There is a new, cleaner look for Google Lens on iOS and Android
Google Lens looks cleaner after this change.
Google Lens is a visual search engine that uses your camera to describe what you're looking at. To access Google Lens, find a Google Search bar on your phone or on the Google app. For example, on the Google app for Android, the camera icon is found inside the Search bar at the top of the screen. On iOS, the camera icon is found in the Google app directly under the Search bar. This opens up the phone's camera, allowing you to find something that you want to take a deeper dive into. Once you have the subject matter in your viewfinder, press on the search button (or the translate button if appropriate) for more info about the subject.
As it has been doing with several of its apps, Google is looking to give Google Lens a cleaner look. For example, when you open Lens, there are now only two options you can choose from: Search, and Translate. The third button, which was a dedicated "Homework" element, has been removed. There is actually a legitimate reason why Google would do this. The company would prefer that you use Gemini AI when you need some help with your schoolwork.
Google rightly feels that Gemini is the better option here since it can go deeper into a question or a calculation and provide more than just the right answer. Gemini can also explain how it reached the conclusion it did. With questions that require calculations, Gemini can solve the problem while breaking down the question into steps that the student can learn from. Removing the Homework button also gives Google Lens a cleaner look. In addition, the viewfinder on the Lens screen is a little wider.
New look Google Lens from iOS on the left, old version from Android 16 on the right. | Image credit-PhoneArena
If you're using the search option in Lens, you can now go into AI Mode via the Search button to get a more detailed search result about the item in front of your camera. The new look for Google Lens has appeared in the recently unveiled Galaxy Z Fold 7. I could not get the updated Lens on my Pixel 6 Pro running the latest Android 16 QPR1 Beta version. Ironically, it did appear on the version of Google Lens running on my iPhone 15 Pro Max with the iOS 26 Developer Beta 3 installed.
Apple does have a similar feature available on the iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, and all iPhone 16 series models (including the iPhone 16e). Called Visual Intelligence, this feature is available via the Camera Control button on the iPhone 16 series except for the iPhone 16e. On that model and the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max, Visual Intelligence can be found as an option for the Action Button. While similar to Google Lens, on-device processing is heavily relied on by Apple for this feature, while Google turns to the Cloud for Google Lens.
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