You’ve probably used Google Images before. It’s the tab in a desktop browser or the button on Android and iOS that’s conveniently placed below the search bar. That makes it simple to search for images with a few keywords. However, it’s not as apparent how to begin your search with an image.


Google named this feature reverse image search, and it’s a powerful way to find products, places, people, and things that are visually similar. You no longer need to know what something is called to find it on Google.

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There are several ways to start a Google reverse image search. Google Lens is built into the Google Pixel 7 Pro and other Android phones. It can be accessed from the Google app, Chrome browser, Google Camera, and Google Photos.

Apple devices aren’t left out. Google has iOS versions of the Google app, Chrome browser, and Google Photos. You can start a reverse image search from any of these apps with an iPhone or iPad.

Google’s reverse image search also works in most desktop browsers. Google mentions Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, and Microsoft Edge as being compatible.

A Google Pixel 7 Pro laying on top of a MacBook Pro, with the Apple logo visible. A wireless Mac keyboard is placed at the right.

Do a reverse image search from a desktop browser

With a desktop web browser like Google Chrome, you can start a search by image with a picture stored on your computer or an image on the internet. The process is similar either way.

You start with Google Search and click the Images tab to move to image search. Go to google.com and click the Images button in the upper-right corner. You can also go to images.google.com to see Google Images.

This is a screenshot of the Google Images website.

Perform a reverse image search from your photo library

In Google Images, you’ll find two ways to upload pictures or screenshots from your photo library to find matching images:

  • Click the colorful camera icon at the right of the search box to open a window that provides image selection options.
  • Drag and drop an image from your desktop or File Explorer or click upload a file to open a file browser and find the picture you want to use for a search.

A screenshot of Google Images upload window with an arrow pointing to the file upload link.

Search for an image using an image URL

If you have a link to an online image, paste that into the box labeled Paste image link, then click the Search button to begin.

To get an image URL, right-click on any photo or image and select Copy image address.

A screenshot of Google Images upload window with an arrow pointing to the URL box.

Start a reverse image search from a website

Instead of copying and pasting a URL, start the reverse image search from a website. Open a web page with a picture you’d like to know more about. To search Google for this image, right-click and choose Search image with Google from the context menu.

A screenshot of a webpage with an arrow pointing to the reverse image search option in the context menu.

Browse the results

After a reverse image search, Google shows similar images that are indexed in its search engine. Scroll through the results and click an image you find interesting to open the page it was found on.

A screenshot of a website with an arrow pointing to a Chrome sidebar showing reverse image search results.