How-To

How to Find Downloaded Images from a Browser on iPhone

By Brian Burgess

Published September 17, 2023

You’ll want to access your downloaded images on your iPhone or iPad (if you know where to find them). Here’s how.

When you capture a picture from a website in your browser on an iPhone or iPad, you’ll need to know where it gets saved.  This is especially true if you’re struggling to find your saved pictures in the Apple’s Files app.

Thankfully, your saved pictures should be easy to find—you just need to know where to look. We’ll show you how to find downloaded images from a browser on an iPhone below.

How to Download Images from Safari on an iPhone

You can save images from a website from Safari, allowing you to save them directly to the Photos app. From there, you can share them or use them as needed.

To download an image using Safari:

1. Launch Safari on your iPhone or iPad.
2. Navigate to the site with the image you want to download.
3. Press and hold the image and tap Save to Photos from the menu that appears.

How to Find Downloaded Photos from Safari

Once the picture is downloaded, you’ll need to find it. If you’re using Safari, the images will be saved directly to the Photos app on your phone or tablet.

To find downloaded Safari images:

1. Open the Photos app on your iPhone or iPad.
2. Select Library at the bottom of the screen, and you’ll see the image you just downloaded from Safari.
3. If you’ve downloaded several images, tap the Search button.
4. Type Safari, and all the images you downloaded from Safari will be listed together.

Using Other Browsers to Download Images

If you aren’t a fan of using Safari, you can change the default browser on iOS. The process of downloading images from a site is similar. But if it’s the first time using a browser, you need to give it access to the Photos app.

For example, if you use Microsoft Edge or Google Chrome on an iPhone or iPad, the menu option is called Save image with a download icon next to it.

To give Edge access to Photos:

1. Tap the Settings button when it asks for permission.
2. Select the Photos option to allow Edge to access it.
3. Choose the Add Photos Only option.

How to Find Images from Your iPhone Browser

Once you save photos from Edge (or Chrome), you can type the name of the browser in the Search field in the Photos app to find them.

If you download images from sites in Firefox, type its name in the Search field in the Photos app. You’ll see all images downloaded from the Firefox in the results section.

How to Find Images in the Files App on an iPhone

It’s important to note that sometimes you won’t find a downloaded image from a browser in the Photos app. So, you can check the Files app to locate the pictures.

To check the Files app for images on your iPhone:

1. Open the Files app on your iPhone or iPad.
2. Tap the Browse button in the bottom right corner of the screen.
3. Tap the Downloads folder.
4. Browse through the files to locate the image you need.
5. Alternatively, if you know the name of the file you downloaded, you can search for it in all folders from the Files app.

Once you have images saved to the Photos app, you can access them from a browser from the iCloud website. From there, you can share, edit, or delete the photos from iCloud that you no longer need.

Managing Photos and Videos on iPhone or iPad

If you need to capture images from a website for a project or to set them as your iPhone’s wallpaper or lock screen, it’s a straightforward process to download and find the files on iOS.

There are other ways to manage photos and videos on your Apple device. For example, you might want to duplicate photos or videos on an iPhone, or you might need to compress photos on an iPhone if you’re running out of storage space.

If you run into a situation where you accidentally delete a photo, you can recover deleted photos on your iPhone or iPad. And if you have sensitive pictures you don’t want people to see; you can lock photos on your iPhone.