Google Continues Improvement on Circle to Search Activation

The team behind the Circle to Search (CTS) feature revealed that they are currently spending more time on creating the most efficient way to use it.

Earlier this year, Google released the feature as a new way to search for anything on the phone without needing to switch apps.

Google's CTS Team Reveals Development

After the CTs rolled out to Android, several users have complained about how frustrating the feature is. According to some users, there are instances were they accidentally trigger the feature.

The team behind it quickly acknowledged the issue and claimed that they are still working on how to improve the experience since the feature is still fairly new. "We still have further to go, and we're working a lot on making sure it's triggered when you want, [and] it's not triggered when you don't want," the team explained.

Moreover, the team also defended that circling is more "delightful" than tapping to select - a similar action used to activate Lens. The team shared that doing the circle has been finely tuned with region selection through testing to provide accurate results.

CTS Expands to Samsung Galaxy, Pixel Phones

CTS was first introduced along with the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro. During Samsung's release of its Galaxy S24 series, the feature was added. It was then followed by Pixel 7 and 7 Pro.

Last month, Google started to expand the feature's availability to other older models such as the Pixel 6, Pixel 6 Pro, Pixel 6a, and Pixel 7a. The CTS is also now available on the Galaxy S23 series, Galaxy Z Fold5, Galaxy Z Flip5, and Galaxy Tab S9 series.

In addition, the company has recently added a translation capability to CTS. Once activated, a new button will appear next to the search bar. According to Google, it will "instantly translate whatever's on your screen."

The team also hinted that there is more to come for the CTS, including the merging of the Search result page with the Lens result page which is likely to debut in the future.