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What is Google Lens?
In order to use Google Lens, you simply point your phone at something and ask Google Assistant what the object is. In the instance of a flower, for example, you’ll not only get the answer, but also ideas based on the object itself.
The SSID label on the back of a Wi-Fi router, for example, may be photographed with Google Lens, and your phone will instantly join to the Wi-Fi network without further action on your part. It’s true, you no longer have to crawl under the cupboard to read out the password while you type it into your phone. Using Google Lens, it’s as simple as pointing and clicking.
A pop-up window will appear with information about the establishment’s location, including its name, address, and hours of operation. Impressive is the ability to recognise commonplace objects. As long as you direct the camera towards something, it will recognise your hand and give you the thumbs up emoji as an option.
Using a glass of white wine, we were able to test this feature. White wine was not one of the suggested alcoholic beverages, but it did provide a variety of others, allowing you to click on any of them to learn more about them, including how to prepare them. That demonstrates Lens’s speed and cleverness, but it’s not always accurate.
In addition, we’ve tried it out on a variety of garden plants and found it to be a valuable tool for discovering what’s growing.
What can Google Lens do?
Besides the features listed below and the scenarios described above, Google Lens also has the following features:
- Translate: You may point your phone at text and, with Google Translate installed, the content will be translated in real time right in front of your eyes. This is also possible to use without an internet connection.
- Smart Text Search: You can use your phone’s camera to point at text, then highlight that text within Google Lens and copy it to your phone for usage. Imagine being able to point your phone at a Wi-Fi password and being able to copy and paste it into a Wi-Fi login page, for example. When you highlight text in Google Lens, you may also search for that text using the Google search engine: You could find this useful if you need to look up the definition of a word, for example.
- Shopping: If you come across a dress that you like while shopping, Google Lens can detect that piece of apparel as well as related items of clothes. This works for almost any item you can think of, whether you’re accessing shopping or reading reviews.
- Google Questions: To be clear, you can simply scan the question and see what Google comes up with as a result of doing so.
- Search near you: If you point your camera in your immediate vicinity, Google Lens will detect and recognise your surroundings. That could include specifics on a landmark or specifics on different sorts of food – including recipes.
How to turn OFF Google Lens search, permanently?
Here is how you can disable Google Lens Search permanently:
1. Disable Lens Image Search With Chrome Flags
Google lens picture search is a Chrome function that was recently added to the browser. On Chrome for PC, you can easily disable it by going to the flags page. This is how you can go about it:
- In Chrome’s address bar, type chrome:/flags/#enable-lens-region-search.
- It will take you to the experiments page, with the phrase “Search your Screen with Google Lens” underlined in yellow.
- Select it from the drop-down option that appears. Select Disabled and restart Chrome.
- When you right-click an image and search for it, it will now use the old Google image search rather than Google Lens.
2. Using Search By Image Extension
Search By Image is a powerful addon that allows you to perform a reverse image search across multiple platforms. All you have to do is right-click on an image and select the desired search engine.
You may use it to combine Google Lens Search and the old Google Image Search in the right-click menu. It is possible to set it up in a few simple steps:
- Go to the Chrome Web Store and search for Search By Image.
- Click the Add to Chrome button. Then, to confirm, press Add Extension.
- Select Search by Image by right-clicking on any image.
- You can select Google to search with Google image search or the site you wish to search on from this menu.
- You can also search the image on all search engines at once by clicking All Search Engines.
- To search solely on Google, go to the extension settings and uncheck all other search engines except Google Images.
3. Use “Try it” to Use Old Reverse Image Search
Let’s imagine you don’t mind Google Lens but still want to be able to search on Google Images if the results don’t match what you were looking for. Google, on the other hand, permits you to retry searching for the image. Let’s have a look at where you might be able to discover that choice.
- Right-click an image and use the default Google Lens to search.
- Scroll down the result page. You should get a message that reads, “Didn’t find what you were looking for?” Retry with Google Images,” along with a Try it button.
- Click Try it again to re-search the image on Google Image Search.
It will perform a Google Images search on the image. You may also open images.google.com in a new tab and drag and drop images onto it to search Google.
4. Disable Lens Using Chrome Flags on Android
- The Chrome browser for Android, like the PC version, employs Google Lens to reverse search photos. Because there are no extensions to assist you on Android, we shall disable this feature using flags. The procedures are outlined below.
- In Chrome’s address bar, copy and paste chrome:/flags/#context-menu-translate-with-google-lens.
- If you don’t see this option, activate the #temporary-unexpire-flags-m95 and #temporary-unexpire-flags-m96 flags on the flags page.
- Select Disabled from the drop-down menu next to it.
- Restart Google Chrome on your phone.
When you search for images in Chrome, it will now use the default Google image search. Users of the iPhone and iPad do not need to utilise this method because Chrome for iOS still uses the old Image Search by default.
How to delete Google Lens permanently?
There are numerous reasons why you would want to remove Google Lens from your phone. It might be to free up storage space or because you’ve gotten tired of using the software.
Whatever the case may be, here’s how to remove Google Lens from an iPhone or Android device:
How to Delete Google Lens app from your Iphone?
If you wish to remove Google Lens from your iPhone, follow these steps:
Tap the Google Lens button on your home screen and hold until all apps begin to shake.
The app will display a “X” sign in the upper right corner.
On Google Lens, press the “X” button.
Tap the red erase button, and there you have it!
OR
Select “General” from your iPhone’s settings.
Now, select “Iphone Storage” and scroll down to get a list of all the apps installed on your phone.
Select the Google Lens app that you want to uninstall.
On the next page, click “Delete Google Lens” and confirm the deletion.
How to delete Google Lens from your Android phone
Here’s how to uninstall Google Lens from your Android device:
Go to Google Play.
Go to “My Apps & Games” from the hamburger menu icon.
Click Google Lens from the list of available apps on your smartphone.
Then, select “Uninstall.”
OR
Tap and hold the Google Lens app you wish to delete from your home screen or app drawer.
Click the “Uninstall” button at the bottom of the screen.
Alternatively, go to the settings menu on your Android phone.
Select ‘Apps.’
Choose the Google Lens app that you want to uninstall.
Select “Uninstall.”
How does Google Lens work?
If you want to use Google Lens right away, there is an Android app for that. There are a variety of other ways to use Google Lens, which we’ll go over in more depth below.
You can get the same Lens view in Google Assistant as you can in the Lens app by tapping the Lens icon in the Google Assistant.
Google Photos
Google Lens can detect buildings or landmarks, for example, and provide users with directions and hours of operation for them when they utilise Google Photos. It will be able to provide details on a well-known work of art, too. As far as we know, the Mona Lisa is either smiling or not.
The Google Lens icon appears at the bottom of the Google Photos window when you’re looking through your images. The scanning dots will show on your photo when you tap on the button, and Google will then provide suggestions.
Camera app
Google Lens has been integrated straight into the camera app on various Android devices. Depending on the manufacturer and user interface, it may be in the ‘More’ area.
On the iPhone
Google Lens can be downloaded from the Google app on your iPhone if you’d want to use it. Several Google services are included in this app because they are built into Android smartphones. Once you’ve loaded the app, you can navigate to the Google Lens area, provide permission for it to access your iPhone’s camera, and you’ll be able to use all of the functions described above.
