Google's new accessibility updates help you search your surroundings faster than ever

What you need to know

• Google introduced new accessibility features for visually impaired users, including easier selfies and AI-powered word finding.
• The Magnifier app now helps find specific words with AI, offers picture-in-picture mode, and lets you choose between macro and wide-angle lenses.
• Guide Frame also now has better real-time guidance for selfies, better object recognition, face filtering, and focus, and you can now activate it directly from camera settings.

Alongside the Pixel 9 series reveal, Google launched a new accessibility feature for visually impaired users, making it easier to take selfies and quickly find specific words in their surroundings using AI.

Today, Google announced updates to Magnifier, a Pixel-only app introduced last year that lets users use their device's camera to magnify their surroundings.

Using AI, the app now helps users find specific words in their environment. This upgrade is great for spotting details like flight times in airports or vegetarian options on menus, as Google noted in a blog post.

The updated version of Magnifier now features a picture-in-picture mode to keep the visual context while magnifying. Users also have the option to choose between macro lenses for fine details and wide-angle lenses for broader views.

Additionally, users can now use Selfie Illumination to turn the front-facing camera into a personal mirror for touch-ups.

The Guide Frame feature is also seeing a few enhancements. Introduced in 2022, it guides users in real-time on-camera positioning for selfies. Just point the camera at yourself, and the device will automatically give you exact instructions on angle and rotation before taking the shot.

The updated Guided Frame now includes better object recognition, advanced face filtering for group shots, and improved subject focus, even in tricky visual settings.

Furthermore, access to Guided Frame has been streamlined; you can now turn it on directly from the camera settings, making it easier for those who don’t use TalkBack or other screen readers.

Alongside its new foldable device, Google introduced a dual-screen mode for foldables like the Pixel 9 Pro Fold. This feature allows users to prop their device on a flat surface for an ideal view of transcribed content, making it easy for everyone in a conversation—whether in a meeting or casual chat—to follow along.

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Google is also expanding language support for Live Caption, which is now available in Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Chinese, Turkish, and Vietnamese.

Google is also rolling out on-device support for Live Transcribe in those languages, bringing the total to fifteen. This means Live Transcribe will work offline, even in places without network connectivity.