Google Lens, the innovative tool that lets you search the world with your camera or an image, is introducing a significant improvement. Users will soon have the option to store the images they scan with Lens and access them anytime they want. This is a feature that has been in high demand by users.
In the past, when you used Google Lens to find out more about an image, the image was not saved anywhere. This meant you had to either snap a separate photo with your camera app and then scan it with Lens or forfeit the visual content after your search was done.
Now, according to 9to5Google, Google Lens will be able to save the images you scan with it automatically. You can always locate them later by visiting myactivity.google.com. From there, you can also re-download the images if you wish to perform another Lens search or use them for another purpose. This solves the problem of having to follow multiple steps to capture and then recognize an image with Lens and makes it simpler to refer to previous searches in the future.
This change only affects searches done with Google Lens within the Google app. Images scanned through the Google Photos integration or other Lens features, such as Circle to Search and Multi-Search, will not be stored in this history.
The new feature is not enabled by default and will require manual activation by going to your Google account settings, which can be found at myaccount.google.com. From there, turn on the “Include Visual Search History” option under “Data & Privacy” > “Web & App Activity.”
The deployment of this new Visual Search History feature begins today and should reach all users in the next few weeks. Watch out for a pop-up in Google Lens that will inform you when the feature is ready for you.