The next time you’re staring at a confusing router, trying to identify a weird plant in your backyard, or figuring out which adapter you need in a box of tech junk, Google wants you to just point your phone. And it’s not just for a picture, but for a conversation. Starting today for everyone in the US with the Google app, Search Live is officially here, and it’s turning your camera into a real-time problem-solving sidekick.
After months of limited testing through Google Labs, the feature is rolling out broadly on both Android and iOS without needing an invite or beta sign-up. You’ll spot a new Live icon sitting under the search bar in the Google app. Tapping it lets you talk to Google in real time and use your phone’s camera to provide visual context for your query. You can also launch it through Google Lens, where the camera mode kicks in automatically.
Point, ask, solve
Everyday uses for Search Live
What sets Search Live apart from regular voice search is its use of Gemini to understand and respond conversationally. It processes what you say, what it sees, and what it knows from the web, then gives an answer that feels like an interactive chat.
If you’re staring at a pile of cables behind your TV and can’t tell which one is HDMI 2.1, you can point your camera and ask directly. If you’re on vacation and see an unfamiliar landmark, you can just ask what it is without typing anything. Google says it’s useful for school projects, hobby research, troubleshooting devices, or deciding which board game to pick by scanning a shelf full of boxes, as per Google’s blog post.
Importantly, Google isn’t ditching its traditional search setup. With Search Live, you still get the usual list of web links alongside the AI’s response. The idea is simple: the AI gives you quick, conversational answers, but the links are there if you want to fact-check or dig deeper.
For now, Search Live only works in US English. The company’s move signals a broader shift toward multimodal, context-aware search, something rivals like OpenAI are also exploring. But Google has a unique advantage: it still owns the most comprehensive index of the web, and Search Live connects that data to Gemini’s conversational power.
