How to search by IMAGE, photo, person with Google and alternatives

January 5, 2020, by Santiago Comment

The image search It can help you find more information about an image that you are not sure of what it is or what it is about. It is also possible that you can determine its origin, source, find related images, etc.

Technically this is known as REVERSE image search. You can do this search from an image on the internet or saved on your device. There are several online tools that offer this function, starting with Internet search engines, such as Google. There are also APPS that will even let you search for photos captured with the camera.

In particular cases you can even look for a person through this system.

Use the desktop version of Google

On the PC this is simple. You only enter Google images, you touch the camera button and you will be able to load the image saved on your computer or search from the URL of an image on the Internet.

However, on the cell phone that button «Search with image” not available. For that reason you have to resort to the trick illustrated above. After going to Images You must touch the menu button of the browser (typically at the top right) and select the option “Desktop site”.

Instead of doing that you can also enter this third party website based on Google Images, which is already suitable for mobile. Another option is to use the app Search By Image, which in the same way uses the same search engine.

Alternatives to Google

Although the Google tool is the most recommended, when you do not find what you are looking for in it, you can resort to the following alternatives, which work well on mobile phones, without tricks involved:

1. Bing, Microsoft’s search engine is not as useful as Google’s in general, but as far as images are concerned, it can return some results that the second one does not.
2. Yandex, a famous search engine of Russian origin that I have put for the same reason as Bing and it works very similarly.
3. TinEye, this is an exclusive reverse image search service, focused on controlling the unauthorized use of your images on the Internet. It even monitors and alerts you when an image of you appears on the web, although this possibility has a high subscription cost.
4. Pinterest is a massive social network of photos and images that practically everyone knows and where they upload photos. Your mobile app allows you to search its database from an image on your cell phone or captured with the camera, something similar to what it does Google Lens O CamFind.

Search from an online image

Google and the other search engines mentioned above offer you the option of entering the URL of an image on the Internet to search from it, without having to download it to your device previously. But if you use Google Chrome on your cell phone or on your PC, you can use the shortcut you see above, which appears when you press and hold on an image or right-click.

Another option is to use the Google Lens button, as seen above.

Search people by photo?

The procedure for Search by photo to a person is exactly the same as I have hinted, using the same tools above. That is, you must upload to the service the photo saved on your device, captured with the camera or directly search for a photo on the Internet with its URL or through Google Chrome.

The downside here is that you may not have the expected results. Much depends on the online presence of that person, the photos they have posted on the Internet, or the privacy settings of their social networks. For example, Facebook gives its users the option to prevent their profiles from being indexed by search engines such as Google.

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