Ever received a beautiful photo via email on your mobile device and wish you could just pin it to one of your Pinterest boards? You can, but the obvious way is NOT the best. Here’s the better alternative…
My friends are very generous with how many images they share with me via email and text message. Pictures, AI generated graphics, screen captures, and, of course, hundreds of photos of children, animals, places, meetings, even food. Some are better than others and occasionally I’ll get an image – or email myself an image – that really deserves to be added to one of my collections on Pinterest. But if I’m on my iPhone or Android phone, how’s that best accomplished?
Given that both our mobile phone user interfaces keep changing and that Pinterest has revised its app more than once in the last few years, it’s no surprise that the answer isn’t quite the same as it was earlier. Using the very latest versions of iOS on my iPhone and the latest version of the Pinterest for Mobile app, here’s my recommendation for the optimal solution to this challenge…
FIRST, SAVE THE PHOTO
I created an image in Microsoft Copilot and emailed it to myself via Gmail. Looks beautiful:
As with most every app on the iPhone and Android, in the Gmail app, I can tap and hold on an image to get a context menu to appear. In this context, here’s what it lists as options:
Your first inclination is to choose “Share…” but it turns out that the way Pinterest lets you “share” images means you can’t add a description or otherwise customize how it will show up on your Pinterest board. My recommendation: Don’t share it. Instead, “Save to Photos” to save a copy of the image. We’ll then pin it directly from the Pinterest app.
Saved? Good. Now open up Pinterest on your mobile device.
PINNING A SAVED PHOTO IN PINTEREST
This is one of the most fundamental features of Pinterest for Mobile, so it’s no surprise it’s straightforward. On the home screen, there’s a “+” button along the bottom:
Don’t be distracted by the content, and don’t be put off by the fact that the icon’s grey, not black. It still works. Tap on “+” and…
You can create a Board or Collage, but I’m just going to post this picture that’s saved on my phone. A tap on “Pin” moves me forward in the process…
It’s hard to see, but image #3 is the one I’ve selected, and it’s shown at the very bottom too. Want to post a half-dozen pictures instead of just one? Select them by tapping. When ready to proceed, I’ll tap “Next“.
ENTER DETAILED INFORMATION
The following screen is what’s missing when you “Share…” the image; for some reason, it bypasses this screen entirely. Since I want to add a title and description, I’m using this alternative approach from within Pinterest. Here are all the many fields I can specify:
I’m adding a title, description, and, of course, specifying a board:
That’s it. Looks good and ready to post so a tap on “Create” and it’s done.
CHECKING OUT MY PIN-STERPIECE
Now I can double check how it turned out by tapping on my profile (icon on the lower right) then the appropriate pinboard…
Looks good, but what about all the detailed info? As always a tap on the image reveals more:
Looks great, and is just what I want. As an added benefit, the original image is saved in my Pictures album if I ever want to reference it in the future. Got a photo or image via text message or saw one on someone’s Web page? This same approach will work great for those scenarios too.
Pro Tip: I’ve been using and writing about Pinterest since the early days. You can find me on Pinterest as d1taylor if you’re interested, and you can also find a number of other useful Pinterest tutorials in my Pinterest Help Library.