These Android phones have Google’s Circle to Search feature

Circle to Search has started rolling out to more devices, bringing a new way to run what’s on your screen through a Google Search. Here are the devices that can currently run Circle to Search.

What is Circle to Search?

Circle to Search is a catchy term for a specialized function of Google Lens. It essentially allows you to access Google Search through a temporary screen capture. From there, you can circle and highlight objects in the screen capture, sending them through a reverse image search.

Since launch, Google has added other unique features to the tool. Circle to Search can now be prompted to listen for music playing in the background, much like a song search on your Pixel’s lock screen. Translations are also available for anything on screen. They work much in the same way Google Translate can alter images to convert text to your native language.

The new functionality is pretty powerful and has proven to be a useful addition to Android. It’s accessed by holding the home or gesture navigation bar down until the screen lights up. From there, you’ll be able to highlight objects on the screen.

The feature first debuted on Samsung’s Galaxy S24 series in early 2024. From there, it quickly rolled out to the Pixel 8 lineup and has since trickled down to other Pixel and Galaxy generations.

These Android phones have Circle to Search

The Galaxy S24 series and the Pixel 8 lineup both have Circle to Search since they essentially introduced the functionality. A couple of months later, other device started to get the feature, which ropes in a ton of other users across several generations of Pixels and Galaxy phones.

Below are the devices that can currently utilize Circle to Search or will in a short period of time.

Circle to Search is making its way to a lot of Galaxy devices through One UI 6.1, which brings other features like Chat Assist, Generative Edit, and AI wallpapers. Beyond Samsung, other brands like Honor and Xiaomi are beginning to incorporate the feature. What was originally a Pixel and Samsung exclusive is becoming an Android-wide feature, and that’s more than welcome.

Circle to Search isn’t even half of a year into existence, and it’s already reached a healthy few devices. In the future, we’d expect to see it make its way to more OEMs like OnePlus or Nothing, so long as they continue to incorporate AI-focused hardware. Additionally, it’s reasonable to expect new Pixel and Galaxy phones will come with Circle to Search already on board.

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