Google has been experimenting with ways to search on smartphones since the dawn of Android and the latest attempt involves drawing circles. Circle to Search allows users to draw a circle around information on their device screen to search for the highlighted item. While the feature is officially called Circle to Search, you can also highlight text and scribble on items instead of drawing oval shapes to trigger the new search option.
Circle to Search works anywhere on your device but you’ll have to long press the home button or the navigation bar for those using gestures to activate the feature before you start circling items. Google is advertising this feature as more convenient alternative to switching between various apps like screenshotting items and then using Google Lens.
Circle to Search uses Google’s AI-powered multisearch feature that’s built-in Google Lens and debuted back in 2022. Multisearch supports multimodal search queries so you can use both text and images and alter the search parameters inside the Google app. You can now ask more nuanced questions covering concepts, ideas or topics. Google will provide neatly summarized answers directly in the answer box without needing to scroll through pages of information.
Circle to Search is launching globally on January 31 and it will be exclusive to the Pixel 8 series and the new Samsung Galaxy S24 trio at launch. The feature is expected to come to more “premium Android smartphones” later this year. The updated multisearch functionality inside the Google App is rolling out to both Android and iOS users in the US.
