- Google Lens is an image recognition technology developed by Google
- Google app for Android is now testing a shortcut that opens the Lens app
- Feature is not widely available yet
Google Lens is an image recognition technology developed by Google, designed to bring up relevant information related to objects. It identifies using visual analysis based on a neural network. Since its inception on October 4, 2017, Google keeps adding features to improve its performance.
Google Lens has various Features such as translating text in real-time, look up words, add events to your calendar, call a number, and more. Or just copy and paste to save some time. Additionally, Lens uses advanced AI Algorithms to Identify plants and animals. Lens also helps you search Popular Monuments or Buildings to help you Navigate.
One of the controversial features of Lens is to solve Mathematical Equations with step by step solutions for helping students with their Homework.
Google Lens Features
Support for Lens in the iOS version of Google Photos was made in March 2018. Beginning in May 2018, Google Lens was made available within Google Assistant on OnePlus devices, as well as being integrated into camera apps of various Android phones. A standalone Google Lens app was made available on Google Play in June 2018. Device support is limited, although it is not clear which devices are not supported or why. It requires Android Marshmallow (6.0) or newer. In December 2018, Google rolled out the Lens visual search feature to the Google app for iOS.
On Android, Google Lens has been accessed by first opening the Assistant panel. While on iOS, Assistant is a standalone application, and Lens is part of the Google Search client. The visual lookup tool can be launched directly from the Search bar.
Google app for Android is now working on a similar shortcut. Some users today running the latest 11.31 beta, which hints at Driving Mode and sleep integration, have a Lens icon at the very right of the pill. The voice search icon has been moved to the left. When using dark mode, that mic is gray, but the Lens camera icon does not change colour and is in Assorted Original found in Light Theme.
Tapping the icon launches Lens, which was redesigned in September to look like the Pixel’s Stock Camera app. The Lens shortcut does not appear after users enter a query. Earlier, Google tested a similar button in Image Search, given the integration between those two services.
This feature is not yet widely available and might or might not be available even after the update to the latest version.
