Google Lens could soon let you “Circle to Search” from any screen

Google introduced its new Circle to Search feature earlier in January. The new search functionality first debuted on the Samsung Galaxy S24 series of flagships. Later, the company launched the same feature for the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro smartphones. Now, the search titan is planning to expand the availability of this feature to millions of other Android devices by the end of this year.

To offer Circle to Search functionality on more devices, Google is using Google Lens, which is already available for millions of other Android phones. The company plans to bring new updates to Google Lens to offer Circle to Search-related features. According to a recent APK teardown, Google Lens could soon become a true Circle to Search alternative for older Android devices.

Lens could soon let you use Circle to Search from any app or screen

Folks over at Android Authority have managed to trigger the Circle to Search feature within Google Lens functionality. In the past beta versions of the Google app, the source managed to trigger a popup within Google Lens. It mentions that you can “search your screen directly, Just hold the home button”.

It is quite similar to how the Circle to Search feature works on the Galaxy S24 series and Pixel 8 series devices. However, it appears that Google is all set to offer Circle to Search functionality to more Android users through Google Lens. Besides, it will soon let you search for content in videos and translate more easily using the Circle to Search feature.

The feature seems to be available only when using the three-button navigation mode

Furthermore, the report suggests that the Circle to Search feature within Lens is restricted to users using the three-button navigation mode. Pressing and holding the home button overrides the long press for triggering Google Assistant or Gemini.

As of now, it is not clear why Google is restricting the triggering of the feature to the three-button navigation mode. It’s worth mentioning that the Circle to Search feature within the existing app is very much a work in progress. So, there could be other methods to trigger this feature when Google officially takes the feature out of beta soon.