Google Lens is the original tool that gives your phone’s camera super vision, letting it “see” whatever you’re seeing. But it’s evolved well beyond identifying objects. It now handles real-time translation, lets you have live AI conversations about whatever’s in front of you, and — in a newer trick you might have missed — can “grab” text from the real world and beam it straight to your computer.
Here are the Google Lens features you’re probably not using.
First, get Google Lens
You can download Google Lens from the Play Store to any Android device for free, or you might already have it installed. On iOS, there’s no dedicated Lens app, but you can access all the features of Lens through the iOS Google app and by pressing the camera icon to the right of the search field.
Real-time translation is better than ever
Your perfect travel companion
If you do any travel and don’t speak the native language, you can use Google Lens to translate in real time into your language of choice. This is perfect for street signs, menus, or anything you need to read. However, you’ll need to use it online, but you can build offline translation tools.
To do this, tap the Translate tab on the bottom of Google Lens, then pick the starting language at the top of the screen (or just leave it on auto-detect) then pick the language you want to translate into (there are dozens to choose from, and some have a little download arrow and require additional files to be downloaded, which you might want to do before you actually need to use it), then you just point your camera at any text, and it’ll get translated in real time, as if you are wearing “translation goggles”.
The next feature lets you take any text you see in the real world and transfer it to your PC.
Copy text from the real world
And now you can beam it right to your computer within Chrome
This is an incredibly useful thing to do with Lens, and it works across devices that are using Chrome on the same account.
You can point Google Lens at any text, whether a page in a textbook, or a concert poster, or a business card, and you can “beam” the converted text to your PC’s clipboard. This works on both Mac and PC, and frankly it feels a bit like magic, like cross-device clipboard tools we’ve written about.
To use the Copy to Computer feature in Lens, just point Google Lens at any text > take the picture > tap Select Text > tap the three dots > tap Copy to Computer. Lens will then pull up a list of any active computer that is signed into Chrome (in my case, Lens found both of my MacBooks and my Lenovo PC). Pick the PC you want to beam the text to, and within seconds, the copied text is on your PC’s clipboard. The PCs don’t even have to be on the same Wi-Fi network for this to work in my testing.
The next thing you can use Lens for is to identify anything you see.
Identify things you can’t name
A plant, artwork, or a shirt you like
Maybe you come across a really nice plant you can’t identify, or perhaps you spot a piece of art you’d like to have in your home, or maybe you found the perfect tie or purse or shoe, and you want to know where to buy it. Google Lens is amazing at identifying what you point the camera at, and in a lot of cases, can even show you where to buy the item.
To do this, just use the default mode in Lens, which is Search and point your camera at anything, and take a picture. From there you’ll get Google search results in a page along the bottom of the screen you can slide up to make full screen.
Also from that same interface, you get an AI Overview, a space to “ask about this image” using Gemini, and below that you’ll see visual matches, which in a lot of cases will bring up any stores that sell the item in question.
I tested this by taking a photo of an old floral canvas print I bought years ago to see if I could find it again. Using Google Lens, it showed me the exact print from both Amazon and Bed Bath & Beyond, where I could proceed to purchase the item again if needed.
Then I tried using Google Lens on a bunch of different things: a t-shirt, a plant, a Nintendo Switch controller, a belt, a car, and more, and each time, Lens identified the item and brought up a Google page that let me buy the item, ask questions about it with AI, or just learn more about whatever I was seeing.
Another thing you can do with Google Lens is have a conversation with Gemini based on what you see.
Have a live conversation about what you’re looking at
Search Live keeps your camera feed active
Using the Live mode in Google Lens you can have a real-time chat with AI about whatever you’re looking at. This is incredibly useful if you’re trying to fix something, and it’s like having a maintenance person in your house.
For example, I used it recently to help fix a loose shower knob. I needed help figuring out how to remove the knob so I could tighten it up, so I pointed Google Lens as the knob after selecting Live mode on the bottom tab, and began asking “how do I remove this knob?” and the app proceeded to explain that I first had to remove the screw cover and then remove the screw. Neat!
Google Lens is like having super vision
Whether you’re traveling, trying to identify whatever you’re seeing, or you’re just trying to copy text from the real world to your computer, Google Lens is an indispensable tool that has only continued to improve over time and is more capable than ever now going on its tenth year.
