The latest update to the Mountain View firm’s mobile web browser includes a hidden feature that allows you to use Google Lens for advanced image search.
If you frequently search for images in Google Images from your Android smartphone, you might be interested in the latest Chrome update. An advanced search function for Google Images has been integrated into it and offers the possibility of using Google Lens to help you find images similar to specific areas of an image.
This function is disabled by default and is activated by going to a hidden menu in the browser. Here’s how to get started today.
1. Update Chrome
If you haven’t already, update Google Chrome on your device. On our device, the manipulation was carried out with Chrome in version 78.0.3904.96.
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Download Google Chrome for Android (Free)
2. Access the flags
Open the browser then, in the address bar, type:
chrome: // flags
This page gathers all the hidden functions, still at an experimental stage, of Chrome. Each time the browser is updated, Google can integrate them into the stable version of the application, keep them in test, or delete them.
It can therefore happen in a future update that the company decides without warning to remove the function without it necessarily being integrated into the browser.
3. Activate the Google Lens flag
In the search box displayed at the top of the window, type Google Lens. You should see a single search result: Google Lens powered image search in the context menu.
Expand the drop-down menu shown on the right and change the Default value to Enabled. Then press Relaunch to restart the browser for the changes to take effect.
4. Use Google Lens
Go to a site where an element of an image has caught your attention. Make a long press on the image to display the contextual menu.
A new Use Google Lens menu should be available, tap it to launch the function.
To find a specific item displayed in an image, tap the crop tool displayed at the bottom right, and select the area of the image you want Google Lens to focus on.
The search engine should instantly display results similar to the item you are looking for.