Circle to Search is learning to handle your full-screen queries (APK teardown)

Circle to Search is a great Android feature that’s almost deceptively simple-sounding. It’s the sort of thing you’re tempted to dismiss as just a reimaging of Google Lens — and then you go and start using it, and discover how powerful and useful it can really be. Today we’re checking out one way Google could be working to add some flexibility to the tool, letting you easily search with your entire screen.

Right now, when you pull up Circle to Search, you’re basically starting with a blank slate — the tool waits patiently for you to select something on the screen. If you go ahead and highlight some text, it will appear in the Search bar, but if you circle an image, instead, you’ll see a thumbnail there. From here you can add more terms to further narrow down your search.

What happens if what you’re interested in fills the whole screen? You can sure try and trace a line all the way around, but to call that awkward would be putting it a little mildly. What if there could be a better way?

While testing out version 15.32.36.29.arm64 beta of the Google app, we were able to activate a mode that changes the initial Circle to Search behavior. Instead of that blank Search bar waiting for your input, with this mode engaged, you’ll start with a full-screen thumbnail. If you want to circle something more specific, you’re free to go right ahead, but with this change the service would basically default to “search everything.”

Considering the tutorial screen that pops up, this feels like the sort of feature we’re likely to see go official in a public release soon, rather than a more experimental tweak devs could still be playing around with. We still don’t know exactly when Google might get around to flipping that switch, but don’t be surprised if you start seeing Circle to Search working like this on your phone in the weeks to come.