Summary

  • The Circle to Search feature on Android phones allows users to draw a circle around anything on the screen and look it up without much effort.
  • The new AI Overview chips in Circle to Search allow users to summarize, explain, or extract text from images from the Search screen itself.
  • Currently, you need to be on the latest beta version of the Google app for Android to see these new chips in AI Overviews.

Circle to Search is one of the best features Google has added to Android phones in recent years. It lets you quickly draw a circle around anything on your screen to look it up with a swift, natural gesture. And when paired with AI Overviews — Google Search’s controversially handy AI summary tool — it unlocks even more ways to interact with on-screen content. That’s exactly what’s happening now, as Circle to Search is adding new options for working with text using AI Overviews.

A Samsung Galaxy S24 running Circle to Search.


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Over the past week, Google has rolled out several AI-focused updates to Search and its mobile app. AI Mode is now available to free users, meaning you no longer need a Google One AI Premium subscription for it. Google is also refining how users access AI Overviews in the Google app, and for the first time, it’s bringing AI Overviews to European markets, where the feature has been absent until now. This new, deeper integration between Circle to Search and AI Overviews seems to be part of this broader rollout.

Circling a text-heavy image with the beta version of the Google app installed will show three new AI Overview chips in the Search widget, according to Android Authority. As shown in the demo video below, these additional options will let you summarize, explain, or extract text from the image.

As the names suggest, these chips perform some of the most basic generative AI functions around text. But they’re still incredibly useful, cutting down on extra steps and taps. If you need a piece of text explained, you no longer have to copy it into a separate AI app — just use Circle to Search and get an instant explanation without ever leaving your screen. Google Lens may also support these features, but that hasn’t been confirmed yet.

How to use the new Circle to Search features

The new AI Overview chips only appear if you have the Google app v16.11.36 (beta) installed on your phone. Google is enabling these features via server-side flags, so you can get access to these tools if you install the beta and try circling something with a lot of text. Maybe — just maybe — this is the beginning of AI Overviews finally sucking less, because they still kinda do.