Google has found a way to bring a variation of its clever “Circle to Search” gesture to iPhone users. The new interaction, introduced in January, allows Android users to search from anywhere on their device by circling, highlighting, scribbling or tapping, making it easier to interact with Google Search from any screen. Of course, a similar option isn’t available to iPhone users because Google doesn’t control the iOS operating system like it does with Android. To get around this issue, Google is now using Apple’s Action button on iPhone 15 Pro devices to enable a quick way to visually browse everything on your screen with just one touch.
No longer a simple ring/mute switch, the Action Button allows users to customize the functionality of the iPhone’s side button to suit their own needs. It can be configured to launch the camera, translate a conversation, activate a focus mode, launch the flashlight, and more. Alternatively, users can assign their own shortcut to the action button to start another task, such as starting a ChatGPT voice session.
In the case of Google, the company introduced a shortcut that allows iPhone users to start a visual search through Google Lens.
“Basically, search is in circles, but faster!” remarked Google Lens design manager Minsang Choi a now deleted post on X, where he introduced the shortcut created by the Google App iOS team. (Apparently this was an unauthorized publication. We have reached out to Google for comment regarding the takedown.)
While Google’s iOS app already provides a way to use Lens for visual search, the addition of the shortcut makes it easier to start a search with a simple gesture, similar to Android. However, it also highlights the difficulties associated with trying to develop new ways to interact with technology when developing for iOS: a workaround had to be used instead of a gesture.
To use the shortcut, iPhone users must have the Google app for iOS installed. They then need to download the shortcut and assign it to the action button in the iOS settings. Although Choi’s link to the shortcut has been removed, there is still a way to create one.
In the iOS Shortcuts app, create a shortcut that first takes a screenshot and then performs the Find Image with Lens action, as shown in the following example. This essentially mimics the Circle with Search feature, but uses Google Lens on the iPhone.
9to5Mac, which first spotted the publication, also pointed out that there is a way to configure the accessibility feature. Instead, tap Back to launch the new shortcut if you’re not using an iPhone 15 Pro device.
