New Google Lens with filters rolling out to all Android, iOS users this week

Abner Li | May 28 2019 - 1:26 pm PT

The Google Lens features announced at I/O 2019 began rolling out last Tuesday on Android. Later this week, the new Google Lens with filters for Dining and Translate will officially be available for all Android and iOS users.

The new Google Lens filters are accompanied by a slight redesign of the camera UI. At the bottom of the screen is a carousel of five modes, with Auto serving as the default view. It’s joined by the existing Shopping and Text functionality, as well as the new Dining and Translate capabilities announced at I/O.

Translate: Point your camera at text and Lens will automatically detect the language and overlay the translation right on top of the original words, in more than 100 languages.
Text: Text is all around us. Copy and paste text from the real world—like recipes, gift card codes, or Wi-Fi passwords—to your phone.
Auto: Lens will automatically provide relevant results based on what you are pointing your camera at.

Shopping: Point your camera at clothes, furniture, or home decor to see similar items you can choose from. Or use Lens to scan a barcode to see that exact item.
Dining: Lens can automatically highlight which dishes are popular—right on the physical menu. When you tap on a dish, you can see what it actually looks like and what people are saying about it, thanks to photos and reviews from Google Maps. And when you’re done with your meal, just point the camera at your receipt, and Lens can help calculate the tip and split the bill.

ARCore is required on Android, with Google today noting how users have “asked” Lens more than a billion questions. At I/O, Google also introduced a new, more rounded icon for the visual assistant, as well as the ability to focus a search by cropping an image.

On Android, Google Lens is available in Assistant, Photos, and several first-party camera apps. iOS users can also access it through Photos and the Google app. According to Google, it will begin rolling out to all those surfaces starting today and will be fully available later this week.