 | |
 | |
| Developer(s) | |
|---|---|
| Initial release | October 4, 2017; 7 years ago (2017-10-04) |
| Operating system | Android,iOS,Microsoft Windows,macOS,ChromeOS,Linux |
| Included with | Google Pixel phones |
| Predecessor | Google Goggles |
| Available in | Lens is able to translate text into most languages supported by Google Translate. Shopping results are available in Austria, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, UAE, United Kingdom, and the United States.[1] |
| Website | lens |
Google Lens is animage recognition technology developed byGoogle, designed to bring up relevant information related to objects it identifies using visual analysis based on aneural network.[2] First announced duringGoogle I/O 2017,[3] it was first provided as a standalone app, later being integrated intoGoogle Camera but was reportedly removed in October 2022.[4] It has also been integrated with theGoogle Photos andGoogle Assistant app and with Bard (nowGemini) as of 2023.[5][6][7]
When directing the phone's camera at an object, Google Lens will attempt to identify the object by readingbarcodes,QR codes, labels and text, andshow relevant search results, web pages, and information.[8] For example, when pointing the device's camera at aWi-Fi label containing the network name and password, it will automatically connect to the scanned Wi-Fi network. Lens can also use images to identify text and can find results fromGoogle Search or translate the text withGoogle Translate inaugmented reality.[9] Lens is also integrated with the Google Photos andGoogle Assistant apps.[5]
The service originally launched asGoogle Goggles, a previous app that functioned similarly but with less capability.[10][11]Lens uses more advanceddeep learning routines in order to empower detection capabilities, similar to other apps likeBixby Vision (forSamsung devices released after 2016) andImage Analysis Toolset, also known as IAT (available onGoogle Play).DuringGoogle I/O 2019, Google announced four new features. The software will be able to recognize and recommend items on a menu. It will also have the ability to calculate tips and split bills, show how to prepare dishes from a recipe, and usetext-to-speech.[12]
On January 17, 2024,Samsung Electronics andGoogle announced Circle to Search,[13] a new feature that allows users to search the web by tapping on circling images that features Lens integration. The feature was originally just on theSamsung Galaxy S24 and thePixel 8, but expanded to other phones from those manufacturers, includingPixel 9 andSamsung Galaxy S25.[14][15][16][17]
Google officially launched Google Lens on October 4, 2017, with app previews pre-installed into theGoogle Pixel 2,[18] not yet widely available for other devices. In November 2017, the feature began rolling out into the Google Assistant forPixel and Pixel 2 phones.[19] A preview of Lens has also been implemented into the Google Photos app for Pixel phones.[6] On March 5, 2018, Google officially released Google Lens to Google Photos on non-Pixel phones.[20] Support for Lens in theiOS version of Google Photos was made on March 15, 2018.[21] Beginning in May 2018, Google Lens was made available within Google Assistant onOnePlus devices[22] as well as being integrated into camera apps of various Android phones.[23] 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 requiresAndroid Marshmallow (6.0) or newer.[24] On December 10, 2018, Google rolled out the Lens visual search feature to the Google app for iOS.[25] In 2022, Google Lens gradually replaced thereverse image search functionality ofGoogle Images, first by replacing it inGoogle Chrome and later by making it officially available as aweb application.[26] A July 2023 update to Google's chatbotBard integrated Google Lens, allowing users to contextualize their prompts by uploading images and adding image retrieval functionality.[27]
