Google’s Circle to Search tool continues to develop and the next big update may be its addition to the Chrome app for Windows/Mac.
x user leopeva64 posted screenshots and videos of an update in progress for Google Lens. These demonstrate that clicking the Lens icon in the shortcuts/extensions toolbar brings up the same blue glow you see with Circle to Search on mobile. You will then be asked to drag a box over something on the screen (erasing the rest of the page), which will then search and display the results in a pop-up window to the right of the window. But since the feature hasn’t finished, that popup is currently blank.
This isn’t as free-form as Circle to Search on mobile, which lets you draw in any shape you want or use scribbles and lines to highlight elements. But for most purposes, a rectangular box seems just as effective.
A shortcut for basically everyone
Currently, only the Samsung Galaxy S24, Google Pixel 8, and Pixel 8a can use Circle to Search. But if Chrome, an incredibly popular browser, gets access, then Circle to Search will become a lot more conventional. Since Google remains selective about which phones can use the mobile version, perhaps it will hold back this update to maintain that exclusivity.
Even if Google releases the update as soon as it is available, it could still take some time. This feature only appears to have been in development since March of this year and, from the looks of it, is a work in progress.
This isn’t all Google has planned for Chrome either. Other recent reports claim that it will soon receive support for Gemini AI, while the iOS version will finally receive support for multiple profiles. And perhaps we’ll hear even more at Google I/O 2024 next week, when Google leaders take the stage to talk about what’s in store for the company.
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