Actions in Google Lens let users translate text in images

Google has added Actions to its Lens service. Those Actions allow users to tap on an image to translate the visible text. There is also an option to save an image directly to the Keep note-taking app.

The function is in Google app v7.17, reports Android Police. The Actions feature doesn’t seem finished yet, as they only appear the first time after opening Lens. After that, users have to exit the interface and open Lens again to get the options again.

When Actions is active, Assistant displays three buttons: Remember This, Translate This, and Import to Keep. It is still unknown what the Remember This button does, because outside Assistant the image seems to be no longer findable after pressing that button. The function to send the image to Keep opens a map of that note-taking application. The translation function replaces a translation of the displayed text with the original text.

The feature is found in Lens, the digital assistant Assistant’s image recognition service. The search giant presented Lens six months ago at its own developer conference I/O, but so far only activated it on its own Pixel 2 phones.