Identify plants and animals with your mobile phone

Search for images, translate texts, do homework, discover sights: you can do all of this with a practical function in Google that you can use on your smartphone. We’ll show you how easy it is and what Google Lens can do.

What is Google Lens and what features does it offer?

Google Lens is Google’s free image recognition software for smartphones. It is available for both Android and iOS and offers impressive features. It can:

• Recognize animals and plants, but also objects and texts
• Translate texts directly into other languages, even from screenshots
• Automatically save contact details from business cards
• Open book reviews or view interesting facts about sights

Activate Google Lens on Android – step by step

Enabling Google Lens on Android devices is easy and just requires the latest Google app and Android 6.0 or higher. Many Android smartphones come with it pre-installed. If yours doesn’t, you can find the app in the Google Play Store .

1. Open Google Lens.
2. If you are using the app for the first time, you may need to grant access to the camera to unlock all features.
3. Google Lens immediately offers you to take a photo with the camera and search for it. Point your smartphone at the plant, animal or object you want to search for and press the shutter button to start the search. Google Lens will then suggest a series of results.
4. Instead of taking a new photo, you can also search for an existing screenshot or photo. The selection is displayed directly below the search; you may need to scroll down a bit. All you need to do is tap on the desired image and the app will start the search.
5. The app shows you the result of your query or further information about the recognized image content.

In addition to searching for photos, you can select other categories:

• Translate : Take a photo of the words you want to translate.
• Text : Here you can, for example, take a photo of a picture or a sign to copy the words that are written there.
• Homework : For example, take photos of math problems to look for the answer.
• Shopping : Here you can photograph products or barcodes and search for where to buy them.
• Places : Discover more about nearby attractions or restaurants.

Use Google Lens on Android with Google Photos

For some Android smartphones, you can also use Google Lens via the Google Photos app or Google Assistant. Follow these steps:

1. Install and open the Google Photos app.
2. Select the image you want to analyze.
3. Tap the Google Lens icon in the menu bar.
4. The app analyzes your image and provides the relevant information.

Activate Google Lens on iOS – step by step

There is no standalone Google Lens app for iOS, but iPhone and iPad users can easily use the feature via the Google app. Here’s how to do it:

1. Install and open the Google app.
2. Select the image you want to analyze.
3. Tap the Google Lens icon in the search bar.
4. Google Lens analyzes your image and provides additional information depending on the option you choose.

If you have the Google app installed, you can also access the Google Lens feature directly in Apple ‘s Photos app :

1. To do this, select a photo and tap the “Send to” arrow at the bottom left.
2. Scroll down to the last entry “Edit Actions”.
3. Under “More options,” slide the “Search with Google Lens” slider to the right so that it turns green.
4. Now you can search for a photo directly with Google Lens by tapping “Search with Google Lens” after “Send to”. To find the function at the top of the list, you can add it to your favorites. You can also do this via the “Edit actions” entry.

Note on the accuracy of Google Lens plants and animals

Please note that Google Lens’ translation feature may occasionally produce inaccurate results, similar to autocorrect errors. It is advisable to double-check the results if precision is important.

If Google Lens is not working as expected, we recommend the following steps:

1. Update the Google Lens and Google apps to the latest version.
2. Make sure your Android device is running at least Android 6.0 or higher.
3. If the problem persists, clear the cache of the Google Lens and Google Photos apps.