Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Mobile
  3. News

You can now augment Google Lens photo searches with text

By

Google is looking to improve its search results by leveraging both the power of photos, along with additional text for context. The new experience is called multisearch, which will be available on phones and tablets as part of Google Lens inside the Google app.

Google says the feature combines visual and word searches together to deliver the best results possible, even when you can’t describe exactly what it is that you’re trying to search for.

Five screenshots that show how to search in Google using multiple elements.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

“At Google, we’re always dreaming up new ways to help you uncover the information you’re looking for — no matter how tricky it might be to express what you need,” Google explained of the new multisearch feature. “That’s why today, we’re introducing an entirely new way to search: Using text and images at the same time. With multisearch in Lens, you can go beyond the search box and ask questions about what you see.”

Recommended Videos

A practical example of where multisearch will be useful is online shopping. Fashionistas may like a particular style of dress but may not know what that style is called. In addition, rather than shopping from a catalog with that particular dress available in a specific color, by leveraging the power of multisearch, you can snap a picture of the dress and search for the color green or orange. Google will even suggest similar alternatives in the colors you want.

“All this is made possible by our latest advancements in artificial intelligence.”

In this sense, multisearch extends the Google Lens experience by not only identifying what you see but by entering additional search text — like the color green — your search becomes more meaningful.

“All this is made possible by our latest advancements in artificial intelligence, which is making it easier to understand the world around you in more natural and intuitive ways,” Google explained the technology powering multisearch. “We’re also exploring ways in which this feature might be enhanced by MUM — our latest AI model in Search — to improve results for all the questions you could imagine asking.”

To begin your multisearch experience, you’ll need the Google app, which can be downloaded as a free app on iOS and Android devices. After you download the app, launch it, tap on the Lens icon, which resembles a camera, and snap a picture or upload one from your camera roll to begin your search. Next, you’ll want to swipe up and click on the plus (+) icon to add to your search.

Some ways to use this new multisearch tool include snapping a picture of your dining set and adding the “coffee table” term to your search to find matching tables online, or capturing an image of your rosemary plant and adding the term “care instruction” to your search to find out how to plant and care for rosemary, Google said.

Multisearch is available now as a beta experience within the Google app. Be sure to keep your Google app updated for the best results.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Chuong Nguyen
Chuong Nguyen
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Silicon Valley-based technology reporter and Giants baseball fan who splits his time between Northern California and Southern…
Google Bard can now speak, but can it drown out ChatGPT?
Google Bard on a green and black background.

In the world of artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots, OpenAI’s ChatGPT is undoubtedly the best known. But Google Bard is hot on its heels, and the bot has just been granted a new ability: the power of speech.

The change was detailed in a Google blog post, which described the update as “Bard’s biggest expansion to date.” It grants Bard not just speech, but the ability to converse in over 40 languages, use images as prompts, and more.

Read more
Google’s ChatGPT rival just launched in search. Here’s how to try it
Generative AI in Google Search.

Ever since Microsoft started integrating ChatGPT into Bing search, alarm bells have been ringing at Google. Now, though, the tech giant has started rolling out its own generative artificial intelligence (AI) tool for users as part of its bid to retain its search crown.

In a blog post, the company explains that the new feature (called Search Generative Experience, or SGE) is part of Google’s Search Labs, which lets you test out experimental ideas in Google search and provide feedback to the company. Google says its generative AI will “help you take some of the work out of searching, so you can understand a topic faster, uncover new viewpoints and insights and get things done more easily.”

Read more
Google Pixel 7a colors: here’s every option you can get
The Google Pixel 7a in Charcoal, Snow, Sea, and Coral colors.

While the technical specs of a phone play a large part in the decision-making process of picking up a new device, how it looks can be equally as important for many people. Luckily, phone manufacturers have caught on to that fact and provide multiple color options for most modern smartphones — allowing buyers to have a few options when picking up their favorite new smartphones.

The color options that Google has had on offer over the past few years have been some of our favorites, and the new Pixel 7a is following in the footsteps of countless Google devices by being offered in some excellent shades. There are four Pixel 7a color options in total, and honestly, it's a little tough to pick a favorite.

Read more