Google Lens bug traps Chrome users by hiding the close button

Google Lens, the AI-powered search tool that lets you find what you’re looking for with images instead of words, has not been letting Chrome users close out of the feature. That should now be fixed, according to Google, though not everyone affected seems to agree.

Reports on Reddit and Google’s Chrome Help Support forums started coming in about a week ago: The “x” to close out of Google Lens was missing for many. None of the usual fixes — closing tabs, shutting Chrome altogether, clearing cache and cookies, and restarting computers — worked to rectify the situation. One user who replied to a post in a Chrome sub shared a temporary solution to closing out of Lens: dragging the tab with Lens open into a new window and then dragging it back into the old window.

One poster on Chrome Help Support laid out a detailed analysis of what went wrong, putting the problem down to broken CSS padding and margin calculations in an update to Lens overlay side panel.

TOP CUT-OFF (Overflow Hide): The upper navigation bar (“AI Mode”, “All”, “Visual Match”) and the crucial “Close (X)” button are completely pushed upwards (-40px offset / margin bug) outside the visible viewport. They are clipped by “overflow: hidden” at the browser top edge, making it 100% IMPOSSIBLE to click or close via mouse.

BOTTOM GAP: A massive useless black empty block padding (Layout Overflow) is wrongly injected below the input chat box (“ask anything”), totally destroying the flexbox/grid responsive height.

An employees from Reddit’s Google Help Community did hop into the sub to say that the issue is fixed:

Thank you for letting us know about this issue, and your patience as we fixed the problem. We appreciate it! With the latest update, Google Lens should now be working as usual. Please let us know if you still encounter this on your end.

Despite that, some have replied that even after updating Chrome, they’re still having the same issue. Have you encountered the problem? Has it been cleared up for you if you did? Let us know in the comments.