Last year, when Google introduced Circle to Search with the Galaxy S24 Ultra, I was left scratching my head a bit. As a Pixel owner who’d been using Google Lens for a few years now, I found this duplicate feature unnecessary. Who would want a gimmicky Lens alternative whose sole claim to fame was adding one more unnecessary gesture before giving you results?!
As it turns out, the answer is a lot of people do want it. In every poll we’ve done here on Android Authority or on our social platforms, Circle to Search has gotten a lot of positive approval, so much so that I decided to give it a real shake instead of continuing to dismiss it. So, for the past couple of months, I’ve been forcing myself to skip Lens and go to Circle to Search instead, and as much as I hate to admit it, I like it. Prefer it even. Here’s why.