Appofficial publisher

Google Lens

App : A product you use directly

Visual search: objects, plants, translation, text, maths.

The best free tool for identifying and translating by image.

Official site Docs

Overall score

7.4 /10

Security: one caveat, see the card

Utility

8.0

Reliability

5.0

Security

One caveat

Ease

1 click · Beginner

Security reflects where data goes, requested permissions and incidents on record at the verification date. It is not a guarantee of zero risk: check the deployment mode and the connections you enable.

What it does, concretely

When you come across an object, a plant, a text in an unknown language or a maths problem and cannot find the words to search for it, Google Lens solves that by letting you search from a photo or a live camera feed, with no typing required.

In practice, you point your camera at whatever you want to identify, translate or copy, and Lens analyses the image to deliver results: the name of an object, instant translation in over 100 languages, text extraction for copy-pasting, or step-by-step guidance for a school assignment. The tool is built into the Google app, Google Photos, Google Camera and the Chrome browser.

Google Lens is aimed at anyone who needs to quickly identify what they see, whether that is a student stuck on a problem, a traveller facing a menu in a foreign language, or someone trying to find a piece of furniture or an outfit they spotted somewhere.

It is less suited to those who need in-depth analysis or guaranteed results: identification is probabilistic and can be wrong, particularly when distinguishing between similar plant or animal species.

What it offers

·Visual identification of objects, plants and animals from a photo or live camera feed.
·Real-time text translation from over 100 languages, overlaid directly on the image.
·Text extraction from an image to copy and paste on your phone or computer via Chrome.
·Homework help: finds explainers, videos and web results for maths, history, chemistry, biology and physics problems.
·Search for similar products including clothes, furniture and home decor.
·Available on Android, iOS, Chrome and within Google Photos, Google Camera and the Google app.

Our tips

To copy a serial number or a long printed paragraph, use Lens's text extraction feature rather than retyping it manually.
In Chrome on desktop, you can right-click any image on a webpage and select 'Search image with Google Lens' without opening another app.
For real-time translation, move the camera slowly and keep it steady: Lens overlays the translation directly on the original text on screen.
Turn off visual history in your Google account settings if you do not want your image searches to be stored.

Watch out

Images saved to your Google account may be used to train Google's models; visual history is off by default, but it is worth checking this setting.
Identification of similar plant or animal species remains probabilistic and can produce errors, particularly for plants where some varieties are toxic.

In practice

Price: Free
Commercial use: Commercial use: no
Available on: android, ios, chrome, windows
FR interface: Yes

Security and data

Rating: Security: one caveat, see the card
Your data: Data with the vendor
Known incidents: A absorbé Socratic (2025).
Maintenance: Active
Last release: 1 April 2026

Links and repository checked on 25 October 2026 · added on 1 January 2017

How to install Google Lens

1. On Android or iOS, download the Google app or Google Photos from your app store. 2. Open the app and tap the Lens icon (a camera with a coloured frame) in the search bar. 3. On Chrome for desktop, Lens is built in natively: right-click any image to access it. 4. Grant camera access only while using the app, not permanently. 5. Check in your Google account settings that visual history is turned off if you want to limit data retention.

Official documentation ↗

In the same category

Whole category Research & monitoring →