🔎 Reverse Image Search
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If you want a Search by Image app Android users can install without paying, PALM TEAM’s Search by Image is one of the longest-running choices on Google Play. It has been available since June 2016, it is free, and its whole purpose is simple: take a photo you already have, or take a new one, and ask several image search engines what they know about it, all from one place.
Short answer: Search by Image, by PALM TEAM, is a free Android app that sends one photo to several image search engines at once, including Google and Yandex, and returns matching and visually similar pictures. It has passed 11 million installs, offers a built-in crop editor, and suits quick checks, although recent reviews report some engines failing.
In one clean sentence, reverse image search means searching with a picture instead of words, so the search engine looks for the same picture, or pictures that look like it, elsewhere on the web. That is the skill this app packages for Android: you supply the image, it supplies the search, and you read the results in your browser. If you are new to the idea, start with our guide to how to reverse image search before you install anything.
What Is the Search by Image App Android Users Download?
Search by Image is a free Android app in the Tools category on Google Play, made by the developer PALM TEAM. According to AppBrain’s listing, updated 6 November 2026, the app has passed 11 million installs, and it holds 4.14 stars from 57,993 ratings on Google Play. Google Play itself shows a slightly different figure, 4.15 stars from 59,690 ratings, alongside 10,000,000+ installs, which is normal: the two services count and round ratings at different times. According to AppBrain’s listing, updated 6 November 2026, the app gained about 13,000 installs in the last 30 days, averaging about 420 per day, so it is still being found by new users a decade after launch.
According to AppBrain’s listing, updated 6 November 2026, the latest version is 9.1.0, updated 26 March 2026, the app size is 6.36 MB, and the content rating is Everyone. Those details matter for older or cheaper phones: at 6.36 MB it is a small download that demands little storage. The listing also states that the app contains ads, and that you can remove them by purchasing the full version.
The idea behind the app is breadth rather than depth. Instead of opening one search engine and hoping for the best, you hand the app a picture and it offers results from multiple search engines at the same time. The developer’s own Play listing says the app shows results from multiple search engines, and shows similar images and visually similar images. In practice that means two kinds of result: exact or near-exact matches, which can lead you to the original page, and visually similar pictures, which help when the exact picture is not indexed or you want to identify an object.
It is worth understanding what the app is not. It is not a search engine itself, and it does not keep its own index of the web. It is a front end: it takes your picture, passes it to established engines, and displays what those engines return. That is why results vary so much from one photo to another, and why a broken engine connection can make the whole app feel broken even though the app itself still opens. AppBrain’s listing for this app is only a statistics and profile page, with no how-to steps, no worked example, no comparison and no troubleshooting, which is the gap this guide fills.
How Do You Install Search by Image and Run Your First Search?
Installing the Search by Image app Android users choose takes a few minutes, and your first search takes less than that once you know the flow. Work through the steps in order, and do not skip the cropping step: it is the single change that most improves results.
- Open Google Play on your Android phone and search for “Search by Image” by PALM TEAM. Check the developer name before you tap Install, because several apps share similar names.
- Tap Install, wait for the 6.36 MB download to finish, then tap Open. According to AppBrain’s listing, updated 6 November 2026, the latest version is 9.1.0, so if Play offers you an update, accept it before your first search.
- When the app asks for permission to access your photos, allow it. Without that permission it cannot read pictures from your gallery, and you will be limited to photos taken inside the app.
- Choose how to supply a picture. You can take a new photo with the camera inside the app, or you can share an image from another app, such as your gallery, without saving it first. The share route is the useful one: open the photo in your gallery, tap Share, and choose Search by Image from the share sheet.
- Use the built-in image editor before you search. The developer’s own Play listing says the editor can rotate, flip horizontally or vertically, and crop. Crop tightly around the thing you want to identify, cut out shelves, hands, shadows and background clutter, and straighten the picture if it is tilted.
- Pick an engine to run first. Google is the natural starting point for most searches, because its index is the largest. Run it, look at the results, and then run a second engine, such as Yandex, for the same cropped picture. Comparing the two sets of results is the core skill this app teaches.
- Tap a result to open it in your browser. Check the page itself before you trust a match: a similar-looking picture on an unrelated page is not the same as the original source.
- Open Settings and check the SafeSearch filter. The developer’s own Play listing says a SafeSearch filter is available in settings, so turn it on if you share the phone with children, or if you want to reduce the chance of explicit results.
