Google has announced that Lens is coming to YouTube Shorts, starting with a beta that’s going live now.
Rolling out now, YouTube Shorts is adding a shortcut to Google Lens. Through the top menu while watch a video, you’ll see a shortcut that opens Lens and uses what’s on screen in the video – paused, of course – to help you find additional context. You can tap on an object in the video frame or draw a circle around it to tell Lens what you want more information on.
Google says this will be available via the Android and iOS apps, and only works on videos that lack shopping affiliate content. A translate button is also available when Lens activates.
On a support page, Google explains how to use Lens on Shorts in a few steps:
- Open the YouTube App.
- Tap Shorts
at the bottom of the screen.
- Pause the Short by tapping on the screen.
- Select Lens in the top menu.
- Note: You will see a message about terms and conditions pop up the first time that you use the feature. Tap X or anywhere else on the video to dismiss the message.
- Draw, highlight, or tap on anything on the screen to search with Lens.
- You can also tap translate
on the lower right side of the screen to translate any captions in the video.
- When finished, tap X on the upper left hand side of your screen or swipe down at the top of the results panel to close the results page.
YouTube also details this change via its Creator Insider channel in a new video.
Google says that Lens on YouTube Shorts will be rolling out to “all viewers this week.”
More on YouTube:
- YouTube rolling out updated miniplayer on Android, iPhone
- YouTube adds Weekly Top Podcast Shows chart, teases ‘more features’
- YouTube will use Gemini to insert ads around the parts of a video you care about most [Video]
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