Find the Perfect Image with the Free Photo Library

You’ve got thousands of options to choose from right in your WordPress app.

May 9, 2018

Thomas Bishop

You’re finishing up a blog post and want to add a photo, but you don’t have the right image. There’s a solution right in your WordPress mobile app: the Free Photo Library.

As part of our never-ending mission to improve Media in the WordPress apps, you now have access to over 40,000 free, high-quality photos (courtesy of Pexels) right from the WordPress mobile app. It’s available to every WordPress.com member.

(Did we mention that they’re free? And so are the WordPress apps, if you still haven’t downloaded one!  They’re available here.)

How does it work?

To get started, make sure you’ve updated the WordPress app on your phone or tablet to the latest version (9.9). Once you’ve updated the app, you can find and add free photos to your library directly from the post and page editor, or from within the Media Library:

Adding from the Editor

Open the Editor by either creating a new post or opening an existing one. Once you’ve opened the Editor, tap the Add Media icon to open the Media Picker. You’ll see a few different options to choose from: device, camera, or WordPress media.

If you’re on Android, tap the Device Media icon ( Device Library ), and select “Choose from Free Photo Library” from the menu.

If you’re on iOS: tap the ••• icon, and select “Free Photo Library” from the options.

Next, search for a photo to add to your post. Select as many images as you’d like and tap the “Add” button on the bottom right of the screen. That’s it! The images are inserted  into your post or page, and they’re also added to your Media Library seamlessly. (Note: these images will count against your site’s media storage limits.)

Adding from the Media Library

To add from your Media Library, navigate to My Sites ( My Sites ) and choose your site. From there, navigate to “Media, tap the Add Media button in the top right corner, and select “Free Photo Library” from the menu.

From here, the process is the same: select as many photos as you want and tap “Add” to put them into your post or page and your Media Library.

Give Feedback and Get Involved

The WordPress mobile apps are free and available on both iOS and Android!

If you have any questions or feedback, reach out to our in-app support team by tapping Me → Help & Support → Contact Us.

If you’re a developer and would like to contribute to the project, learn how you can get involved.

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69 Comments

Comments are closed.

  1. Paul Kardos May 9th at 3:59 pm

    I usually search the web for public domain images, so this was a great article for me. It doesn’t work on my iPhone X (when I click the three dots, I don’t get the Free Library option), but it works great on my laptop. I do all of my website work from the PC, so it’s not a problem, but you might want to check and see why some users don’t have access to the library on iOS, though. Thanks, great post!

    Liked by 11 people

    • Thomas Bishop May 9th at 4:18 pm

      Thank you for the kind words, I’m glad you liked the post! This feature is designed to work with WordPress.com sites, but also works with Jetpack-powered self-hosted sites. If your site fits these criteria and your WordPress app is updated to version 9.9+, you should see that option in the menu. If you’re still not seeing the option, please feel free to let us know by going to Me → Help & Support → Contact Us.

      Liked by 7 people

  2. dhanush May 9th at 4:27 pm

    Pexels is a great site, they have lots of high quality images free for download. Its cool that I can access it straight from wordpress.

    Liked by 11 people

  3. pranabaxom May 9th at 5:10 pm

    In Google play store, latest version of WP is 9.8. Can you please let me know how I can download WP9. 9 + or update my current WP on android phone to version 9.9+

    Liked by 5 people

  4. Venkatachary May 9th at 5:23 pm

    So, is it not for the regular desktop users? Should I need to download the app on my mobile to avail this facility?

    Liked by 6 people

  5. El Blog de Úrsula May 9th at 5:25 pm

    Wonderful infomation, thank you!

    Liked by 4 people

  6. wendygoerl May 9th at 5:56 pm

    Hm, I just checked out the “media” on my site and found an automated-center-crop of one of my book covers (the full-wrap cover design that I only uploaded to CreateSpace). How’d that get there?

