Search your screen with Circle to Search

Important: This feature is available on select models of Android phones.

Circle, highlight, scribble, or tap text or images anywhere on your screen to select and search for them on Google.

How to use Circle to Search

To search for text, images, or videos on your screen:

Start Circle to Search:
- On 3-button navigation mode, long press the Home button.
- On Gesture navigation mode, long press the navigation handle.
Circle, highlight, or tap anywhere on the screen to select the text, image, or video you want to search.
If desired, you can refine your search, by adding text in the search bar.
Your search results appear at the bottom of the screen.
- To see more results, swipe up on the results.

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.

You can get AI-powered overviews with Circle to Search based on your text or multisearch queries. Learn more about multisearch.

If you’re in the United States:
- AI-powered overviews are available by default on multisearch queries.
- To enable AI-powered overviews for text queries, you need to opt in to Search Generative Experience (SGE) in Search Labs. Learn about Generative AI-powered overviews.
If you’re outside the United States:
- To enable AI-powered overviews for text and multisearch queries, you need to opt in to Search Generative Experience (SGE) in Search Labs. Learn about Generative AI-powered overviews.

To use Circle to Search on a supported Android device, make sure your permissions settings are correct:

On your Android phone, go to Settings .
Search for Digital assistant app.
Tap Digital assistant app.
Make sure that:
- Default digital assistant is set to Google.
- “Use screenshot” is turned on.

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