Summary
- Circle to Search streamlines Google’s search tools, but accidental triggers can be frustrating. Google is working on improvements.
- Circle to Search is designed for convenience, allowing easy access to features like visual search and OCR.
- Google also plans to add merge Lens and Search results for maximum efficiency in the future.
Convenience and ease of access make accessing Google search tools quite a frictionless experience. This is why we welcome the Google Search bar on the Pixel home screen, appreciate button shortcuts to launch Assistant, and more recently, Circle to Search. However, accidental triggers can be infuriating, and seem to be a rampant problem with Circle to Search. Google acknowledges the concerns and says improvements are in the pipeline.
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Google has spent many months actively developing Circle to Search, first introduced alongside the Samsung Galaxy S24 series earlier this year. The tool’s functionality shares several features with Google Lens, but instead of taking a screenshot and using it to query Lens, Circle to Search is easier to launch — you just long-press the gesture bar or home button on your device and encircle the region you want to search for.
It’s easy to see how switching between apps or performing other actions with the navigation bar could accidentally trigger the utility, though. The gesture bar is a wide touch target, but in the latest Made by Google podcast episode, the company said it still has work to do in this regard (via 9to5Google). The brand separately confirmed this to AP founder Artem Russakovskii as well.
Google also clarified that Circle to Search actually uses Lens components for most of the heavy lifting like visual search and OCR, the team said the end goal is to ensure the utility activates only when you’re deliberate about it.
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While activation concerns remain, the company has big plans for the feature, with additions like in-line translation and a potential merger of the Lens and Search results for maximum efficiency. The podcasters warned such additions could take many months to roll out, but also expressed happiness that people found more satisfaction in circling to search than just tapping the target in Lens. The team explained it has worked hard to get Circle to Search to the levels of accuracy it is at right now, and copying text seems to be another popular use case.
With more on the horizon and improved activation detection, Circle to Search is making on-screen search journeys more frictionless, on more devices. We remain curious to see how Google adds capabilities in the future.