    Liked by 4 people

    • Thomas Bishop May 12th at 7:52 pm

      Hey there, we’d love to help! Would you mind reaching out to our in-app support team by tapping Me → Help & Support → Contact Us. If you’re not using the WordPress apps, you can contact us directly through your WordPress.com account here: https://wordpress.com/help/contact. You can also read more information about various issues on our Support pages here: https://wordpress.com/support. Thank you for using WordPress!

      Liked by 4 people

  7. susielindau May 9th at 6:00 pm

    I’ll definitely benefit from the library. Thanks, Thomas and WordPress!

    Liked by 5 people

  8. Paul Braterman May 9th at 6:17 pm

    Will this work on my PC? How? Do I need to check my version of WordPress, and if so, how do I do that?

    Liked by 4 people

  9. Samuelito May 9th at 8:30 pm

    The catch with this is that it uses up your storage. There’s absolutely no workaround if you want a featured image. Otherwise it’s possible to go to the Pexels website and just use the image URL to add it to your post.

    Liked by 3 people

    • Thomas Bishop May 12th at 7:57 pm

      That’s correct, adding any media to your Media Library will take up storage space, and also possible in some places it is possible to use the direct image URL. If you have any additional questions or feedback about the WordPress mobile apps, you can reach out to our in-app support team by tapping Me → Help & Support → Contact Us. Thanks for checking out this feature!

      Liked by 3 people

  10. Chris Lovie-Tyler May 9th at 8:36 pm

    Very cool!

    Any idea as to when you might have a new theme(s) out? It’s been longer than usual.

    Liked by 3 people

    • Thomas Bishop May 12th at 8:05 pm

      Hey Chris, I’m not sure what the pipeline looks like for new themes, but I can ping the theme team on Monday. If you haven’t already, I’d recommend checking out all available themes at https://wordpress.com/themes. Thanks for checking out the new feature!

      Liked by 3 people

      • Chris Lovie-Tyler May 12th at 8:12 pm

        Yeah, I have, thanks, Thomas. Not a big deal. Just wondered because you normally release a new one (or two) every two or three months, and I think it’s been about five now. Just look forward to checking out new themes, that’s all. 🙂

        Liked by 4 people

        • Thomas Bishop May 14th at 8:34 pm

          Hey Chris, an update! I talked to someone on the Theme team. While we don’t have an exact date for you, it sounds like we should be releasing a new theme in the next month or two 🙂

          Liked by 4 people

  11. Biblicon May 9th at 9:04 pm

    It does not work. Trying from the media and pressing plus I do not get the free photo library but `Choose from the free photo library’. Then I am asked to choose a number!
    I cannot get it from the editor because my app. will not allow me to reach the editor. It says I am logged in but I am not, and when it says log in here I press and get a blank screen with a big W in it.

    Liked by 3 people

    • Thomas Bishop May 12th at 8:07 pm

      Hey there! We’d love to help! Would you mind reaching out to our in-app support team by tapping *Me → Help & Support → Contact Us* in your WordPress mobile app?

      Alternatively, if you’re not using the apps, you can contact us directly through your WordPress.com account here: https://wordpress.com/help/contact.

      Thank you for using WordPress!

      Liked by 2 people

  12. RebeccaRose2017 May 9th at 9:46 pm

    This is great! I will definitely be using these on my blog posts x

    Liked by 4 people

  13. 365musicmusings May 9th at 10:12 pm

    Thanks for the answer of it adding to space allotment! I was wondering.

    Liked by 3 people

  14. NRTucker May 9th at 10:16 pm

    Paul Kardos I have an iPhone 7 Plus and the three dots worked for me. The first time I went there it wasn’t available, but I closed and open the page and there it was.

    Liked by 3 people

  15. Mark Caudill May 10th at 1:32 am

    Thanks for letting us know, I have used an image but didn’t know there were that many or they came from pexel.

    Liked by 4 people

  16. Mary Cha May 10th at 3:33 am

    This is awesome. Thanks for sharing.

    Liked by 3 people

  17. Tim Harlow May 10th at 4:14 am

    Thanks for the great ideas.

