What is Google Lens and how to use the service on Android and iOS

Among the latest high-profile software innovations from Google, Google Lens service for Android devices produces an impression. The technology presented to the public two more years ago is rapidly developing, improving and offering more and more opportunities. For searching for information about the surrounding objects and previously used various applications, the same Google has already demonstrated a product called Google Goggles, but the implementation of a new service that applies machine learning innovations has eclipsed its predecessors. More recently, Google Lens was only a privilege of Google Pixel devices, and today software can be downloaded from the app store on smartphones of various models and brands.

How to work with the Google Lens app.

What is Google Lens

The artificial intelligence system in real time recognizes an object in a photo and provides information available on it on the Internet. Google Lens photo processing technology analyzes the image on the device using computer vision algorithms, identifies various objects that were under the camera view of the device, and then displays relevant information on the screen. So, the function will be useful to many users and there are a lot of options for its use:

  • Search for information about objects. You can get various information about the places of interest, places of interest, etc.
  • Identification of plant and animal species. With the help of Google Lens you can recognize the names of flowers, dog breeds, etc.
  • Search for your favorite items. The function allows you to search for similar or similar items without the need for their description.
  • Connect to a Wi-Fi network. An automatic connection to the network will be performed when the smartphone camera is pointed at the label of the router with the network name and standard password.
  • Barcode identification. Search for information about products by recognizing their barcodes.
  • Add business cards. Saving contact information (phone, address).
  • Work with the text (translation of the printed text into another language using Google Assistant, copying, dialing, building a route, creating events in the calendar, and other features).

The Google Lens visual search application finds information on request based on the user's location, which improves the accuracy of the result and allows you to specify information up to geographical coordinates. For example, if you take a photo of a store signboard (or just point the camera at it, because now Google has added a function to the search application), Google Objective will tell you in detail about the direction of its activity, work schedule, location and other details, as well as share visitors' comments about this place. The system of artificial intelligence is improved and the more users remove objects (including the same ones), the better the results of the issue become. Google Lens support is available in the applications:

  • Google Photos (use on Android and iOS). To access the technology, you need to update the software to the latest version by installing updates from the Play Market or the App Store.
  • Google Assistant (a large number of models of devices on the Android OS 6.0 and higher).
  • Camera (feature works on some Android devices).

Google Lens Activation

To use this option, a prerequisite is to install the latest version of the application on an Android or iOS device, while Google Lens, available in several languages, does not yet support Russian. So, for the service to work, you must specify English as a system in the device settings:

  • For Android devices, go to the "Settings" menu, select the "Language and Keyboard" section, where we change the system language to English.
  • For iOS devices, go to “Settings” - “General” - “Language and Region” and in the “Language iPhone” box we mark English, confirm the choice.

After these steps, we will get a working Google Lens, the service will be enabled on the device and available in the Google Photos menu.

How to use the function on Android

Google Lens Software is fairly easy to use. Consider how to work with the service on Android devices:

  • Open the Google Photos app on your smartphone.
  • Select a snapshot and click on the Lens icon.
  • Depending on what we need to do, we choose an action.

Search for information about the surrounding objects as follows:

  • Open the Lens on your Android device:
  • When using the Assistant, you can say “Okay, Google” or hold the button on the main screen. At the bottom right click the Lens icon.
  • For some devices that support the function, just open the regular Camera application, then click the More button in the form of three dots and select Google Lens.

If the service icon is missing, it means that the application could not find relevant information about the surrounding objects.

  • We point the camera at the object of interest and click on it on the smartphone display. To select text, click on the word, then touch it again and drag the blue dots.
  • Click the microphone icon and ask a question (for example, “what’s this?”) Or a command (“Add to Google Keep”).

If you need more information about the photo:

  • We go to the page images.googe.com.
  • Click on the found picture, then on the Lens icon.
  • For more information, perform the following actions:
  • Recognized images. Press the white dot or scroll down the page, click on the found image.
  • Other images. Use your finger or stylus to circle a part of the picture about which you need to find out information, click on the found picture.
  • To close the Google Lens and return to the search, click the corresponding icon in the form of a cross.

You can watch the history of the executed manipulations, as well as clear it in the “My actions” section. If you do not want to save the history in the application, you can disable the option.

How to use Google Lens on iPhone or iPad

You can use the Lens in the Google Photo application, the service is not available in the Assistant or the Camera. After you have downloaded the latest version of the software on the iOS device, you need to log in to your Google account (first create it if you don’t have it). You can search for information about objects as follows:

  • Open Google Photos on your iOS device.
  • Click the Lens icon in the search line.
  • If the function has not been used yet, then it is necessary to press the “Enable camera” button.
  • We point the camera at the object of interest and click on the circle when it appears on the screen of the device.
  • To use the service in the case of ready-made images, click on the camera icon at the top right and click "OK" to provide access, after which you can select the desired photo.

The principle of working with the application on the iPhone or iPad is the same as in the case of Android devices. Similarly, you can perform and actions to obtain additional information about the object. If you need to disable Google Lens, you can do it in the device settings:

  • Go to the "Settings".
  • Select Google and use the switch near the “Camera” item to deactivate the option.
  • Click "Photos" and select "Never."

As you can see, there is nothing difficult in working with the application and even an inexperienced user will be able to cope with the task.