Google Lens is a powerful visual search tool that’s been around since 2017. It’s been slowly improving over the years, with Google adding a lot of features to make it more capable. It’s safe to say that Google Lens has now evolved into a spectacular search tool that can save you tons of time if you know how to use it properly. It doesn’t get as much attention as it deserves because most people simply ignore it and don’t realize how useful this free-to-use tool can be. Google Lens is packed with a lot of really cool features that make it more than just a Google Search for images.
How to access Google Lens
Before we discuss what you can do with Google Lens, it’s important to tell you how to access it. The best thing about using Google Lens is that you don’t necessarily have to install a dedicated Google Lens app. One of the easiest ways to access it is from within the Google Search app that’s pre-installed on Android phones. You can also download it for free from the Play Store and the App Store, meaning you can use it for free on Android phones and iPhones.
Once you download and install the Google Search app, simply open it and locate the Lens icon in the right corner of the search field (the icon looks like a circle with three multicolored lines and a dot). You can also find the Lens icon on the Google Search widget, so you can add one of those to your home screen and launch Google Lens from there.
You can also access it from within the Google Photos app in case you want to get information about a particular object you see in one of the photos in your library.
- Open the Google Photos app and select any image of your choice.
- Tap the Google Lens icon in the bottom bar to let the app analyze the image and pull relevant search results.
Another way to access Google Lens is via the Google Chrome app.
- Open the Chrome app and tap the camera icon on the right side of the search field.
- You can also tap and hold any image you see on a webpage, and select Search image with Google Lens from the pop-up menu.
- You can also right-click on any image on a webpage in Chrome on a desktop to pull relevant results for using Google Lens.
Lastly, you can always just download and open the Google Lens app directly to use it. Please note that the dedicated Google Lens is only available on the Play Store, but you can use any of the methods mentioned above to access Google Lens on Apple devices.
How to use Google Lens
Now that you know how to access Google Lens on your phone, it’s time to see how you can use it. The first thing you’ll see after opening Google Lens is a viewfinder and the camera roll with your recent pictures. From here, you can either tap the viewfinder to capture a new image for Google Lens to analyze, or simply select one of the existing ones from your phone’s library.
When you have a picture for Google Lens to scan — be it a new or an existing one — you’ll notice a slider at the bottom of the screen that lets you switch between different modes:
- Search (selected by default)
- Text
- Translate
- Homework
- Shopping
- Places
- Dining
Google Lens will allow you to interact with the objects in an image differently based on the option you select. Using the Search on an image of a keyboard will prompt Google Lens to show information about that keyboard and pull results about similar items to give more context. But as soon as I switch to Shopping, the app will try to find the exact match and give me the links to buy the same keyboard or something similar.
This essentially means that you can switch between those options to find relevant results. All the options are pretty self-explanatory, but here’s a quick rundown for those who are unfamiliar with them:
- The text option will let you copy the text from the image to your clipboard or pretty much anywhere on your device. You can even listen to that particular text being read, get it translated, or search it on Google.
- The translate option can, well, translate text from the image to one of several languages supported by Google Translate.
- Homework, much like the text, will give you information about the highlighted text. You can use it on big chunks of text in your textbook to learn more about a particular topic or use it to solve math equations.
- The shopping option will help you find products similar to the one you’ve scanned. Notably, you can also scan a barcode to get more accurate results for the products you’re searching.
- Places will work best on buildings and other outdoor locations. You can simply point Google Lens at a building or, say, a notable point of interest to get more information on what you are looking at.
- With the Dining option, you can take a picture of food or a menu, and get relevant information or find where to get that food.
Final thoughts
You can use these options to find all the information you need without typing a word. Your mileage may vary, but as long as you ensure the image you use is blur-free and has the object centered, you’ll see some good results with lots of useful information. I use Google Lens for things like saving contact information from a business card, translating text written in a different foreign language, copying text from real life, identifying objects, and more. There are tons of other ways to use Google Lens, and you’ll be surprised to find out how useful it can be.