How To Set Up & Use Google Lens On An iPhone

Google Lens is a fun and useful tool that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to identify things through a smartphone camera and offer relevant actions to the user. The Google Lens app is available exclusively for Android phones, but there are other ways for iPhone users to access Google Lens. In fact, its functionality is built into the Google app and the Google Photos app for iOS.

Launched in 2017, Google Lens can analyze objects or words in a picture, providing Google Search results from the web, image results, or suggested next steps. For example, users can hold their camera up to an outfit and Google Lens will pull up similar items in Google search results. It can also translate text, including handwritten notes, and transfer that information to a computer. It can even help someone with their math homework by offering solutions for confusing equations that it is focused on.

To use Google Lens on an iPhone, users download the Google app and/or the Google Photos app. Both are available in the App Store for free. The Google Photos app allows users to train Lens on photos that a user has just taken or that they’ve had in their gallery for a long time, while the Google app offers the ability to focus Lens on items and find out information about them in real-time. Lens also works with Google Image search. Simply visit images.google.com in a smartphone web browser.

Using Google Lens On An iPhone

In the Google Photos app, users should first tap on the photo they want to learn more about. Then tap on the Google Lens icon at the bottom of the screen. Or in the Google app, simply Google Lens icon located in the search bar. Users may have to grant access to the camera. Users can point their phone at a nearby building or location to learn more about it, such as its history or business hours. Taking a picture of a business card with Google Lens will allow the information to be added to a user’s contacts. Lens can also be helpful when choosing what to eat at a restaurant, allowing users to translate a menu or take a picture of the menu and discover information and reviews about various dishes.

Book lovers, meanwhile, can take a picture of a book to unearth information about where to buy the book, its author, and other books by that author. It can even help users find more affordable options while shopping. If a user likes the look of a bag or a shirt but can’t afford that particular brand, for example, they can take a picture of that product to find similar but more affordable products or scan the barcode to find the same product elsewhere.

The Google Lens feature offered in these ways gives iPhone users the chance to take advantage of a unique Android product. Google Lens can be helpful for users who may struggle with typing or spelling, or users who simply prefer using a visual medium. Plus, it’s fun and easy, not to mention convenient to quickly snap a picture and get search results from there.

Sources: Google 1, 2

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