Google has released a magnifying glass app for Pixel phones that aims to make it easier for users to read small, dimly lit or distant text. The new accessibility apps debuted on the Pixel 8 series and were announced by Google during a Pixel event earlier this month.
The app allows users to zoom in on small texts to show property details or zoom in on distant texts like street signs or restaurant menus.
Magnifier currently supports Pixel 5 or later phones, but not the Pixel Fold or Pixel Tablet. The application itself has a fairly simple interface.
The virtual screen includes a large zoom button to control the zoom function, surrounded by a circular shutter button, in addition to smaller buttons to turn on and off the camera flash and switch between the front and rear cameras of the device.
Additional features such as contrast and brightness adjustments and color filters to improve text readability can also be accessed by selecting the Settings button in the bottom left corner of the app.
The app automatically adjusts the brightness of photos taken in dimly lit environments. The intensity of the built-in lamp can also be adjusted using the slider.
Users will find additional options in the upper right corner of the screen that allow them to transcribe text, listen to it via text-to-speech, or send the text to Google Lens for further analysis after taking a zoomed-in photo. Magnifying glass application.
Magnifier does not automatically save captured photos to your camera roll, but it can save them to a specific camera folder to make them easier to find.
Google recommends making it easier to open the Magnifier using the quick tap feature on the back as well as the quick settings panel on Pixel devices. Google has yet to confirm plans to expand the Magnifier app to a broader Android device.
iOS has long offered a similar feature for iPhone users over 40 who suffer from premature presbyopia, a common condition that requires reading glasses. So universal access to this support tool would make sense.