If you’re an iPhone user, you can now use Google’s Circle to Search feature — now dubbed Google Lens on iOS — which lets you select and search what’s on your screen by drawing, highlighting or tapping an object. The AI-powered feature works in both the Google and Chrome apps on iOS.
Whether you’re reading an article with photos or watching a video, you can now quickly use a gesture to search for what you’ve seen on Google and get more information via web search or even AI overviews. Previously, if you wanted to search for what’s on your screen, you only had the option to take a screenshot of what you saw and upload it to Google, but obviously this new approach is much quicker and easier.
Check out:Â There’s a Way to Get Google’s Circle to Search AI Feature on Your iPhone
The Google Lens feature is arriving this week to the Google app on iOS, and will be coming soon — no date specified — to Chrome’s mobile and desktop apps. It will be available to English-language users in countries where AI Overviews are available.
If you want to test out the feature on your iPhone, here’s everything you need to know.
How to use Circle to Search in Google and Chrome on iOS
If you’re in the Google app and see an an object that you want to learn more about, tap the three-dot menu and then select “Search Screen with Google Lens” or “Search this Screen,” respectively. The screen will sparkle all over, with the words Google Lens at the top of the screen.
You can now use whatever gesture you’re most comfortable with: Draw around the object, tap on an object or highlight any text. Once you do, a web search window appears at the bottom, giving you more information about what you’ve just searched for, as well as any visual matches.
You can add more context to your search by typing into the search bar.
If you want to add more context to your search to better refine it, type into the search bar that says “Add to search.” For example, if you use Circle to Search to highlight a pizza to find recipes for it online, you can add something like “vegetarian recipe” to refine your search.
In addition to this feature, Google will soon let iPhone users use the camera icon in Google Search to snap a photo and get an AI overview so that you can quickly get more information about whatever you’re looking at, whether it’s a car, building or statue.