What is Pinterest for?
Pinterest is a visual search and discovery app. People use it to find ideas, such as recipes, outfits, home decor, hairstyles, tattoos, wedding plans, DIY projects and workouts, and save them as Pins on boards. Unlike most social apps, Pinterest is mostly about planning things you want to do, which is why Pins stay useful for years instead of disappearing from a feed in a day.
Getting Pinterest on your devices
Pinterest is free on Android and iPhone from the official stores, and on computers at pinterest.com in any browser. There's no separate desktop app; the website has all the features, including the Pinterest browser button, an extension that saves images from any website to your boards.
You can browse Pinterest without an account, but signing up for free lets you save Pins, create boards and get recommendations based on what you like.
Using Pinterest well
A few features that make Pinterest more useful:
- Lens: tap the camera in the search bar to search with a photo, for example to find a piece of furniture or a plant you saw somewhere.
- Secret boards: keep plans private, like gift ideas or a surprise party.
- Group boards: plan a trip or a wedding with other people on one board.
- Board sections: split a big board, such as Recipes, into Breakfast, Dinners and Desserts.
Saving Pinterest videos and images
Pinterest lets you save Pins to boards, and for images there's a Download image option in the Pin's menu. Video Pins don't have a download button. To keep a video Pin for offline viewing, for example a recipe to follow in the kitchen, use Download Pinterest Video on this site with the Pin's link.
For businesses and creators
A free Pinterest business account adds analytics, ads, and the ability to claim your website so Pins from it show your profile. Because Pins keep sending traffic long after they're posted, Pinterest is one of the best free sources of visits for blogs and online shops, especially in food, fashion, home and craft niches.
Privacy and your Pins
Boards are public by default, and anyone can see your public Pins and boards on your profile. Use secret boards for anything personal, and check Settings → Privacy and data, where you can hide your profile from search engines and control how Pinterest personalises ads.
Pinterest builds recommendations from what you save and search. If your home feed fills up with something you're no longer interested in, tap the three dots on a Pin and choose See less like this, or edit your interests in Settings → Home feed tuner.
Pinterest on a computer
The website is the best way to organise lots of Pins: you can drag Pins between boards, select several at once and rearrange board sections more quickly than on a phone. The Pinterest browser button for Chrome, Firefox and Edge adds a Save button to images on other websites, which is the quickest way to collect ideas while you browse.
Pinterest for shopping
Many Pins are products with prices and a link to the shop. Shopping Pins show a price tag and open the retailer's product page. When you search, the Shop tab shows only products, and Lens can find similar items from a photo of something you like. Pinterest doesn't sell anything itself, so you buy from the retailer's website as usual.
Is Pinterest suitable for children?
Pinterest's minimum age is 13. Accounts for teens have stricter defaults: their profiles are private, and only people they follow back can message them. Parents of younger children who want to browse ideas together can use Pinterest in a browser without an account, where they won't see messaging at all.
Pinterest alternatives
If you like Pinterest's idea boards, Instagram's saved Collections and TikTok's Favorites folders work in a similar way for video. Designers often use Behance or Dribbble, and many people plan projects in apps like Milanote or Notion. Pinterest stays the biggest for recipes, home and wedding planning, because its Pins link to the original blog or shop.
How do I download my Pinterest data?
Pinterest can send you a copy of everything in your account: boards, Pins, comments and settings. Request it in Settings → Privacy and data → Request your data, and Pinterest emails a download link when it's ready. It's worth doing before closing an account you've used for years.