8 ways Google Lens can help make your life easier

If your summer plans involve travel, Lens can help you bridge the language barrier. Using the Translate filter in Lens, you can upload or take a picture, or even just point your camera at the text you want to translate, like a menu or a street sign. Lens will automatically detect the written language and overlay the translation on top of it, directly on your phone screen.

If you’re stuck on a homework problem in math, history or science, tap the “homework help” filter, then snap a picture, and Lens will share instructions to help you learn how to solve the problem. The homework help feature also enables you to tackle questions in multiple languages, and you can set your preferred language for search results.

If you’re browsing on your phone and notice a product that you’d love to get your hands on — maybe a snazzy pair of walking shoes or a sleek and functional backpack — you can use Lens to find and buy one of your own. Just take a screenshot and select it in Lens, and you’ll get a list of shoppable matches with links to where you can make a purchase. It works the same way if you see something you want to buy while you’re out and about: Point your camera with Lens, snap a pic and you’ll see options from online merchants.

About those snazzy walking shoes — maybe they’d be even better in blue. Multisearch in Lens lets you combine both words and images to find exactly what you’re looking for. In this case, snap a picture of the shoes in Lens and then swipe up to add words to your search (like “blue”). Lens will then show you similar shoes in the color of your choice. This also works with patterns — say you see a fun shirt and would love that pattern for your curtains. Take a pic of the shirt in Lens, swipe up and type “curtains” — and there you have it.