Google Lens adds a cool search trick to iPhones - how to try it

For the past year, Google has offered Android users a cool feature known as Circle to Search, in which you can select an item on the screen to run a search on it. Now, iPhone users can tap into that same capability.

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In a blog post published Wednesday, the search giant announced a couple of new powers for Google Lens. First up is the Circle to Search option, though, as Android Police points out, Google isn't officially dubbing it that for its debut on the iPhone. Whatever it's called, here's how it works.

How it works

Open the Chrome or Google app on your iPhone. Browse to a web page that contains text, an image, or other content that you'd like to learn more about. In Chrome, tap the three-dot icon, swipe to the bottom of the screen, and select "Search screen with Google Lens." In the Google app, tap the three-dot icon to the right of the address bar and select "Search this screen."

Tap, draw on, or circle the item that has triggered your curiosity. In response, Google takes a snapshot of the content you selected and runs a search on it, showing you the results at the bottom half of the screen.

Also: This new Google Lens feature saves you time while shopping IRL - here's how

The goal behind the new capability is to save you time and effort. In the past, you'd have to take a photo or screenshot of an item yourself and then run a separate search on it. Like the Circle to Search option on Android, the new feature for iOS performs the same task more quickly and easily.

"Whether you're reading an article, shopping for a product, or watching a video, you can use this feature to quickly perform a visual search while browsing, without having to take a screenshot or open a new tab," Google product managers Jenny Blair and Nick Kim Sexton said in the blog post.

And there's more

The AI Overview feature, already available through regular Google searches, is now accessible through the new Lens search capability, both for iOS and Android. In this case, Google will display an overview with a description and key aspects of the topic.

Run the Google Lens search on your iPhone or use the Circle to Search on Android, and then select an item on the screen. Depending on the content, an AI Overview may then appear above the usual search results. The overview might also pop up if you snap a photo using Google Lens.

Also: You can use Google Lens with your voice to search. Here's how - and why it's so useful

"For many years, Lens has been able to identify billions of different objects -- like plants, products, or landmarks -- by matching against a database of images indexed from the web," Blair and Sexton said. "But now, with help from our advanced AI models, Lens can go much further and provide information on the contents of more novel or unique images. For those kinds of queries, AI Overviews will begin to appear more often in your Lens results, with no need to add a question to your visual search."