Google Lens Gets Smarter on iPhones—Here’s What’s New

Google is making it even easier to search what you see on your iPhone. Google Lens, its visual search tool used over 20 billion times a month, is getting two major upgrades: a new way to search directly from your screen and smarter AI-powered results.

If you use Chrome or the Google app on iOS, you’ll now be able to search anything on your screen without taking a screenshot or opening a new tab. Just tap the three-dot menu and select “Search Screen with Google Lens.” You can see the result in the screenshot above.

In the coming months, a Lens icon will also be added to the address bar in Chrome to make searching even faster.

Below is Google Lens in the Google app for iOS, which has the same feature and process juyst like Chrome for iOS. Check it out below:

Another big update is that AI Overviews are coming to Lens results. Previously, Lens could identify things like plants, landmarks, or products by matching them with images from the web. Now, Google’s advanced AI models will provide deeper explanations for unique images.

Below, Google Lens is able to give an AI overview that identifies a car hood “forged with carbon vinyl wrap”, which is pretty impressive:

All you need to do here is snap a photo with Lens, and AI will give you a detailed summary along with links to helpful resources.

Google told iPhone in Canada these updates start rolling out this week for English-language users in countries where AI-overviews are currently available. The Google app for Android and iOS will get this update first, then Chrome on desktop and mobile devices will see them “coming soon”.