Google Lens Updated to Directly Open the Camera Viewfinder When Opened: Report

Google Lens has reportedly received an update that changes how the app functions when it is launched. Currently, searching via the camera tool is a two-step process — opening the app first reveals a preview screen, and then tapping the space with the viewfinder opens the camera. With the latest update, the Mountain View-based tech giant has now simplified the Google Lens UI so that it directly opens the camera instead. This development comes just days after a report claimed that the tech giant redesigned Circle to Search to improve and simplify its interface.

How Google Lens is Making it Easier to Perform Visual Lookups

According to a 9to5Google report, the tech giant is now simplifying how users can access the camera functionality on Google Lens. The change was spotted by the publication in the Google for Android app version 16.0.7 as well as the latest version of the iOS app. However, it appears that the new feature has not rolled out widely, and Gadgets 360 staff members were not able to verify its presence.

Currently, when a user taps on the Google Lens app, it opens a full-screen interface with a split view. The upper section of the screen is occupied by a preview or viewfinder, which shows the camera behind a translucent layer. Meanwhile, the bottom two-thirds of the screen shows the local gallery of the device and the top six recent images.

With the existing UI, the user has to tap on the circular viewfinder to access Google Lens' camera and capture a photo to run a web search on it. While not overly complicated, the process still requires interacting with the app twice before the user can even reach the camera interface.

This can be frustrating in scenarios where one wants to capture a moving target or something that appears only briefly (think a roadside sign while riding in a car).

The new update reportedly changes this behaviour and directly opens the camera interface when launching the app. This small tweak will make it easier for users to quickly snap an image and run a search on it.

In case a user wants to search for an image already in their gallery, they can always tap the gallery icon present in the bottom right corner next to the search icon. However, this now makes running a web search on gallery images a two-step process.