Google announced Tuesday that it is introducing several new features to Chrome on iOS. Most notably, you can now search using images and text at the same time in Google Chrome on iOS.
You could already do this using the Google Lens iOS app, but now you can do it directly within the Chrome app. Additionally, while it was already possible to use images in searches in Chrome on iOS, you can now add text to your queries.
Google says this new feature will allow users to perform more complex and specific searches, resulting in better results. For example, you can capture or upload an image of a green dress, add the text “purple” and ask Google to find items in your desired color. Or you can take a photo of your rosemary plant and add the query “How to care for it”.
Image credit: Google
The announcement comes as Apple introduces its own smart search tool called Visual Intelligence to the iPhone 16 series. Visual Intelligence is essentially reverse image search combined with text recognition.
Google also announced that users can now free up space on their iPhones by saving files and photos from the web directly to Drive and Photos from Chrome on iOS. Just select the “Google Drive” option when saving the file. Your content will be saved to a new Drive folder named “Saved from Chrome.”
To save an image from Chrome to Photos, long press the image and select the “Save to Google Photos” option.
Additionally, Google is adding Shopping Insights to the iOS version of Chrome in the US. If you're purchasing a product, Google will sometimes display a “Good Deal Now” notification in your address bar to provide more information about the product. Price history and other purchasing options.
Chrome also has a new feature that lets you see a map of your address with one tap. If you see an address for a particular location while browsing, tap the underlined address to see a minimap of that location directly in Chrome.