Despite being a huge social network, Pinterest seems to get fewer headlines than others. Home to over 250 million monthly users and billions of views, it’s prime real estate for inspiration and ideas. It’s also a place to show off your own creativity if you’re so inclined. Although you can view what you like on the network, downloading and storing images is not so obvious. This tutorial will show you several ways to download images from Pinterest.
I have a love-hate relationship with Pinterest. I love the variety, richness of some of the content and the ability to follow a worldwide topic just through images. However, I don’t like the carousel like not being able to get to a host website or not being able to find a product link if you find something you might want to buy. One picture is linked to one album linked to another and another etc.
Download image from Pinterest
If you love collecting images, learning how to download them on Pinterest has never been easier. It’s understandable as you can save images, you won’t be coming back to Pinterest to view them again. But as always, there are options and I’ll list a few of them here.
Save Image As…
Save Image As… is the Windows right-click dialog for saving what you see. Some Pinterest images allow this feature to work, while others do not. As long as the author allows you to copy the images, right-click on the image page and select Save Image As…. Give it a name and save it in image format.
Save Pinterest images with Safari
If you’re a Mac user, your options are similar to Windows. Open Pinterest in Safari and Control-click or right-click an image and choose Save Image As…… Choose a format, give the image a name, and save the images where you saved them. You have also added the option to Save Image to Desktop or Add Image to Photos for editing or organization.
Download Pinterest images to iPhone
iPhone users can quickly download images from Pinterest using the app itself. Open the app and go to the picture. Select the three-dot menu icon at the top of the page and select Download. Agree to allow Pinterest to access your Photos and you can download as many as you want.
Download Pinterest images on Android
Downloading Pinterest images on Android is pretty much the same. Open the image you want to save, select the three-dot menu icon in the top left, select Download image and save it somewhere. Like Apple, Pinterest will ask for permission to access photos and media if you haven’t already. Allow and the download will complete.
Image Downloader Chrome extension
The Image Downloader Chrome extension is a neat little app that lets you copy images online from almost anywhere. Go to an image page on Pinterest, select Image Downloader from the toolbar and select the image you want. Enter ‘media cache’ in the filter box and select Download when the image is highlighted. Set your format and options and save.
You can use this extension to download individual images as well as to download them in bulk. A very useful little app.
Image Downloader Firefox add-on
There is also an Image Downloader Firefox addon. It works the same as in Chrome because it was written by the same person. The process is the same. Install the plugin, go to an image page on Pinterest, click the icon, select the filter if you want and select Download. You can select individual images or download them all in one page.
About downloading images from Pinterest
While most people see images uploaded to the internet as fair game, not everyone does. There are many creatives who upload their work to Pinterest and are (rightfully) willing to pay for their work. Pinterest terms of service take too long to protect itself, but not so much to protect uploaders.
If you upload or download images to the social network, it is your responsibility to check the copyright and terms. A lot of people say on their page that you can download their images or not. It’s a legal minefield where Pinterest isn’t helping much.
If you’re on the other side of the equation and you think people have illegally pinned your work, there is a mechanism that can help. The Pinterest copyright complaint page has a section where you can file a complaint for images to be removed.
If you use any of the techniques to download images from Pinterest, check for copyright or restrictions first. While I haven’t heard of being prosecuted for copyright infringement on Pinterest, that doesn’t mean it doesn’t or can’t happen to you. Be careful there!
