Android’s Circle to Search Finally Arrives on iPhones, Sort of?

Google and its OEM partner Samsung launched the Circle to Search feature earlier this year which is available on the Pixel and Galaxy devices. This feature is now accessible on iPhones as well.

Circle to Search feature is a new way to search by circling, highlighting, scribbling or tapping what you’re curious about. This new tool lets you round up answers fast without switching apps with just a long press on the home button or navigation bar, you activate Circle to Search.

You can choose items with preferred gestures, like circling sunglasses or scribbling a bag, to quickly find similar, shoppable options from online retailers. It’s a fluid process that keeps you engaged without interrupting your current activity.

Samsung Galaxy AI Circle To Search Feature

Circle to Search is now kinda available on iPhone through a new iOS shortcut that replicates this function.

The shortcut takes advantage of the Action button on the new iPhone 15 Pro series. When you activate the button, the iS shortcut will take a screenshot of what you are looking at and takes it to the Google app which runs a Google Lens scan.

If your iPhone doesn’t have the action button, you can also use the Back Tap accessibility option which allows you to triple or double tap the back of your iPhone and activate functions and also run an iOS shortcut. You need to have an iPhone 6S and above and have the latest iOS version running on your iPhone.

Google plans to ship the Circle to Search feature to other non-Samsung and non-Pixel devices later this year. You’ll have to wait until October to see this feature on OPPO, OnePlus, Infinix, TECNO, Vivo and other Android smartphone brands. It will probably come out of the box with the upcoming Pixel 9 which will reportedly launch around this time.