Prepare the image before you search
Find the photograph in Photos or Files and keep an untouched copy. If you only have a screenshot, crop away chat messages, notifications and other people’s details. Preserve enough of the subject to make the search useful. For a location or object, removing the entire background may discard the best clue.
Check that you have permission to upload the image. Photos can contain details beyond the subject, including location information. Review our metadata guide if you are sharing a file from your camera library.
Choose a route on your iPhone
Google’s iPhone instructions describe image searching through supported Google apps and browsers. Use the Lens control, select an existing picture and refine the selected region when appropriate. Interface labels can differ between app versions.
For Facehunch, open the workspace in Safari or another current browser, choose a photo and select a supported file. Facehunch accepts JPG, PNG and WebP up to 10 MB. A HEIC image is not an accepted upload merely because your phone can display it; export a JPEG copy if the chooser does not convert it.
Read the result on the source page
- Open a candidate result and check that the image is actually present.
- Read the caption and page context instead of relying on a preview.
- Keep the page URL separately from the direct image URL.
- Note whether the page shows a publication date, an update date or no date at all.
For example, a picture in a travel article may be a stock illustration rather than a photograph of the writer. The page title and portrait should not be combined into an identity claim unless the page makes that connection itself.
If your upload or search fails
A cloud-only file may need downloading first. An unsupported format should be converted, not just renamed. A low-resolution messenger preview may work poorly even when the upload succeeds. Try the original and a careful crop once each, then follow the failure checklist.
Facehunch’s separate example API is a connection test with potentially unrelated results. The main workspace offers prepaid, consented searches. It does not become a full-index search because it is running on an iPhone.
Reverse image search in Safari
Safari is the browser, while the search provider supplies the image index. Start at your chosen image-search website and use its image-upload control when available. Google documents the supported iPhone routes on its Search with an image help page. Available controls can vary by browser and interface version.
- Save a search copy in Photos or Files, keeping the original unchanged.
- Open the image-search service in Safari and select its upload option. If the mobile page does not offer it, use a supported Google app route described in the help page.
- Select the intended image, checking that private surrounding content is excluded.
- Open a result source and compare the actual image and caption.
- Record the source URL and what it supports; a thumbnail alone is insufficient.
If the file is not selectable, check the accepted format and file size. If the upload works but returns nothing, changing browsers may not help: the image may simply be absent from the index. See why reverse image search is not working for the distinction.
Written by Facehunch with AI assistance and checked against the cited sources. Our editorial policy.