Google Assistant 'Search screen' with Lens starts appearing on Pixels
What you need to know
Google's promised "Search screen" feature involving Lens and Assistant starts appearing on Pixel devices in the Google app beta.
This feature lets users quickly search anything on their display (outside of the home screen) more consistently.
Google has stated users can use this feature on photos, videos, and more.
A Google Lens feature teased earlier this year has started to appear on Android devices. According to 9to5Google, "Search screen" through Lens has started appearing whenever a user pulls up the company's AI Assistant. However, this only appears to be happening on Pixel devices running version 14.31 of the Google app beta.
Through the publication's testing, pulling up the Assistant's panel more consistently displays a "Search screen" button, doing away with the current "Lens" option. This chip, if tapped, will take whatever is on a user's screen and run it through Google Lens for an internet search.
This feature is a better way of providing users with a more reliable and consistent way of quickly searching beyond uploading a screenshot to Lens. That said, in 9to5's testing, the feature did not appear on their home screen.
Additionally, it was found that users could take a screenshot of their display and run that through Lens as an alternative search feature.
We first heard about this inbound feature back in February as part of Google's visual search AI development. While the "Search screen" option functions when users are looking for new clothing or something found within an article, it'll also work well with Google Maps — likely due to its close relation with Lens.
Photos, videos, and more are said to be supported with this "Search screen" function.
During its teaser, Google stated it would roll out on all Android devices "globally in the coming months." It's still not quite as widespread now, considering it's only appearing for Pixel devices participating in the latest Google app beta. So, perhaps, this appearance is signifying its impending release.
Similarly, Google was busy packaging its AI Assistant into Maps recently for a better voice search experience. With the aid of its AI software, verbally searching for places on Maps has become faster, alongside some visual aid to ensure the Assistant heard you correctly.
Users are also able to tell the Assistant to help them navigate to a place as well as the ability to use Google's glanceable directions.
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