2025 Samsung Unpacked: Google Upgrades Circle to Search

At the 2025 Samsung Unpacked event, Google announced enhancements to its "Circle to Search" feature designed to improve user search efficiency and task execution. Introduced last year, this function enables users to initiate searches from any screen by drawing circles, highlighting areas, doodling, or tapping on their phone displays.

With this update, Google has expanded "AI Overviews" to encompass additional visual content types such as locations, trending images, and unique items, which can now be integrated with the "Circle to Search" feature. Previously, "AI Overviews" were only activated in "Circle to Search" when both images and text were involved in the query. Now, users can directly access AI summaries without needing to add extra text or questions.

For instance, if a user finds an intriguing artwork at a museum, they can circle it to receive an AI snapshot containing relevant information and links to further online resources.

This new capability is being rolled out progressively across all Android devices that support "AI Overviews".

Furthermore, Google has streamlined task completion on mobile devices by enabling "Circle to Search" to recognize numbers, email addresses, and URLs displayed on the screen. After pressing and holding the home button, users can circle or tap these elements to generate an action chip for easier interaction with the information.

This feature is currently being deployed across all Android devices equipped with "Circle to Search".