Circle to Search on your Pixel phone or tablet

Important: This feature is currently available for Pixel 6 and later including Pixel Fold and Pixel Tablet.

You can search anything you find on your Pixel phone or tablet with Google without the need to switch to another app.

The Circle to Search feature is available on Android:

Provides easy access to Search.
Allows you to search anything on your screen with a gesture, such as circle, tap, scribble, or highlight.

Tip: This feature doesn’t work on certain apps, like banking and other confidential apps.

Search content with Circle to Search

To search without the need to switch apps:

Start Circle to Search:
1. On 3-button navigation mode, long press the Home button.
2. On Gesture navigation mode, long press the navigation bar.
The Google Search bar and a gradient appears.
Circle, highlight, scribble, or tap the part of the image or text you want to search.
For more accuracy, use your two fingers to zoom or move around your screen before you circle.
When you’re done and want to return to your original app context, swipe down, use the back gesture, or tap X on the top left.

Tips:

To adjust your selection, drag the borders of the selection or the entire selection.
To interact with content blocked by the Search Bar, two finger pan to move the window or drag the Search Bar to the top or bottom of the screen.
To translate your entire screen instantly, next to the search bar, tap on the translate button.

On 3-button navigation mode:

On Gesture navigation mode:

To use Circle to Search, make sure your permission settings are correct:

Open your device's Settings app .
Search for Digital assistant app.
Tap Digital assistant app.
Make sure that:
- Default digital assistant app is set to Google.
- “Use screenshot” is turned on.

You can use multisearch to further refine your query. Just circle, highlight, scribble, or tap an image and then type your additional query in the search bar, where “Add to your search” text appears. Learn more about multisearch.
You can get AI Overviews with Circle to Search based on your text or multisearch queries.
- If you’re in the United States:
  - AI Overviews are available by default on multisearch queries.
  - To enable AI Overviews for text queries, you need to opt in to "AI Overviews and more" in Search Labs. Learn more about "AI Overviews and more".
- If you’re outside the United States:
  - To enable AI Overviews for text and multisearch queries, you need to opt in to "AI Overviews and more" in Search Labs. Learn more about "AI Overviews and more".