How to Use Google Lens to Identify Objects, Text, and Translate Signs

Point your phone's camera at a plant, product label, or foreign-language sign and let Google Lens tell you what it is or translate it instantly.

At a Glance

Open Google Lens from the Google app

~15s

Open the Google app (a colorful "G" icon) and tap the camera-shaped Lens icon inside the search bar. If you don't have the Google app, download it free from the App Store or Google Play.

Point your camera and tap to search

~15s

Aim your camera at whatever you want to identify — a plant, an unfamiliar gadget, a product label — and tap the search button. Lens will show you what it thinks the object is along with related links and information.

Translate text in real time

~17s

In Lens, tap the "Translate" option along the bottom, then point your camera at a sign, menu, or label in another language. The translated text appears directly over the original on your screen.

Quick Tip

This works great for restaurant menus while traveling or for reading instructions on imported products.

Copy text from a photo

~15s

Point Lens at any printed or handwritten text, tap "Text," then drag to select the words you want. Tap "Copy text" and you can paste it into a text message, email, or notes app instead of retyping it by hand.

Search from a photo already on your phone

~15s

You don't need to take a new photo — open Google Photos, find any existing picture, and tap the Lens icon at the bottom of the screen to search or translate text within that saved photo.

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Google Lens is a free camera tool that can identify almost anything you point your phone at — plants, animals, products, landmarks, and more — and it can also read and translate text in photos, like a restaurant menu in another language or the tiny print on a medication bottle. It's built into the Google app and the Google Photos app on both iPhone and Android, so there's nothing extra to install for most people.

Beyond simple identification, Lens can copy text straight out of a photo so you can paste it into a text message or search, look up a product to compare prices, or solve a math problem written on paper. It's one of the most genuinely useful free tools built into a modern smartphone.

Google Lens works by sending a picture to Google's servers to be analyzed, so an internet connection is required, and it's worth knowing that photos you scan this way are processed by Google the same way a regular search would be. Source: support.google.com/photos/answer/9245478.

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