Google Lens on iOS gets boosted with new capabilities

Google Lens, an image recognition technology, has been enhanced with two new capabilities. Users will now see a new Lens option when browsing the web on their iPhone using the Google app or the Chrome browser.

They can pick and search what is on their screen using motions like drawing, highlighting, or tapping. To use the new Chrome feature, touch the three-dot menu button and pick "Search Screen with Google Lens." To use the same feature in the Google app, press the three-dot menu and select "Search this screen".

Google Lens has been around for over seven years. It can identify various items, such as flora, products, or landmarks, by comparing them to a database of web-indexed photos. Last year, Google Lens received an update that included voice interaction and the ability to search for nearby objects by shooting a video.

Google's search engine is already a market leader, and the company claims that Lens is used for more than 20 billion visual queries per month.

"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 noted when announcing the newly released extension.

The company also stated that a future update will make the new Google Lens option accessible via a Lens icon in Chrome's address bar, similar to the Lens experience available on the desktop version of the browser. The new Lens feature began rolling out globally this week on both Chrome and the Google app for iOS.

Google is also increasing AI Overviews to display more frequently in Lens results, eliminating the need to add a query to your visual search. For example, when you tap the camera icon in the Search bar to take a shot with Lens, an AI Overview will appear, describing what you're looking at and providing links to resources.

The AI Overviews update is now available to English-language users in supported regions via the Google app for Android and iOS, and it will soon be available on Chrome for desktop and mobile devices. Hopefully, it won't require you to attach cheese to your pizza anymore.