Google Lens Standalone App Available Now, If You Can Get It

It seems that Google is really pushing its AI-empowered computer vision technology to all Android users as fast as it can. Google Lens has been around for a while now, residing in the Photos app, Google Assistant, and the Pixel phones' camera app but Google wants to spread it around even more. At I/O last month, it announced that Google Lens will be integrated into OEMs' native camera apps. Now, rather surprisingly, it is even providing a standalone app to make it even easier to launch Google Lens with a tap.

It's really all about convenience. With the number of ways you can access Google Lens, it might be confusing for those who especially see Lens as a separate app rather than being integrated into many apps and services. But a Lens by any other name would just be as smart.

Google has just recently rolled out new features that make Lens more than just a fancy way to know about a landmark's history or identify an alien-looking plant. Smart Text Selection, for example, lets you select text from the image on Lens' viewfinder and do actions like add an event to a calendar, translate into another language, or simply copy the text. Style Match, on the other hand, can help you with your shopping by looking for products that match the aesthetic of the real-world object you're pointing the app at.

But while the standalone Google Lens app is already available on Google Play Store, just like Lens itself, it might not be available for everyone just yet. Some users on some phone models have successfully installed it, but not all of them have. Good thing, then, that there are multitudes of ways to get your hands on Lens.