Google Search is quite useful when you know the name of what you’re searching for. But what if you don’t know it - like names of buildings, flowers, or any object? That’s where Google Lens comes in! With your phone’s camera, you can get plenty of info about things near you. And if you’re yet to get your hands on this pretty feature, we’ll guide you on how to get Google Lens on any phone – including your phone – in this article.
Though it was a "Pixel-exclusive" feature when it launched in 2017, you can get Google Lens literarily on any smartphone today, including Androids and iPhones. More so, Google Lens has been integrated into many apps like Photos, Chrome, Assistant, Camera app, Google Images, and others to make it more accessible.
What can you do with Google Lens?
What we said right above - about pointing your camera to an object to get more info about it – is just the tip of the iceberg to what you can do with Google Lens.
It offers a wide range of features such as copying texts from photos, scanning QR codes, saving contact details from a business card, getting historical facts about places o buildings, learning of breeds and species of an animal, and many more.
For instance, Google Lens can help you connect to a Wi-Fi network by scanning its QR code or password from the router's sticker. That solves the problem of imputing passwords manually or even missing them several times in case of an incorrect password.
One of the striking features of Google Lens also includes its Smart Text Selection. Think of digitizing texts on paper? You can do it straight away with Google Lens. Just point your phone’s camera at the text, or choose an existing picture from your gallery, then highlight and copy the text.
Besides copying the text to your phone, Google Lens can also read it aloud, translate it, copy it to your computer, or search it on Google.
And the same approach goes for other functions. You’ll get different Lens functions based on the context of the item you scanned.
Top features of Google Lens
- Save contact address from a business card.
- Scan a book cover to get reviews, summaries, and more info about it.
- Add an event to your calendar from flier, billboard, or anything that contains dates.
- Get historical facts, open hours, and more info about buildings, bars, and different locations.
- Scan goods, items to shop for, or get similar products for them online.
- scan texts from the real world, and many more
How to get Google Lens on any phone
If you use Android, then you’ll find Google Lens anywhere on your phone. You can access this nifty tool from your phone’s Camera app, Google app, Photos, Lens app, Assistant, Chrome, or anywhere. But before that, ensure you have the latest Google app. With that, you can access Google Lens anywhere, even without the Lens app.
And, if you’re an iPhone user, you need to install the official Google app to have access to Lens on your device. Here’s how to get Google Lens on any phone!
1. Camera App
Perhaps the fastest way to use Google Lens is via the Camera app on your phone. Now that Google Lens has expanded to many phones, many phone manufacturers are now integrating it into their camera app. This makes it faster and more organized to do whatever you want to do with Google Lens.
However, not all Android phones have this tool integrated into their Camera apps. But if it's available on yours, you're better off using it there since it offers the same functionality as the Google Lens app. Here’s how to check:
- Open your phone’s Camera
- Find the Lens icon on the camera interface. You might need to open the “More” section on some devices.
- If you find it there, then you’re lucky. If not, move to the next method.
2. Google Lens App
If they did not integrate the feature into your Camera app, get the Google Lens standalone app from the Play Store. It also takes the same approach as what you get on your camera app.
One benefit of the standalone Google Lens app is that you can share an image with it from anywhere. That could be useful in a scenario where you need to visit a link printed on an image on WhatsApp, for instance.
Once downloaded, you’ll see the Lens app in your app drawer. Tap it and follow these steps to make use of it.
- Open the Lens app after installing it, then grant Camera permissions.
- Next, point your camera at an object you want to know.
- Then, tap it on the viewfinder to know more about the object.
And, if you don’t have access to the Play Store, you can grab the Google Lens APK file from APK Mirror and install it manually.
3. Via Google Assistant
You can also use Lens to find information about objects near you via your Google Assistant. If you’re familiar with Google Assistant already, then all you need to do is call her and tap the Google Lens button at the lower-right corner. Here’s how:
- Open the
- Find and tap the Lens icon below the screen.
- Point your camera at an object, then tap to know more about it.
4. Google Photos
If you want to find more info about an existing picture on your phone, then you can access Google Lens available in the Photos app. It's just in the same manner. The lens can identify buildings, copy texts, scan QR codes, or anything according to the context of the image.
To use Lens via Google Photos, follow these steps.
- Open the Google Photos
- Locate and open the image you want to scan.
- Tap the Lens icon below the screen.
- Alternatively, Google Lens might suggest what to scan on the image based on its context. For example, you might see "Copy text from image" below the picture.
5. Chrome Browser
If you come across an object (image) while surfing the web on Chrome, you can easily find more info about it using Google Lens. And you don't need to take a screenshot of it or send it anywhere. You can scan the image right away using the Google Lens Chrome feature.
Here’s how:
- Find an object (image) you want to explore on Google Chrome.
- Long-press the
- Tap Search with Google Lens.
- You’ll be redirected to Google Lens where you can find more info about the image.
6. Image Search
You can also get Google Lens on any phone with image search. This is accessible by going to images.google.com on mobile/tablet browser or via the Images tab on Google search. If you're searching for an image on Google, Lens can come in handy to help you get items similar to the picture, or basically, do anything Lens can do with it.
Here’s how to get Google Lens on any phone with Image search:
- Visit google.com on a mobile browser, or tap the Images tab on Google Search
- Now, search for an image, then tap an image from the search result.
- Next, tap the Google Lens icon at the top right of the image.
- Tap a part of the image to see a similar result.
How to get Google Lens on an iPhone
Google Lens is not limited to Android users. You can also enjoy it on your iPhone. To do that, you'll need to download the Google or Photos app on your iPhone. Just like on Android, the Photos app lets you scan and interact with an existing image on your iPhone, while the Google app gives you a live view of Google Lens from your iPhone’s camera.