    Liked by 3 people

  18. Lacie J May 10th at 5:05 am

    Thanks for telling me about this great resource. I’m just getting started and any helpful tips are much needed!

    Liked by 3 people

  19. MJ Brewer May 10th at 5:15 am

    I’m sort of old school. I generally write out my article before submitting it and do so on my laptop. Are these pictures available for computers too, or only the handheld devices?

    Liked by 3 people

    • Thomas Bishop May 10th at 9:54 pm

      Hi there! This feature (and the photos) are also available on any WordPress.com site. If you have questions about how to upload media, you can read more here: https://wordpress.com/support/add-media/#add single media-items-uploading-images-video-and-audio

      Liked by 3 people

    • lydialum999yahoocom May 12th at 7:47 pm

      MJ — I just saw this (along with T Bishop reply — hi there!) I’m a journalist and part-time college educator and am posting bylined student work with their consent– I’m only about one-third of the way through the entire trove. I used the FREE media library via full website (on my laptop) and while the photo choices MIGHT be limited, it gives you a way to wade in the shallow end of the pool and possibly work a tad faster than otherwise. For my student work, I am deliberately using a reporting/storytelling motif (pix of computers, notebooks, iPhones) to simulate their experiences “in the field” rather than fool around with actual news photos (and wind up embarrassing myself — and them — with photos of “incorrect” news events.) As wonderful a resource as the feral Internet halls are, sometimes it is helpful to start with a limited quantity, then expand. Just my opinion. Suffice to say I experiment a lot but I WAITED til I had approx a dozen articles posted on old-school B&W site BEFORE going photo shopping in Media Library THEN experimenting with background colors (before my frmr students who are MEN accuse me of a website that looked too feminine for their taste — LOL). Enjoy yourself on your site! — Lydia

      Liked by 3 people

  20. missb May 10th at 7:26 am

    Just tried it today and it’s awesome:)

    Liked by 3 people

  21. jwsipor May 10th at 9:57 am

    This is great. It leaves me with no option but to use the app. There are many times I choose to discuss an idea and can’t find the right photo. But with app I will an efficient user. Thanks again to the WordPress team for introducing such a brilliant idea.

    Liked by 4 people

  22. nesha e´ May 10th at 1:07 pm

    does it collective? i mean, can we find also pictures of unpopular tags/meta such as the titles of movies and tv seriers? if it’s yes, then this is an awesome update!

    Liked by 2 people

    • Thomas Bishop May 12th at 8:09 pm

      Hi there! Free Photo Library gives you access to all of the photos that are available on the Pexels.com database of free, open-source images. In other words, if it’s available on Pexels, you can find it using Free Photo Library in your WordPress app! I hope this helps!

      Liked by 2 people

  23. littlewhitepearls May 10th at 2:11 pm

    great information, thank you. I’m going to download this.

    Liked by 4 people

  24. Hannah May 10th at 4:42 pm

    That’s wonderful, thank you! I didn’t realize my app wasn’t up to date, and I didn’t know I could have access to so many great photos!

    Liked by 4 people

  25. Margaret May 10th at 6:27 pm

    This really sounds great!… But, I’m just a simple, old grandma using just a desktop — could you give more detailed directions for getting to the Free Photo Library on WordPress.com from my web browser?… I’ve searched around a bit, but can’t seem to find an opportunity for reaching the Free Photo Library… Thank you for helping and for making pictures available…

    Liked by 4 people

  26. abeaustin May 10th at 6:57 pm

    Recently got started with my blog and I had just been thinking I needed to look up a good resource for free, high quality photos. Thanks for making my day!

    Liked by 4 people

  27. mega901 May 10th at 10:54 pm

    Thank you very much, great information about free photo library in wordpress, I didn’t know about it. I will check it out.

    Liked by 4 people

  28. mega901 May 11th at 12:33 am

    Hi, I take photos for my post from my iPhone but because the photo width size larger than 960px I have to resize it but resizing the image decrease the quality of image. Is there any application that keeps the quality same when resize the image ?

