Circle to Search seems to be broken on the Galaxy S24 Ultra for some

The Galaxy S24 Ultra was one of the first devices to debut Circle to Search at launch, but now the feature seems to be broken for a handful of users.

Circle to Search is a new tool that shifts how users are meant to interact with image and text search on Android. Before the tool, the general way to quickly search for something was to type in the Search bar that sat at the bottom of your Pixel or somewhere on your phone. You could user Google Lens from this shortcut to alternatively search for items via a picture.

Circle to Search reduces the effort it took with the previous shortcut by having users tap and hold on the gesture navigation bar at the bottom of the screen. Once active, you’ll be able to draw over the screen and circle items to then search them, hence the straightforward feature name.

For some reason, Circle to Search is reportedly broken for some users on the Galaxy S24 Ultra. When activating the tool, a user noted that the Galaxy S24 Ultra reads, “It looks like there aren’t many great matches for your search” (via SamMobile). It was noted that the phone was then reset, which temporarily fixed the issue. Later, the error message came back.

Another commenter noted that they had the same issue, and reverting to a previous version of the Google app – which runs Circle to Search – fixed the issue. With that, it seems like the newest version of the Google app is causing Circle to Search to break down.

We tried running Circle to Search on both a Galaxy S24 Ultra and Galaxy S24+, with both phones utilizing the feature with no issues. Even after an update to the Google app on the S24 Ultra, Circle to Search continued to work as normal.

The new Circle to Search tool came into existence on Galaxy phones first. Specifically, it debuted with the Galaxy S24 lineup when it launched in January. With that, the brand-new Galaxy phones were equipped to help users search for anything on the screen, which is more handy than some might think. In a way, Circle to Search’s growing pains on the S24 Ultra are ironic, though it’ll likely be addressed soon.