A few habits make every search stronger. Photograph objects in daylight, fill the frame, and keep the camera steady. Avoid glare on glass, screens and glossy packaging, because reflections confuse matching. If the object has text on it, keep that text sharp and upright, and always run at least two engines: the app’s advantage is comparison, so a single-engine search wastes it.
If the app will not accept a picture, check three things in order: the photo permission in Android Settings, whether the file is a standard JPG or PNG, and whether you have enough free storage. If sharing from another app fails, save the picture to your gallery first and open it from inside Search by Image instead.
Worked Example: Finding a Second-Hand Ceramic Table Lamp for a Resale Listing
To show how the app behaves in real use, here is one concrete task walked through step by step: a second-hand ceramic table lamp, photographed at home, to be sold through a resale listing. The aim is to find out what the lamp is, whether the same lamp appears elsewhere online, and what words other sellers use to describe it. No result counts or prices are claimed here, because those vary with the photo and the day.
- Photograph the lamp in daylight, against a plain wall, with the whole lamp in the frame and no other objects beside it. Take one straight-on shot and one three-quarter shot, so the shape of the base and the shade are both clear.
- Open the better photo in your gallery, tap Share, and choose Search by Image. The developer’s own Play listing says you can share an image from other apps without saving it first, so there is no need to make a copy or move the file.
- When the picture opens in the app’s built-in editor, crop to just the lamp. Cut out the wall, the table edge, the plug and the cable, and any background furniture. A tight crop tells the engines to match the lamp, not the room.
- Run Google first. Look for exact matches, which may lead to the maker’s page or a shop listing, and for visually similar images, which may show lamps of the same shape, glaze or style even when the maker is different.
- Run Yandex next, using the same cropped picture. Yandex often returns different results from Google, and it is sometimes stronger on images that Google has not indexed, including pictures from marketplaces and forums.
- Compare the two sets of results side by side. If both engines point to the same lamp, you have a confident match. If they disagree, or one returns nothing useful, trust neither on its own: open the pages, look at the pictures, and check the words sellers use.
- Use what you learn to write the listing. Borrow the descriptive words that appear on several independent pages, such as the shape, the glaze, the material and the style, and photograph the lamp again if the results suggest a detail you had not noticed, such as a maker’s mark on the base.
Two honest warnings belong in this example. First, results vary by photo and by engine, so the same lamp can produce a clear match on one day and a poor set of suggestions on another, especially if the photo is dark, tilted or cluttered. Second, Yandex results may appear in Cyrillic even when English is selected, which is a real complaint from a December 2025 review on Google Play. You can still use those results, because the pictures themselves tell you whether the match is right, and your browser can translate the page text.
The Lenso engine option deserves a warning of its own. An October 2025 review on Google Play says the Lenso integration is broken because of its captcha process, and the app’s recent one-star reviews from April and September 2026 report engine breakages more generally. If you tap an engine and nothing loads, do not keep retrying it: switch to Google or Yandex and check again after the next app update.
Search by Image vs Google Lens vs CamFind: Which Should You Use?
The honest answer is that the three apps suit different habits, and Search by Image earns its place by comparing engines rather than by beating any single one. The table below sets out the differences in plain terms, without inventing figures for any of them.
| Feature | Search by Image | Google Lens | CamFind |
|---|---|---|---|
| Platform | Android only | Android and iPhone, built into Google tools | Android and iPhone |
| Cost | Free, with adverts; paid version removes adverts | Free as part of Google tools | Free visual search app |
| How it searches | Sends one photo to several engines at once | Searches with Google, with extra features such as text and translation | Identifies objects from a photo and returns related results |
| Best for | Comparing Google and Yandex results for the same photo | Everyday identification inside Google Photos and the Google app | Quick visual identification when you want a dedicated app |
| Weakness | Some engines have been reported broken; Android only | One engine only, so no second opinion | One approach only, so no engine comparison |
If you already use Google Photos every day, Lens is the path of least resistance, and Google’s own help explains how it works in Google’s Lens help page. If you want a dedicated identification app with a longer history, read our guide to CamFind and compare it with what follows here. But if your question is “where else does this exact picture appear?”, Search by Image is the better tool, because it asks more than one engine and lets you compare the answers. Our Lens AI app guide covers a different kind of tool altogether: an app that identifies objects from a photo rather than comparing search engines.
