One of the most amazing features you have received Android so far this year is Circle to search. Created by Google and Samsung, was launched in January only for the latest top of the range of both companies. Since then, it has been expanded to more models of these brands, for which It will be exclusive until next September, when it can reach Android phones from other manufacturers. It is a function that many users would surely love to have. iPhone and it has been precisely Google, who has decided to address that interest by launching a shortcut for iOS that replicates it on Apple phones.
Circle to search is a feature that uses artificial intelligence and Google Lens to perform searches on what we are seeing on the screen. For example, being on a web page, on a social network or in a messaging app, you can circle an object in an image or text with your finger, the AI identifies it and launches a search for it without having to leave the app, since the information is overlaid at the bottom of the screen. In this section, the user can also ask specific questions about what you are seeing that the AI will respond.
The shortcut, which has been announced Minsang Choidesign manager at Google Lens, in X is designed to take advantage of the new action button of Apple's last two top of the range, iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max. When activated, the shortcut takes a screenshot and immediately sends it to Google Lens which proceeds to scan it. 'It's basically Surround to search, but faster', says Choi in his publication. Both Circle to Search and Google's new shortcut, Search Screenshot, share the same search and OCR (optical character recognition) technology.
Despite being designed for the action button of Apple's latest top of the range, 9to5Mac provides a method to Also use it on iPhone 6S and later models that have the latest version of iOS installed. In this case, taking advantage of the accessibility feature Back touch. This allows you to link the action of tapping two or three times on the back of the iPhone to different system functions, including running an iOS shortcut.
In order to use this shortcut, it is necessary have the Google app installed on the iPhonewhich integrates Lens, and activated the Search shortcut in the screenshot.