Google Search on mobile now works by drawing circles but not for everyone: all the details

Google is trying new ways for people to find content on the Internet, and mobile is an obvious target. The company is bringing AI-based features to its premium devices and Samsung is also getting a taste of these additional features in a unique way.

Search is now available on mobile and doesn’t require you to actually click on the search to get details. All you have to do is draw a circle on any image to get details about a product or an item from the internet. That’s right, Google is calling it circle to search, and you can just circle to search, simple. If you get a Samsung phone, you can do this drawing using the S Pen that comes with the Galaxy S24 Ultra model. In addition to circling, you can also highlight text, or write over the items you want to find.

Google introduced Lens to bring interactive search features to mobile and eventually the web. But with the cycle of discovery ongoing, and with all the focus on AI, this seems like the next potential evolution for search, at least in the short term unless something spectacular comes along.

Even with Lens, you have to first click on a screenshot and then enter it into the search for results. With Circle to Search you just have to long press the Home button to activate the feature and then mark the object or image to let Google’s AI render do the work.

But as we said earlier, Google’s new way of searching is limited to the Google Pixel 8 Pro and Galaxy S24 models when it releases on January 31. As for other premium Android phones, they are likely to be available later this year. We’re eager to try out this feature, which will be updated to the Google app for Android and iOS users, but only for US users.