Use this trick to instantly find images and videos in your messages

September 23, 2022

By Kim Komando

Stop endlessly scrolling through your text messages to find what you need. If you have one bit of information, you can search for it in any conversation. Tap or click here to find any message you’re looking for in seconds.

There’s also a neat trick to find an image or video you shared or received from a person or group. You can see everything they shared with you and even search for a particular image.

Read on for the best ways to find photos and videos in your iPhone and Android text messages. We’ve also included instructions for two of the most popular messaging apps.

How to search for photos and videos on iPhone and Android

Browse the photos and videos you shared on your iPhone

• Open Messages.
• Tap on a conversation, then tap on the contact/group name or profile photo.
• Scroll down to the Photos section and tap See All to see your shared photos and videos.

Search the photos and videos you shared on your iPhone

• Open Messages.
• Type in a word or search term in the Search bar.
• Scroll down to Photos and tap See All.

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Browse the photos and videos shared on your Android phone

• Open the Messages app.
• Tap the search bar at the top. Select images or videos.
• From here, you can scroll through all the photos or videos shared with you in text messages.

Finding media in third-party messaging apps

Now that you know how to find shared media on your phone’s built-in messaging apps, here’s how to do the same with Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp.

Browse the photos and videos you shared on Facebook Messenger

• Open Facebook Messenger.
• Tap on a conversation, then tap on the contact/group name or profile photo.
• Tap View media, files & links under the More actions section to see your shared photos and videos.

NOTE: While Facebook Messenger has a search function, it doesn’t work for the media you’ve shared in chats.

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Browse the photos and videos you shared on WhatsApp

• Open WhatsApp.
• Tap on a conversation, then tap on the contact/group name.
• Tap Media, Links, and Docs to see your shared photos and videos.

Search the photos and videos you shared on Whatsapp

• Open WhatsApp.
• Type in a word or search term in the Search bar.
• Tap Photos.

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