How to save an image on the web to your Camera Roll

Angela writes: Once in awhile I’ll come across a picture on the Internet that I’d like to copy and paste into my iPhone’s photo album. I know how to copy & paste text, but what about photos (or can you)?

Hi Angela! Good question—and yes, you can copy images from your iPhone’s web browser to the Camera Roll, or even send a web photo via email or picture message. The secret? A simple tap & hold.

Once you've copied a photo from the web, you can paste it into a picture message or an email.

Got your fingertip ready?

• In the iPhone’s mobile Safari browser, tap and hold the photo or image you’d like to save.
• In a second or so, a window with three buttons—”Save Image,” “Copy,” and “Cancel”—will pop up. Go ahead and tap “Save Image.”
• Go back to the iPhone’s home page, then tap Photos, Camera Roll; the image you just saved should be sitting right here.
• Next, try this: go back to the image on the web, tap and hold it, then tap the “Copy” button.
• Return to the main iPhone menu, tap Messages, pick a lucky friend to send your image to, tap and hold the blank where your message goes, and tap “Paste” when the button appears.
• Presto—the image should pop into the dialog box. Tap “Send” to deliver the photo to your pal via picture message.

Note: This tip also works on the iPad and iPod Touch.