Google Goggles is not one of Google’s most popular apps, but it was a rather capable and fun app to use, but it seems like it’s going away, as it now prompts users to install Google Lens instead. Google Goggles has received a new update, the first one since 2014, and it basically renders the app useless, as the only thing that you will see after updating and firing up the app, is a message from Google which is letting you know that the Goggles app is “going away”, and that you should use Google Lens app, with a link to Google Lens, of course.
Google’s Goggles app actually functioned as a barcode / QR code scanner, while it was able to recognize famous landmarks, and translate text by taking a picture of a foreign language text on a surface. Google Goggles was also able to solve Sudoku puzzles, and find similar products to some items. This app was not really maintained by the company, which is why it received its last update in 2014. That being said, it’s obvious that Google developed Lens in order to replace the Goggles app, and that is pretty much what is happening now. The Google Goggles app is quite old, though, and it’s quite possible that Google Lens will not work on devices that are as old, so prompting users to install Google Lens may not be the best idea, as not many devices do have Google Goggles installed, and those who do, well, it’s possible they can’t use Google Lens… but there you have it, Google wants to let everyone know Lens is here to replace Goggles.
Google Lens was announced about a year ago, it was initially released in October 2017, but Google talked about it and announced it back during Google I/O last year, so it has been over a year since we initially got some info about the app. Google Lens improved a lot since release, and it’s capable of recognizing all sorts of items using Deep Learning, while it can also translate text from one language to another, help you track down items you see in real life, and so on.