Fake or real? How to use Google Reverse Image Search to verify pictures

Sharing or forwarding images from smartphone to smartphone has become common-place in today’s digitally connected world. And, while most sharing is done for harmless social reasons, there’s always a few oddballs that can’t help but peddle hate by sending fake images that are often photoshopped. A simple Google search can expose fake news, but what about a picture? Sure, you can search an image using words, but how do you search an image using an image; how do you reverse search an image?

While not everyone’s motivation for sharing fake images are sinister, wouldn’t it still be nice to know the truth? Well, here’s how you can find out:

• Navigate to the image in question
• Tap and hold down on the image until a menu option pops up
• Select ‘Search Google for this image’ option and checkout at the results
• If the image in question is already downloaded on your Android device, you’ll need to use the desktop version of Google’s image search.

• Select the ‘Desktop site’ option
• Tap the camera icon and select whether you want to upload an image directly from your phone or a URL
• Once the image has finished uploading, Google will display search results for the image in question
• So, what if you’re using an iPhone? The steps are relatively the same on the Safari browser with a slight change in route.

• Tap the Share icon on Safari to open the share menu
• Select the ‘Request Desktop Site’ and tap it
• Tap on the tiny camera icon and choose the option to upload the image