How to do a reverse image searchUpload an image or paste its web address into a tool such as Google Lens to find where else it appears

TimeBinder adds a layer of protection against AI and human fraud and disputes.

The file stays on your device. Your browser makes a digital fingerprint of the file. TimeBinder records the fingerprint and the time, not the file.

Short answer

Upload the image, or paste its web address, into a reverse image search tool such as Google Lens, on your phone or at images.google.com. It lists visually similar images and pages where they appear. Look for the earliest or original source. No result does not prove an image is real, since new and AI-made images may have no matches.

This short video shows how to run a reverse image search, and what Content Credentials can and cannot tell you.

Reverse Image Search: Check Where a Photo Came From (50 seconds).

Steps

1. Save the image or copy its address. 2. Open a reverse image search tool. Google explains the options for phone and computer in its help page (Search by image). Other search engines offer similar tools. 3. Upload the image or paste the link. 4. Open the matches and look for the oldest or most credible source. 5. Try a cropped version if the full image finds nothing.

Try more than one tool, since each indexes different pages.

What results can and cannot show

An older match can show a photo is being reused out of context. No match does not make an image authentic: it may be new, private or AI-generated. Match results also need judgement, because a similar picture is not necessarily the same one. See how to tell if an image is AI-generated and verify an event photo.

If you need to show an image you hold existed in an unchanged form, a TimeBind records a SHA-256 fingerprint of the exact file and a time, anchored to Bitcoin. The fingerprint is made in your browser and the file is not uploaded. It does not show an image is real.

Make a TimeBind: first one free →

First Pooled TimeBind free, no card, then from US$5. An ASAP TimeBind is US$15.

Frequently asked questions

Is reverse image search free?

The main search engine tools are free to use. Check each tool’s terms.

Can it find AI-generated images?

Sometimes, if the image was posted elsewhere. A new AI image may have no matches.

Does it work on a screenshot?

Often, though cropping out interface elements helps.

Does a match prove who owns an image?

No. It shows where similar copies appear, not who holds the rights.

Sources

Google, Search with an image.
TimeBinder, Verify an AI event photo.

Related guides and tools

Your file’s fingerprint, anchored to a global network secured by real electricity and cryptography.

Editing a file—including with AI—changes its fingerprint, not its existing network record.

How this works

Your file’s SHA-256 fingerprint, a short code worked out from its exact contents, is made in your browser, and the file itself stays on your device. A cryptographic commitment to that fingerprint, which may be combined with others, is then anchored in a block on the Bitcoin blockchain. Bitcoin is secured by proof of work: computers around the world spend real electricity to add each block, and changing an earlier block would mean redoing that work faster than the rest of the network. Until that block is confirmed, your proof is pending. Once the Bitcoin anchoring is confirmed, you can verify the proof against that recorded commitment. The confirmed record can then be checked; Pooled TimeBinds are checked through TimeBinder, while ASAP TimeBinds can also be checked independently. If you check the file later and its fingerprint still matches, that shows the file existed no later than the recorded time. The record doesn’t show who made the file, whether AI was used, or that its contents are true.

Your filestays on your device
FingerprintSHA-256
Network timestampon Bitcoin

Record a fingerprint of the file you rely on

Add a layer of protection against AI and human fraud and disputes: a dated, checkable record of the exact file you hold.

Open the app and sign in with email or Google.
Add your files. They stay on your computer.
Seal them and download your Proof of Time certificates.

Open TimeBinder →

First Pooled TimeBind free, no card, then from US$5. See pricing.