Translation camera on the Google Translate mobile app replaced with Google Lens

Google Translate app for iOS and Android has replaced its built-in translate camera with Google Lens to translate text into multiple languages.

Google Translate allows users to easily translate text and speech in up to 133 languages. The app’s built-in camera can translate text from images and handwritten notes and its microphone translates speech.

In 2019, the app’s built-in camera was redesigned with an auto-detection capability and support for more languages. Now, it is replaced with a more versatile Google Lens.

Google Translate mobile app adds Google Lens ahead of new AR Translate tech launch

Google Lens is the built-in camera in Google apps such as Google, Google Camera, and Google Photos. It is designed to elevate users’ visual search experience simply by pointing the camera at an object or image, along with text translation support.

Now, the Google Translate app directly opens to Google Lens UI which is limited to translation capability only. Users can manually select their preferred languages, import images, and enable clash.

9to5Google notes that Google Translate is upgraded before the launch of new AR Translate tech expected in late 2022. Taking advantage of the Pixel Magic Eraser, the upcoming AI advancement will power the Google Lens to remove original text from an image and will be able to match the translated text with the original text.

This consolidation makes sense, and comes ahead of AR Translate, which features “major advancements in AI.” The current approach overlays converted text on top of the image using “color blocks” to mask what’s being replaced.

Going forward, Google Lens will swap out the original text outright by leveraging the Pixel’s Magic Eraser technology, which can easily remove distractions in images. Additionally, translated text will match the original style. Coming later this year, AR Translate works in 100 milliseconds on both screenshots and live in the Google Lens camera.