easy to find information or buy products, but what if you want to identify a picture you have? In these cases, reverse image search comes to the rescue.
This powerful feature allows you to upload an image to search instead of entering text. Let’s take a look at the best reverse image search tools available on your iPhone or Android device.
1. CamFind Visual Search Engine
CamFind is a basic yet functional reverse image search tool. The next time you want to search for an image, just open up CamFind and take a picture. Once the picture uploads, the app matches it against ones available on the internet and identifies the object.
After this, you can choose to see related images, shop for the item, watch related videos, search on the web, or go through similar searches others have made. Even better, you can set a visual reminder and share your finds with others.
Download: CamFind for iOS | Android (Free)
2. Google Lens
Google Lens initially arrived as a Pixel exclusive; later Google integrated the feature into Google Photos. Now both iOS and Android users can use Google Lens to reverse search images.
On Android, Google Lens is available as a standalone app. iOS users can access Lens within the Google Photos app. Open an image that you’ve taken and tap the Lens icon (second from the right, next to the trash icon).
Google’s visual search engine will analyze the image; the results include a link to the Google image search page.
Download: Google Photos for iOS (Free)
Download: Google Lens for Android (Free)
3. Veracity
Veracity is an intuitive visual search engine app. It lets you choose images from Camera Roll or Photo Library, plus it can link your Dropbox account. Veracity offers a basic image editor, but you have to pay to unlock it.
Another downside is that Veracity doesn’t come with an option to share results with others.
Download: Veracity for iOS (Free, premium version available)
4. Reversee
Reversee is an image search app centered around Google’s engine. Choose a picture from your camera roll and the app will directly take you to the image search page for it. However, Reversee comes with its own features that help it differentiate it from the competition.
The app also allows you to paste an image to run the reverse image search engine. Most importantly, Reversee also offers some great image editing tools. With the help of these, you can brighten, crop, or resize images.
With an in-app upgrade, you can also choose between Google, Bing, and Yandex search engines.
Download: Reversee for iOS (Free, premium version available)
5. Direct Image Search on Google
You can use Google’s direct image search in Safari (or Chrome), but it’s a bit complicated. You have to request the desktop site to proceed with the search.
Follow these steps to use the Google’s reverse image search function on your iPhone. (You can also try this with other great reverse image search web tools.)
- Open Google Images in your browser.
- On iOS, tap on the Share button in the bottom toolbar. On Android, click the three-dot Menu button and check the Desktop site box.
- Choose Request Desktop Site from the menu.
- Tap the camera icon that appears on the page.
- Now you can choose to either upload an image or paste a URL, just like you would on your desktop.
Check out these nifty Google Image Search tricks to master the tool.
Visit: Google Images
6. Photo Sherlock
Photo Sherlock comes with a simplified user interface. The app allows you to reverse search an image directly by using your camera. If you prefer, you can also use your Camera Roll to upload pictures.
Once uploaded, you can choose to crop the image to focus on the main element. Then the app fetches an image search result from Google.
Download: Photo Sherlock for iOS | Android (Free)
7. TinEye Reverse Image Search
Apart from apps, many online tools offer reverse image search in a mobile-friendly format. TinEye is one such service that lets you search an image by uploading or URL. Once uploaded, the tool crawls the web and adds images to its index.
TinEye lets you sort the results by Best Match, Most Changed, Biggest Image, Newest, and Oldest. Further, you can filter the result across top domains and collections.
Visit: TinEye
8. Reverse Photos Image Search
Reverse Photos Search is another reverse image search web tool. Unlike some others, this one is basic and allows you to upload images from your camera, Photo Library, or other folders.
Once uploaded, the tool will hand your image off to Google Images and try to find a match. This is a simple tool if you don’t want to bother with requesting the desktop Google Images site, but the intrusive ads are unsightly.
Visit: Reverse Photos Search
9. Baidu Image Search
As you may know, Google services are not available in China. Thus, Chinese search engine Baidu takes up the mantle in that region.
If you are in China or want to search an image that is relevant to China, Baidu’s image search is one of the best options. As you’d expect, the website lets you take a photo or upload from your library. Baidu also allows you to crop the image before searching.
Visit: Baidu Images
10. Yandex
Yandex is a popular search engine in Russia. Like Google, it offers an image search feature. Upload an image by tapping the camera icon on the search bar. You can also use your camera and search for an image without saving the photo to your library.
The site allows you to fine-tune your search by selecting image dimensions and other related keywords.
Visit: Yandex Images
The Importance of Reverse Image Search
Reverse image searching is hugely helpful when you need to look up something you’ve seen but don’t know much about.
Apart from shopping and product discovery, reverse image search has many other uses. You can use it to see if photos are authentic and snuff out fake news. If you’re a photographer who shares work online, image search tools will help you stop photo thieves and reclaim ownership.
Read the full article: The 10 Best Reverse Image Search Apps for iPhone and Android
