Google Photos for Android testing ‘Search’ option that enhances Lens, emphasizes faces

Kyle Bradshaw | Dec 5 2022 - 9:09 am PT

Google Photos app with a Material You redesign

The Google Photos app for Android is testing a new “Search” button when viewing photos, adding personal context and face recognition to Google Lens.

Given Google’s prowess at understanding and interpreting the content of images with Lens and the wealth of pictures that customers can store in Google Photos, it’s no surprise that the company has found useful overlaps between the two. It’s long been possible to tap a “Lens” button in Google Photos to switch to that other app to get more info about what’s in a particular photo.

As spotted by Android Police, Google Photos is testing a new feature to replace that direct Google Lens shortcut with a “Search” button that should be a little easier to understand. It combines the face recognition features of Google Photos — highlighting the faces of those who have been saved to your “People & pets” — with traditional Google Lens features like OCR text selection and identification of things like clothing and plants.

Having tried the feature on one of our own devices, it’s quite clear that Google Photos is not replacing Lens any time soon but simply enhancing it with its own features. Tapping one of the recognized faces leads to a Google Photos search of other photos with that person, and copying text from an image is able to happen within the Photos app too. However, tapping anything else in the photo will seamlessly switch you to the full Google Lens app.

Broadly speaking, it’s exciting to see Google continue to emphasize Lens as a leading way to search and learn more about the world around us. With help from your own image library, this new version of Lens in Google Photos should be able to give you both general information as well as a bit of personal context about a cherished picture.