Saving Images from Google Image Search is Broken

December 16, 2017 4:06 PM

When using ios on my iphone or ipad, I can no longer save images from Google image searches. It used to be that clicking on the image would enlarge it and I could then save it. That is no longer the case. Now when I click an image, I have the options to "visit" "share" or "save" and none of them appear to work.

I can't seem to find an easy solution. I usually use Dolphin browser. It doesn't work for Dolphin or Safari. If there is an easy add-on for Firefox or Chrome or another mobile browser I'll happily use that. I use the images as reference for illustrations. For instance, to learn a horse's anatomy. This is really cutting into my time and stressing me out. I can still save images on my desktop browser, but not on mobile. If you know of a solution I'd much appreciate it!

posted by shalom to Computers & Internet (7 answers total)

If you long press you should get the save dialog eventually (in Safari). You can also select ‘go to original image’ (hidden behind the three dots) and it opens in a new tab and you can save that in the usual way. If you’re on an iPad that does split screen you can drag and drop images into photos to save them which is pretty cool.
posted by AJD at 4:33 PM on December 16, 2017

The 'view image' button on the search results page should take you to the exact image, where you can save it with control-s or right click->Save As...

If that's no longer working for you, there's something particularly strange happening in your browser.
posted by sagc at 5:08 PM on December 16, 2017 [1 favorite]

I can confirm that clicking an image and then click-holding the image gives you the same "save" option as before in Firefox for the most recent iOS on my iPhone. I did notice recently that many images (I did not have any reason to check this out before now) that I click-dragged out of Google Images to my desktop will now save without the suffix. So a photo of a cat would have previously been called cat.jpg and now it's just a random file called "cat" that OSX doesn't know what to do with. Adding the suffix makes it viewable again. (nb: I may have some weird collection of add-ons that makes this happen) which might have something to do with this?
posted by jessamyn at 6:35 PM on December 16, 2017

If I understand you correctly, the dialogue option to save the pics does show up, but it doesn't work when you select it? What happens when you do select "save"?

Also what iOS are you using on both your devices? If it's iOS 10 then could this be the issue you're facing?
posted by satoshi at 8:38 PM on December 16, 2017

What version of iOS are you on? I just tried saving an image from a Google image search in Safari and tap-holding on the image gave me the Save option. The image was saved to Photos as usual.

(Jessamyn...Stripping the filename extention when you drag an image from Firefox 57 to the desktop is a known bug. It supposedly is fixed in v58. Firefox 57 will also change the default application for your image files. It's a hot mess.)
posted by Thorzdad at 8:41 PM on December 16, 2017

Response by poster: Part of the reason I posted this question was to see if anyone else is having this same issue. It looks like it is just me. I am updating my ios now and will report back and let you know if anything works! Thanks! = )
posted by shalom at 10:13 PM on December 16, 2017

Response by poster: And, updating to the latest ios has resolved this issue! Hurrah!
posted by shalom at 10:37 PM on December 16, 2017 [1 favorite]