YouTube adding Google Lens search integration on Android

In a rather interesting move, the search bar in YouTube for Android has gained a new Google Lens integration.

For those that have this enabled, opening the fullscreen search page reveals a Google Lens icon in the top-right corner. Appearing between the bar and microphone (with Hum to Search), this simply opens Google Lens to the camera interface you’re familiar with.

Google Lens is used to identify objects and OCR (optical character recognition) to highlight text if nothing else is identified.

For example, I took a picture of an iPhone 13 Mini and the visual search tool returned a “Search YouTube” carousel. Tapping on a result just entered that query into YouTube search. There’s also a broader “Search on Google” option.

It’s a pretty straightforward expansion of visual search, and reflects how Google wants to give people more ways to find things beyond text and voice.

Google Lens in YouTube search is not yet widely rolled out, but appearing on all devices signed into the same account. The Lens icon also appears at the top of the search results page.

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