Searching the web without pictures

July 27, 2021 12:08 PM

I have to google some pretty gross stuff that I don’t want to see images of- how do I get ONLY text results on a mobile device?

I have to google some pretty gross stuff that I don’t want to see images of- I’d like to just read about the issue and potential solutions. Is there a web search images that will ONLY show texts or a way to temporarily turn off images? I’m on the latest iPhone and can find desktop solutions but not mobile ones.

posted by Pretty Good Talker to Computers & Internet (8 answers total)

I use a Lightening browser http://acrdevelopment.org/lightning/faq/
I can block images from the browser in three taps.
posted by unearthed at 12:20 PM on July 27, 2021

Scratch that it's Android only :(
posted by unearthed at 12:40 PM on July 27, 2021

How to Disable Images in Firefox
posted by aniola at 12:49 PM on July 27, 2021

Violoncello has been the most effective iOS app for me when I need a text-only web browser, in terms of blocking images, though these days many websites' text-only renderings are crap, not done in a way that's easy to read, you might have to scroll down A Lot, I'm looking at you, CNN. (MochaSoft's Text Browser also comes up as a search result in the app store, but it couldn't handle image-blocking on a basic Google search for butterflies when I tried just now).
posted by Pandora Kouti at 12:56 PM on July 27, 2021

Pandora Kouti, re: CNN, try CNN Lite.
posted by caek at 1:45 PM on July 27, 2021 [1 favorite]

aniola has the answer - use Firefox - but since you’re on an iPhone this is how you would block images
posted by theory at 2:17 PM on July 27, 2021

iCab mobile is a full featured browser which lets you turn off all images.

Settings > web sites > show images

It's been in constant development for 17 years.
posted by Jesse the K at 2:24 PM on July 27, 2021 [1 favorite]

When I had to do this I used the text-only web browser WebbIE 4.
posted by Canageek at 8:53 PM on July 27, 2021 [1 favorite]