Simplified multisearch may be the future
Summary
- Google intensified efforts to improve the Search experience with Circle to Search and updated Lens features.
- Multisearch and Multisearch near me tools on Lens offer result refinement options for users.
- A simplified method to add a supplementing query in Lens search could roll out soon, branded as Search with video.
Although advertising and Android keep Google busy, it also devotes enough time to maintaining its iron grip on the Search market with convenience updates and new ways to search popping up frequently. The biggest recent update was arguably Circle to Search, launched alongside the Samsung Galaxy S24 series a few months ago. The feature is now available on many more devices, but a teardown reveals concurrent development of the Lens app is also underway.
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Google Lens has several features which overlap with Circle to Search, but last year, the company bolstered Lens with powerful tools that set it apart, namely Multisearch and Multisearch near me. Both tools allowed users to add supplemental queries to an initial Lens search to narrow the results down further. You can provide more context for the search using voice or text, but the process feels admittedly clunky.
A recent APK teardown by app sleuth AssembleDebux on X (formerly Twitter) delivered via Android Authority reveals Google is working on a simplified method to add that supplementing query. Updating the Google app to beta version 15.22.29.29.arm64 reveals you can tap the shutter button in Lens to search, and then tap and hold it down to add context using a voice command.
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Code strings in the app reveal Google will call this feature Search with video, and it should work exactly as described by the leaker. However, AssembleDebug couldn’t get the feature to work but notes the animations at launch resemble Circle to Search.
The implementation looks ready for release, but there’s always an off chance Google will decide to defer or cancel the launch in favor of polishing the product further or developing something else altogether.