What Are the Real Strengths and Weaknesses in 2026?
The strengths are easy to list, and they are the reasons the app has lasted since 2016. It is free, it is small at 6.36 MB, it accepts photos shared from other apps without saving them first, and it has a built-in editor that rotates, flips and crops. The ability to show results from multiple search engines at the same time is its real advantage: one reviewer on Google Play says it “finds more online image matches than any other app I’ve tried” using Google and Yandex, and asks for TinEye to be added. Another reviewer notes most image search apps prioritise shopping results, so look past the first shopping matches.
The weaknesses are equally real, and they have grown louder in recent reviews. Recent one-star reviews from April and September 2026 say the app has become far less useful and report engine breakages. The December 2025 review about Yandex results staying in Cyrillic when English is selected is a genuine irritation, even if the pictures remain usable. The October 2025 review about the Lenso integration being broken because of its captcha process suggests that at least one engine option may not work at all for some users. None of this means the app is useless: Google and Yandex remain the engines reviewers praise, and the app still does its basic job when those engines respond. But it does mean you should judge the app by the engines that work today, not by the full list of engines it once offered.
There are also limits that are not faults. The app cannot find a picture that no search engine has indexed, so a photo that has never been published online will return only similar-looking pictures, not a match. It cannot tell you who owns a picture, or whether you are allowed to reuse it. It cannot identify a person reliably, and it should not be used to try.
To get the best from it in 2026, treat it as a comparison tool rather than an oracle. Run Google first, run Yandex second, crop tightly, and open the source pages before you believe a match. If an engine fails, switch engines instead of repeating the same tap. If both engines fail on the same picture, improve the photo and try again.
Is Search by Image Safe, and What About Privacy and Adverts?
The app’s content rating is Everyone, according to AppBrain’s listing, updated 6 November 2026, and it is a legitimate, long-established listing on Google Play rather than a side-loaded download. That is a good starting point, but safety has two parts: what the app does with your data, and what you do with the results it returns.
On data, Google Play’s data safety section says the app may share Location, App activity and two other data types with third parties, that data is encrypted in transit, and that data can’t be deleted. In plain terms, the app shares some data, protects it in transit, and offers no route to delete it. If that bothers you, do not search personal photos, such as pictures of your home, your children or your documents, through any reverse search tool.
On adverts, the listing states that the app contains ads, and the developer offers a paid full version that removes them. Adverts inside a free tool are normal, but be careful with any advert that asks you to install another app, enter personal details, or pay for a service the advert promises. The app itself is free; if something inside it asks for payment beyond removing adverts, stop and check what you are being asked to buy.
On results, remember that a match is not proof. A picture that appears on a shopping site may be stolen from the original seller. A picture that appears on a forum may be posted by someone who does not own it. Use the app to find where a picture appears, then judge the page for yourself: does it name a maker, does it give a date, does it link to a source you recognise?
Finally, the app is Android-only, and there is no iPhone version. If you use an iPhone, do not search for a copy under the same name, because anything you find will not be the same app. Read our guides to Photo Sherlock and Reversee instead, which cover reverse image search apps made for iPhone. You can download Search by Image from the official Google Play listing, which is the only download source you should trust.
FAQs
Is Search by Image free on Android?
Yes, Search by Image is free to download and use on Android, with adverts shown inside the app. According to AppBrain’s listing, updated 6 November 2026, the app size is 6.36 MB and the content rating is Everyone. You can remove the adverts by purchasing the full version, but the core searching remains free.
Does Search by Image work on iPhone?
No, Search by Image is Android-only, and there is no iPhone version from PALM TEAM. Do not install a lookalike app that uses the same name, because it will not be the same tool. Use an iPhone reverse image search app instead, such as Photo Sherlock or Reversee, or run a search through Google Lens in the Google app.
Why are my Yandex results in Cyrillic when I chose English?
This is a problem reported by users, including a December 2025 review, which says Yandex results stay in Cyrillic when English is selected. The pictures in the results are still usable for judging a match, and your browser can translate the page text. If the language barrier makes a result hard to trust, rely on the Google results instead.
What should I do when an engine returns no results?
First improve the photo, because a dark, tilted or cluttered picture is the most common cause of empty results. Crop tightly around the object, retake it in daylight, and remove background clutter. Then try a different engine, since Google and Yandex index different pages. If both return nothing, the picture may simply not be published anywhere online.
