Google Lens is the most underrated app on my phone. Here's how I use it

Google Lens is hands down one of the most useful features on my phone, yet I think most people tend to ignore it.

It's been around for ages and is strictly utilitarian by design, but it easily solves everyday problems faster than almost anything else on my phone.

Most of the time, the problem is simple. If I see something I find interesting and need information about it, maybe a product that I want to buy, a label I'm unable to understand, text inside a screenshot, or a sign written in another language, I'll usually juggle multiple apps.

The standard solution is to type a rough description into Google and hope the search results understand what I mean. That can get frustrating real fast.

Google Lens removes that step completely. Instead of describing something, I can point my camera at it. It can identify objects, search for products, copy text from images, and translate things in real time.

Since it works using the camera, Google Photos, Chrome, and the app itself, it has become an intrinsic part of how I use my phone rather than feeling like a separate app. I love it.

6 ways I use Google Lens to make my life easier

My favorite Google Lens applications

Posts By  Stanley Martin

Shopping without guesswork

Using visual search to find what I'm looking for

I use Google Lens most often for shopping, especially for products I discover randomly during the day.

It could be a desk lamp in a café, a keyboard in someone's YouTube video, a jacket I saw on an Instagram reel, or a cute coffee mug.

I know I like it, but what the product is called is usually a mystery. And that's where normal search becomes useless. I can't be searching for a "cute teal colored coffee mug" in Google Search and expect to get the results I want.

Trying to search with words usually means typing something vague, like "minimal black desk lamp," and getting a page of results that looks nothing like what I saw.

It wastes time because the hardest part is often just figuring precisely what you're looking for.

With Google Lens, I skip all of that. I either point the camera at the object or take a screenshot and let Lens visually search for the item.

Most of the time, it finds either the exact product or something close enough to lead me to it.

That makes the rest of the process easy. I can compare prices, check reviews, look for local availability, or decide if I actually need it or just liked how it looked for a few seconds.

I use the same process for practical things too. Be it looking up serial numbers for products I'm interested in, model names, or ingredient lists, you are only held back by your imagination.

Instead of manually typing long texts from the back of a device, I scan it and go straight to the right support page or product listing. It sounds like a small move, but it constantly saves me time.

Saving time with everyday tasks

Text recognition is the feature I rely on more often than I'd have thought

The other reason I use Google Lens all the time is text recognition. It might not sound like the most interesting use case, but for me, it's more powerful than getting help with shopping.

I read and consume a lot of text-based media, and much of the important information tends to live inside images. Be it tracking numbers, courier slips, passwords, Wi-Fi details, and more. These are either saved as screenshots or photos.

The problem is that, while I can hand-type this information as needed, it's certainly not convenient to swap between a photo or screenshot and the text input field.

Nobody wants to manually type a long tracking ID or copy over a complicated password from a sticker behind a router.

Google Lens fixes that by turning that image back into usable text. I can copy a number, pull text from a screenshot, or save contact information without typing everything again.

Translation is yet another use case where it gets even more useful.

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Be it gadget labels or product packaging, signs, menus, manuals, or a book you might be reading, instead of popping into Google Translate, point Google Lens at it, and it'll give you an instant translation. The speed of things is absolutely incredible.

If I'm standing in a store trying to understand a product label while traveling, this is what I turn to for immediate answers. I don't want extra steps. Lens handles it all within seconds. You're only limited by your imagination.

Since Lens even works within Google Photos, you can pop right into an image and search for something that you took a photo of years ago, and it'll give you the results.

While traveling, I often take photos of interesting books I come across. Since I like to travel light, I get back home, tap Lens on the photo of the book, and it surfaces a product link immediately. Then, I can order it right to my home.

Why Google Lens still feels like the most underrated tool on my phone

Google Lens isn't an undiscovered app or feature, but to me, it feels surprisingly underrated.

It's not a feature that people talk about all that often, but the use cases are extremely versatile.

Be it helping me find products, understand labels, translate text, or copy information, it simplifies several small tasks into a two or three tap process. And you've got to love it for that.