United StatesHow To Do A Reverse Image Search In Instagram
Table of Contents
Instagram is a behemoth social media platform. It is widely used and has about one billion monthly active users. Since it's a platform that allows people to interact through pictures and videos, it's no surprise that roughly 99 million photos and videos are uploaded on it daily. Basically, Instagram is the photo album of the world.
A reverse image search is the best way to dig in about a particular picture properly. Whether you're trying to find a person by their image or want to make sure you're not being catfished, a reverse image search is the way to go.
Can You Reverse Image Search On Instagram?
Well, the short answer is no. You can't. However, you can still perform Instagram reverse image search, just not with the platform itself.
Now you're probably thinking, why can't you reverse image search on it? Let's break it down.
Why can't I reverse image search on Instagram?
In 2018 Instagram made a significant change to its API platform, which is a tool that allows interactions between Instagram and external applications or websites. The change also included making their API private, which increased the safety of user data. However, this meant 3rd parties were cut off from accessing photos and videos on Instagram. So, if Instagram cut off 3rd party sites from accessing photos and videos on its site, how can you reverse image search on Instagram?
Your Instagram profile is probably indexed on the web, although usually encrypted. While Instagram blocks search engines from indexing photos of its users, if you enable the setting that grants search engines access to index your profile, they can. From this, search engines get enough information to analyze colors, shapes, visual patterns, pixels, and more to find images or visually similar ones on Instagram and other websites.
So, though we're at the point where SEO is important: getting indexed by search engines and ranking high on them, not all profiles will enable that setting. Thus, you might not get accurate results for Instagram reverse image search. Nonetheless, suppose you feel like someone has been using your Instagram pictures without your permission. In that case, you can reverse image search the pictures to find where they've been used.
How To Reverse Image Search Instagram
While Instagram itself can't perform reverse image search as it's a social media platform, not a search engine, some powerful tools fill in that gap.
Google Reverse Image Search
Google is the most prominent search engine with a powerful algorithm it can use to perform reverse image search. Although its image search function is easily accessible using a computer, the mobile version can be tweaked to accommodate such function. Here are the steps of how to use Google Reverse Image Search:
Step 1: Open up your preferred browser
Step 2: Go to www.images.google.com
Step 3: This step is for if you opened the site with your phone; skip to step 4 if you didn't.
For mobile users, you won't be able to use the image search function unless you switch to desktop mode. If you're using Chrome, tap on the three vertical dots in the top right corner. Check the Desktop Site box. The page will reload and appear as if you were using a computer.
Step 4: Now, you'll be able to see a small camera icon in the search box. Tap on it. The search will show extra options, Paste the image URL and Upload an image.
Step 5: Since Instagram doesn't allow 3rd party sites to crawl the pictures of its users, pasting the image URL might get you limited to zero results. Hence, it's best you already have the picture in hand. While Instagram doesn't allow you to download images from it directly, the old screenshot and crop tactic can help here. Now that you have the image select Upload an Image and choose the image you want to search.
Step 6: The page will load, and Google will bring up all the websites that have used the picture or similar pictures.
ImgReverse, another powerful and efficient reverse image search engine, is an alternative to using Google reverse image search.
ImgReverse Reverse Image Search
ImgReverse is a free and effective tool used to discover matching or similar photos with the aid of several powerful search engines. It saves you so much time as it can reverse image search using four different search engines simultaneously.
ImgReverse can also perform a variety of functions such as reverse image search on Facebook, as well as reverse image search Reddit. With an easy-to-use, user-friendly interface, you don't have to worry about being bogged down by complicated design or usage.
How To Use ImgReverse Reverse Image Search
Step 1: Open up your preferred browser
Step 2: Go to https://imgreverse.com/
Step 3: Tap on the Upload icon.
You can search images by URL, but again, Instagram restricts such. So you're better off uploading the photo. ImgReverse supports different picture formats such as JPG, PNG, WEBP, GIF, SVG, and BPM with a maximum of 5MB.
Step 4: Select the image you want to search, then tap done.
Step 5: Select which of the search engines you want to run your search query through. As previously stated, ImgReverse allows you to search through four different search engines: Google, Bing, Yandex, and Sogou.
You can search through all four at once or select the ones you want to search through. This ensures you save a lot of time and effort.
Step 6: Tap on Search Similar Image and watch ImgReverse reveal your result. After it has loaded, tap on which search engine's result you want to go through.
If you don't find it too much hassle to pay for your search result, here's a reverse image searcher for you to try.
Social Catfish Reverse Image Search
Social Catfish is an online dating investigation service with an effective reverse image search function. For a price of $27 per month, you can get access to their services. How To Use Social Catfish Reverse Image:
Step 1: Go to their homepage at socialcatfish.com
Step 2: Tap on Image, the last icon by your right.
Step 3: Upload your image and tap Search. It might take a couple of minutes for your results to show up.
Conclusion
Thanks to the API change on Instagram, no search engine or tool can 100% guarantee an accurate search result. The aforementioned methods are your best bet at performing a reverse image search for Instagram. And even if you can't find results on Instagram, you'll at least see if your picture has been used elsewhere or if you're being catfished.
