Google Lens — the company’s image recognition app for iOS and Android smartphones — has been updated with a new feature that could help you identify certain medical conditions. Pointing your phone’s camera at your skin with a rash or some sort of irritation will now let Google Lens attempt to identify a specific condition that might be affecting your skin. Just like the regular image-recognition feature on Google Lens that finds similar looking images, you can also select an image from your gallery while using the new skin condition detection feature.
According to a recent Keyword blog post, the new skin condition detection feature will let you identify a mole or rash on your skin, without entering any text to describe the condition. The feature works when you click an image in Google Lens, or select an image from your gallery. Swiping up will show a horizontal row of results with names of skin conditions. Under these results, you will also see a scrollable section for visual matches with similar images.
Google Lens can help you identify what’s irritating your skin
Photo Credit: Google
While it is clear that this feature is based on the company’s capable image recognition technology and is not meant to be used as a replacement for a medical diagnosis, it can help you gain a basic understanding of what is affecting your skin before you visit a dermatologist.
The feature is clearly designed with skin conditions in mind, but the company says that Google Lens will also help to identify other conditions like “a bump on your lip, a line on your nails or hair loss on your head.”
In addition to the new health features, Google’s blog post also highlights that the Google Lens app can also help you with your math homework, shop for matching products, look for similar food served in nearby restaurants — and even translate menus, sign boards, and posters into more than 100 languages.
Finally, the company has announced that Google Bard will soon gain Google Lens integration that will allow you to include an image when writing a Bard prompt, which lets Google’s AI chatbot better understand your query. You can also switch to the company’s popular search engine with the Google it button to see visually similar products from sellers online, according to Google.