Where Photos Downloaded via Browser are Saved on iPhone and Android
Where Photos Downloaded via Browser are Saved on iPhone and Android
Have you downloaded an image from the internet to your phone but can't find it? Below, we'll explain where photos downloaded via Safari on iPhone and Chrome on Android are saved by default. We'll look at different saving methods and the features of the latest iOS and Android versions (including Scoped Storage limitations on Android 11+).
Saving Photos on iPhone (Safari)
Using “Save Image” in Safari
If you pressed and held an image in Safari and selected “Save Image”, the file automatically goes into the “Photos” app. Such images are saved in the media library just like photos taken with the camera.
Where to look:
- Open the “Photos” app.
- Go to the “Albums” or “Library” tab.
- Enter the “Recents” section — all recently saved images are displayed there.
- You can also find photos in the main feed by the download date.
Important: this method saves the image specifically to the gallery, not to the file system.
Using Safari's Download Manager
In modern iOS versions, Safari supports full file downloads. If you clicked the “Download” button on a website, the image is saved as a file in the Downloads folder.
By default, the path is:
Files → iCloud Drive → Downloads
You can change the save location to “On My iPhone”, then files will be stored locally.
How to find a downloaded image:
- Open the “Files” app.
- Go to iCloud Drive or “On My iPhone”.
- Open the Downloads folder.
You can also tap the downloads icon (down arrow) in Safari and open the file directly from there.
Additional method: via the “Share” → “Save to Files” menu, you can manually select a specific folder.
By the way, if you often work with images — editing them or generating new ones — it's convenient to use the veogen.ai service, which helps you quickly create and process visual content directly in your browser.
Saving Photos on Android (Chrome)
Using “Download image”
If in Chrome on Android you long-pressed an image and selected “Download image”, the file is saved to the folder:
Internal storage → Download
This is the standard folder for all downloaded files.
How to find downloaded photos
1. Via Gallery or Google Photos
- Open the “Gallery” or Google Photos app.
- Find the Download album.
- If the photo was downloaded recently, it might appear in the main feed by date.
2. Via file manager
- Open the “Files” or “My Files” app.
- Go to the “Downloads” section.
- Or open the device's internal storage and the Download folder.
3. Via Chrome itself
- Open the Chrome menu (⋮).
- Select “Downloads”.
- Find the desired image in the list of downloaded files.
Android 11+ Features (Scoped Storage)
Starting with Android 10 (and mandatory on Android 11+), the Scoped Storage mechanism is in effect — restricted application access to the file system.
What this means:
- By default, Chrome saves images to the Download folder, which remains accessible to the user.
- If the download is configured for an SD card, the file might end up in a service folder like Android/data/com.android.chrome/.
- Such folders might not be accessible through a regular gallery.
What to do if the photo is not visible:
- Check the “Downloads” section in Chrome itself.
- Change the save location in Chrome settings to internal storage.
- Use a file manager with SD card access to move the file.
In most cases (approximately 99%), downloaded images are found precisely in the Download folder.
Summary
On iPhone:
- “Save Image” → “Photos” app.
- Download file → “Files” app → Downloads folder.
On Android:
- From Chrome → Download folder in internal storage.
- Look via Gallery, Google Photos, or file manager.
Now you know exactly where to look for downloaded images, and the question “Where did my pictures go?” will no longer catch you off guard.
