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Google has made it easier to search what you see on your smartphone screen, by drawing a circle around the object. The company introduced this feature to the Google Pixel 8 Series back in January this year. The Galaxy S24 series also got this feature on the same day. Later on, both Google and Samsung rolled out the feature to some of their previous models including the Google Pixel 7, Pixel 7 Pro, Galaxy S23 series, Galaxy Z Fold5, Galaxy Z Flip5, and also the Galaxy Tab S9 series. Last week it was also reported that Circle to Search is coming to the Google Pixel 6 series.
The visual search feature is finally available to Google Pixel Fold
Google noted in a blog post that it was coming to the Google Pixel Fold and the Pixel Tablet – “starting this week, we’re rolling out Circle to Search to more Android phones, including foldables, and tablets.”
Now, Circle to Search is finally here on the Google Pixel Fold (Review). The feature most likely made its way to the Pixel Fold with the April security patch. However, the feature isn’t available to the Pixel tablet yet, as of writing this article.
And the overall user experience with the feature on the Pixel Fold isn’t perfect yet. As 9to5Google notes, you cannot activate the feature on the home screen, at least as of now. Additionally, the search field doesn’t use the widescreen properly, which the search results do, but again, it is a bit stretched. If you don’t use the feature and would like to disable it, you can head to Settings > System > Navigation mode > Gesture navigation.
Circle to Search on Google Pixel Fold has some imperfections as of now
Additionally, Johanna Romero from PhoneArena also noticed some issues with the feature. After seeing a notification stating that Circle to Search is finally available on her Pixel Fold she discovered that the feature was not functional on the cover display. “Circle to Search is only working on the internal display of the foldable,” she noted.
Contrary to this, some other users have noted that the feature works fine on the cover screen on their devices. “The visual search experience, which has a new introductory prompt, is quite straightforward, especially on the cover screen,” notes 9to5Google.
Nonetheless, we expect that Google will listen to the feedback and solve the existing issues in the coming days.