Region selection in Lens

You can use Lens on any part of an image with region selection.

Important: This update is available only for Android and iOS.

In Google Lens, you can now:

• Select text.
• Select an area within the image.
• Manually click Select Text button and translate the selected text in the Translate  option.
• Solve a problem using the Homework  option.

Select Text

1. On your Android device, open the Google app .
2. In the search bar, tap Google Lens .
3. Under “Search with your camera,” tap Search .
4. Take or upload a photo for your search:
   • To take a photo: Point to an object with your camera and tap Shutter .
   • To upload a photo: Under “Screenshots,” choose a photo.
5. To find the “Select text” button, tap the text or drag the corners of your region box over the text.
6. Tap Select text, you’ll find a menu around the text where you can perform additional actions like:
   • Copy
   • Listen
   • Translate
   • Search
   • Copy and paste a text
   • Send an email if the email address is selected
   • Add to contacts if the phone number or email is selected
   • Call if the phone number is selected
   • Text if the phone number is selected
   • Maps if the address is selected
   • Open a website if the link is selected
   • Track a shipment if a package number is selected

Tip: When Listen is selected, Stop is shown until the text selection is finished being read aloud, or until the user selects stop, at which point the original menu is shown again.

Select an area within an image

1. Select the area you want to use for your search:
   • To search part of an image, tap the image, then drag the corners of the region search around your selection.
   • You can also drag the box around by tapping and holding on the middle of the box.

Translate Text

1. On your Android device, open the Google app .
2. In the search bar, tap Google Lens .
3. Under “Search with your camera,” tap Translate .
   • To take a photo: Point to an object with your camera and take a photo of words you want to translate.
   • To upload a photo: Under “Screenshots” or “All images”, choose a photo and select the words you want to translate.
4. Choose the language input and output in the language dropdown. You can also use the language picker to select your preferred language.
   • On the left side part, the language picker will detect the language in the selected word.
   • On the right side, select the language you want the words to be translated to.

Text selection in Translate includes:

• Image search
• Homework
• Translate all texts
• Translate partial texts

Get help with Homework

1. On your Android device, open the Google app .
2. In the search bar, tap Google Lens .
3. Under “Search with your camera,” tap Homework .
   • To take a photo: Point to an object with your camera and take a photo of a homework question.
   • To upload a photo: Under “Screenshots” or “All images”, choose a photo and select the homework question.

You can use the Homework feature to get help on homework. These include:

• Math and science problems.
• Word problems.
• Geometry problems.
• Diagram problems

Other tips & tricks

• Change app permission on your Android phone.
• Ensure that you use a clear and well-lit image.

 

Related resources

• Search for images on Google
• Search with an image on Google