Google Chrome

Chrome Review: Lens and Autofill, Paid For in Data

Lens Searches What the Camera Sees

Point the camera at a plant, a label or a page of text and Lens returns matches — the store screenshots show a flower identified as red ginger with visually similar species beside it — plus tabs for reading text out of the image and translating it in place. It works from inside the browser rather than as a separate app, so a photo taken mid-search stays in the same session. Page translation sits next to it: a bar offers to convert a German page to English before you have scrolled.

Autofill, Tabs and Sync Across Devices

The practical half is unglamorous. Autofill completes an entire checkout form — name, street, city, state, postcode — with green ticks as each field fills, and stores card details behind the same account. The tab view is a grid with previews, and everything syncs: open tabs from a laptop appear on the phone, along with bookmarks, history and saved passwords. That sync is the reason people stay, and the reason the browser wants an account before it becomes useful. None of it works before signing in, which is the trade the browser asks for at first launch rather than later.

Nine Data Categories and an Ads Badge

The Play listing carries a Contains ads badge and records nine collected categories including location and personal information, though it declares no third-party sharing. Apple rates the iPhone build 17+, reflecting unrestricted web access rather than anything in the app itself. The ratings split the usual way for Google's apps: 4.7 on the App Store against 4.1 from 49.2 million Play reviews, on a product with more than ten billion installs. There are no in-app purchases at any point. The install is also among the larger ones here, which matters more on an Android phone where the browser cannot be removed.