Every day nearly millions of photos are being uploaded on Instagram. Sometimes, dishonest people try to steal or copy other users’ photos and impersonate them.
However, it is not possible to download photos on Instagram. But people can take screenshots of any photos without any alert.
If you think your images are being stolen and used by someone else then you can perform a reverse image search to trace them.
Though Instagram is strict protecting its users’ privacy and it won’t be easy to locate the offender. But don’t worry, the following guide provides different techniques for Instagram Reverse Image Search.
What is Reverse Image Search?
Reverse image search is an image query technique to identify a profile by their Instagram images through a search engine.
The search engine analyses the image’s color, pattern, shape, pixel and everything it contains and produces the same or almost related images published online.
If you want to do a reverse image search for an Instagram photo, you can’t do it using the Instagram app. It’s because Instagram encrypts the digital imprints of all contents uploaded by users.
So, you need different tools for reverse Instagram image search to find the original source or uploader.
Reverse Image Search on Instagram
When you suspect your Instagram images have been stolen and used illegally by someone, you can perform any of these 6 methods to track that offender.
1. Google Image Search
The most common and easy way to perform a reverse image search on Instagram photos is Google Image Search.
You simply need to upload a photo in “Search by Image” and Google will display everything about it using a powerful algorithm. Even if the URL of the photo is from Instagram, you’ll find the user’s profile.
So, to conduct a reverse image search for Instagram, open images.google.com on your device and click the camera button from the right corner of the search bar. Then, copy your desired image’s URL and paste it under the Paste image URL section. You can also directly upload an image. Now, click search by image to find the image.
Google will show the result for similar images from various websites. Check whether you find the same image on the instagram.com domain or not.
2. Bing Image Search
Bing is another search engine where you can try to find a profile through reverse Instagram image search. It may produce some different results according to your reference.
The method is quite similar to Google. First, open the Bing Image by clicking the lens icon on the search bar and either copy-paste the photo’s URL or upload it from your device. Bing will now do a visual search and display related results with the source.
It’s a secured process because Bing searches for the uploaded images anonymously and deletes them automatically. So, the other users won’t discover the images.
3. TinEye
TinEye is a professional website for the Instagram reverse image search. Its updated database shows you all the similar images as per your instruction.
To use this website, paste the URL of your desired image in the search bar of tineye.com, or upload an image directly and click the search icon. It’ll show all the related results of your image.
TinEye also lets you restrict a specific domain once you finish searching. However, the disadvantage of this website is it’s not free like Google or Bing. Instead, you’ve to pay for more searches.
4. Social Catfish
Social Catfish is a popular search engine that finds people by images. It gathers the data from all social sites and analyzes image size, resolution etc. and produces the best results for you.
To find an Instagram image source, open the Social Catfish homepage, upload your image and hit Search.
5. Duplichecker
Another powerful website is Duplichecker, which offers reverse search on Instagram images. Moreover, it has an app version available for Android and iOS that makes it user-friendly.
The process of searching is similar to the other ones. Simply copy-paste the URL of an image and click search to get the related result.
6. SauceNAO
SauceNAO is a website that covers some particular areas of the web and provides selected search results. Simply select an image or paste the URL of your preferable Instagram image and click Search to get the results.
How to Protect Your Images Online from Plagiarism?
Plagiarism is one of the reasons you conduct a reverse image search on Instagram. Despite Instagram’s restrictions, someone might screenshot your images and reuse them on their Insta post or elsewhere.
So, it is recommended to add a watermark or copyright to your Instagram images metadata to protect the photos from being stolen. Thus, you can avoid plagiarism for your images.
How to Report A Stolen Instagram Image?
In order to report a stolen Instagram image, take the help of Instagram’s own copyright policies.
If you find out someone is using your image without permission, you can ask them to remove your copyrighted images from their account. Otherwise, you can report the matter directly to Instagram through copyright report form.
FAQ:
How do I find someone on Instagram with a picture?
Unfortunately, it’s not possible to find someone on Instagram with a picture.
There are multiple third-party apps that can help you in this matter. However, since these apps are not trustworthy, use them at your own risk.
Some More Interesting articles of Instagram:
- Multiple Photos on Instagram: How to Put Multiple Photos to One Instagram Post
- Screenshot a Story: Does Instagram Notify when you Screenshot a Story?
- View Instagram Stories Anonymously: 4 Easy Ways to View Instagram Stories Anonymously
That’s all. These are some top websites for you to conduct reverse image searches for Instagram. Do you have any more queries? Let me know in the comment box below and I’ll be happy to assist you. Also, please do share and comment if you find this article helpful.