    Liked by 3 people

    • Thomas Bishop May 12th at 8:17 pm

      Hey there! By default, image quality should not be changed from within the WordPress mobile apps. However, there are settings inside *Me > App Settings* for optimizing image upload size, etc. If you have any more questions or feedback about the WordPress mobile apps, please feel free to reach out to our in-app support team by tapping Me → Help & Support → Contact Us. I hope that helps!

      Liked by 2 people

  29. xoxojea May 11th at 6:24 am

    wow, thanks! I didn’t even know I could do that, even on the website 😀 (I’m new here)😋

    Liked by 4 people

    • Thomas Bishop May 12th at 8:20 pm

      Glad we could help, and we hope you love the apps! If you ever have any questions or feedback, feel free to contact our in-app support team by tapping *Me → Help & Support → Contact Us*. Thanks!

      Liked by 2 people

  30. reading journeys May 11th at 6:03 pm

    This is great and very timely — I have two blogs about reading – one for SF and one for poetry. The photos have already helped me to rethink my postings. It’s great to have a photo resource right at my blog site — Thank you !

    Liked by 4 people

  31. austee081688 May 11th at 6:30 pm

    Im looking forward to it. Thank you. This will be a big help.

    Liked by 3 people

  32. andrenevesphotography May 11th at 10:33 pm

    Good tip👌🏼

    Liked by 4 people

  33. I KOREA U May 12th at 7:59 am

    Thx for good information^^

    Liked by 4 people

  34. BOLDista May 12th at 9:40 am

    Thanks for new feature, love WordPress.

    Liked by 4 people

  35. runningpinoy May 12th at 3:34 pm

    This is wonderful news! Thank you for this as this is a lot of help for those of us who don’t always have the ‘perfect’ photos for our posts.

    Liked by 4 people

  36. Alicia Butcher Ehrhardt May 13th at 12:57 am

    I spend most of my time at my big monitor attached to my laptop, and it worked perfectly to get an image of a woman in a sari. Is there are comprehensive set of instructions on what is available free from this, or do I just guess in the search bar. I typed in ‘sari’ and ‘woman in sari’ and got nothing; then I typed in ‘India’ and found a woman in a bright orange sari with a twig broom. So it depends on how the images are labeled internally. I’m used to having to get creative!

    Can we add text to the photos? Stencil gives me ten free images a month and the ability to put text on them to make a highly individualized graphic.

    Liked by 3 people

    • Thomas Bishop May 14th at 8:19 pm

      Hi there! You have access to photos that are available on Pexels.com’s photo library, which is 40,000+ photos. Search results depend on how the photos are labeled, so you might have to get creative in some cases 🙂

      We don’t currently have any text-stylizing features inside the WordPress mobile apps, but there are certainly a number of great apps that let you do this with your photos!

      Liked by 4 people

  37. Paul @ SocialMedia May 14th at 6:53 am

    Good tip thanks for sharing Thomas. Always best to showcase your own images though if you want the marriage to be perfect.

    Liked by 2 people

  38. Image Earth Travel May 14th at 7:52 am

    Great post! I take my own photos for everything – even though they may not be perfect, they’re original. 😉

    Liked by 3 people

  39. Mighty Pen -Articles- May 14th at 2:14 pm

    Yes. The new photo library feature is awesome. We can search there as we usually do in Google. I am using wordpress since this January. Really, It is so useful to learn and explore in many ways. Thank you Team!

    Liked by 4 people

  40. Hugh's Views and News May 14th at 3:30 pm

    I’m so pleased to see that this also works for us who prefer to use a desktop for blogging. Do we need to give any credit if using any of the images?

    Liked by 4 people

    • Thomas Bishop May 14th at 8:14 pm

      Great question! By default you aren’t required to give attribution, but we are already working on an update that will make it easy to – by default in fact. I don’t have a timeline for when it’ll be implemented, but it is in the works!

      Liked by 4 people

  41. Donna Marie May 16th at 11:05 am

    This is just awesome! Thanks for posting this; now I don’t have to worry about my page looking dull and dry.

    Liked by 4 people

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