Google further adjusts Lens UI with new Drag to Search box

• Users can stay on the same tab to access Google Search directly through a new search bubble feature on Chrome desktop.

• Google Chrome for desktops now offers the Drag to Search feature, a visually efficient tool merging search and AI image recognition.

• Additional AI-powered features like contextual browsing history search and Tab Compare enhance the user experience on ChromeOS and desktops.

Google is always fine-tuning its products, and one of its latest UI updates on Google Chrome for desktops is no different. Google's Circle to Search feature, which launched this year on Android phones, is a cool way to look up things that visually appear on your smartphone and a perfect marriage between search efficiency and AI image recognition, as Google has heavily invested in Gemini , its AI LLM. Drag to Search, the desktop version of Circle to Search, has undergone further adjustments on ChromeOS and Chrome for desktops.

Google unveiled Drag to Search in late July, and it was hyped up by the company as part of the future of Search. X user @Leopeva64 showed that Google is continuing to work on the new Lens UI in Chrome for desktop by adding a new search bubble in the top-right corner of the tab. Users can access Google Search directly from the bubble, and results are shown in the sidebar. We were surprised at how capable Circle to Search is at providing results quickly, and because you don't have to leave the tab you're currently on to access Search, it's efficient. The newest tweak to Drag to Search makes it so users can look up things as they would normally without having to utilize a visual element.

Circling the Search waters with AI

Drag to Search showed up at the beginning of August on Chrome for desktops and ChromeOS, but it came with a few other AI-powered features as well . Searching through your browsing history will be made much easier, as Chrome will now allow you to search with context for pages you may have visited based on the information on that page. Additionally, Tab Compare is a new tool that will roll out "in the next few weeks" which will help consumers compare products against each other based on sourced information on the web. Adding these tools is in line with Google's January additions to the web browser, when it brought three generative AI features to Chrome.

Google's Circle to Search on Android added a new barcode scanning feature in late June, making it easier to grab codes and URLs associated with barcodes directly on your smartphone screen. It's not every day that we find ourselves with a need to scan an on-display barcode, but it'll be simple to do going forward. It's just one of the many ways Circle to Search — and, eventually, Drag to Search — is surprisingly solid, providing useful tools for shopping, wordsmithing, traveling, and more .