Google Lens, once exclusive to Pixel and Pixel 2 smartphones, is now available for certain Android smartphone or tablet user, so long as you have Google Photos downloaded, the company announced yesterday.
We’ve been impressed with this app’s potential since Google first revealed its capabilities at a conference last May. It’s a jack-of-all-trades camera app capable of everything from scanning a router code to auto-log you in, to identifying landmarks in your vacation photos, to connecting with Google Assistant in real time to pull up information on a business in front of you.
And just last week at MWC 2018, Google’s VP of VR and AR Amit Singh showed off how Lens is incorporating their ARCore technology to unlock even more capabilities, such as add real-size furniture to your living room to see how they’d fit, or see how a car would look with a different coat of paint.
In their announcement today, Google revealed another new feature: with Lens, you’ll be able to scan a business card and instantly create a new contact on your phone. But they also announced that some Android phone users won't be able to use Lens just yet.
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Will Lens work for your Android device?
Lens’ capabilities require ARCore functionality to work, along with Android Oreo 8.0 and up. That means that even if you have an Android device with Google Photos installed, you may not be able to use Lens.
In their recent blog post covering ARCore, Google listed the thirteen devices that should have Lens enabled (for now):
- Google’s Pixel, Pixel XL, Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL;
- Samsung’s Galaxy S8, S8+, Note8, S7 and S7 Edge;
- LGE’s V30 and V30+ (Android O only);
- ASUS’s Zenfone AR
- OnePlus’s OnePlus 5
But don’t get too excited yet; even if you upgrade your OS and Google Photos, Lens may not immediately appear. The Google Photos Twitter rep has informed many impatient smartphone users that the update is being pushed out “in batches”, so your device may not get the new tech for a few days.
Hi Kishor! If you're not currently able to use this feature on your device, it's because this is being rolled out on a gradual basis. Rest assured, you will receive the functionality within the next few days. Thanks for bearing with us.March 6, 2018
Google has also announced that Lens is “Coming soon to iOS”, but there’s no timeframe on how long that could take. And we should assume that Lens might only work on advanced AR-enabled phones like the iPhone X. Google also plans to bundle Lens and ARCore into most future Android smartphones as well.
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