Circle to Search arrived on Android last year with a simple promise: hold the home button or navigation bar, draw a circle around anything on screen — a pair of sunglasses in a video, a plant in a photo, a word in a chat — and get Google results without leaving the app. It works well and is used less than it deserves, partly because its extras are awkward. Two of them are about to get better, according to code found by Android Police in the latest beta of the Google app.
A song history
Circle to Search can identify music playing around you or inside a video — the small music-note icon does it. What it could not do was remember. If a song identified on the bus is gone by the time you get home, you start again. The beta adds a clock-shaped button next to the music icon that opens a Recent song searches list with title, artist and album art for everything you have identified, so a song can be found again days later and sent to Spotify or YouTube Music from the list.
Translate without starting over
Today, if you circle a block of text and then decide you want it translated, you have to exit, re-trigger Circle to Search and choose the translate option before selecting. The change is small and overdue: tap any text inside Circle to Search and a Translate button appears immediately alongside the results. For anyone who reads in two scripts — a Bangla speaker dealing with an English form, or a foreign visitor reading a Bangla menu — that removes the step that made the feature not worth the bother.
How to use it now
- On a Pixel, Samsung Galaxy or most recent Android phones, long-press the home button (or the navigation bar, in gesture mode).
- Draw a circle, scribble or tap on what you want to search. Results slide up from the bottom.
- If nothing happens, enable it under Settings → Display → Navigation bar → Circle to Search (Samsung) or Settings → System → Navigation mode (Pixel).
Both additions are live for some beta testers only. Google usually ships Circle to Search changes to everyone within a few weeks through a Google app update, no system update required.
Source: Android Police, via Prothom Alo.
