Google's Circle to Search launched in 2024 and today even budget phones ship with this feature. That said, plenty of older Android phones don't have it as the feature needs OS-level support. So if you are looking for an alternative, take a look at Circle To Search by AKS Labs. It's a free and open-source app that brings the same circle gesture to any phone running Android 10 or later. Here is how it works and how you can set it up.
What is the Open-Source Circle To Search App?
Circle To Search is a free and open-source Android app developed by AKS Labs. The first version was released on GitHub in late 2025 and the app is released under the GPL-3.0 licence. So, anyone can inspect the code and the GitHub project has crossed 700 stars.
The core idea behind the app is the same as Google's implementation. You simply trigger the app over any screen, draw a circle or scribble over something and get search results. You can even pick the search engine including Google Lens, Bing, Yandex, TinEye, ChatGPT and Perplexity. Not only that, the app doesn't need Google Play Services, so it runs on de-Googled phones as well.
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How Is It Different from Google's Circle to Search?
Over the past year, Google has integrated Circle to Search into Gemini and it can now read full PDFs and web pages using Gemini when you trigger it on your screen. On top of that, Google now saves screenshots taken with Circle to Search to your Search history unless you turn the setting off.
The AKS Labs app takes a different approach and keeps more of your data on the phone. Only the area you circle on the screen gets processed. And text recognition runs on your phone using the open-source Tesseract OCR engine.
QR code scanning and the SmartScan feature, which is used for identifying links, phone numbers, email addresses and even UPI IDs, work offline. Apart from that, the app brings back the option to share or save the highlighted area, which many users miss on Google's Circle to Search.
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How to Set Up Circle To Search on Any Android Phone
- First off, go ahead and install Circle To Search from the Google Play Store (visit). You can also get it from F-Droid (visit) or grab the APK from the GitHub releases page (visit).
- Next, open the app and enable the Accessibility permission when asked. The developer says the app only uses this permission when you start a search and the data stays on your device.
- Now, you can double-tap the status bar to trigger Circle To Search.
- In case, you prefer Google's gesture, open Settings > Apps > Default apps > Digital assistant app and pick Circle To Search.
- Now, simply long-press the navigation handle to launch it.
If your phone already has Google's Circle to Search and you want to disable it, follow our guide on turning off AI features on Pixel phones.
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How to Use Circle To Search
Once the overlay of Circle To Search appears, highlight on the screen by circling it or scribbling across it. The app trims the screen and shows results from each search engine in its own tab. Google Lens shows the first result, but you can reorder the engines from the app's settings.
Apart from searching, you can also copy text from the marked area even without the internet. It can read QR codes and look up everything on the display in one go. Next, results can also opened in Chrome or any other browser you use. In addition, you can copy the links or view them in Desktop Mode.
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Notable Points for Privacy
Note that text recognition, QR scanning and SmartScan work in offline mode, but image searches still need an internet connection.
The developer says search engines don't allow third-party apps upload images to them directly, so the app first uploads the highlighted portion of the image to Litterbox. It's a free file host where the app gets a URL which is passed to Google Lens or other engines.
Litterbox does delete the file after an hour, but if the upload fails, the app falls back to its another service Catbox, which stores files permanently. The app makes this clear in its own Privacy and Data Usage screen. I would say avoid circling personal photos, IDs, bank details or anything sensitive with this app.
In addition, some users have reported that Circle To Search stops responding after a while. If you face this issue, you may need to exclude it from battery optimisation, especially on Android phones that aggressively kill background apps.
Lastly, if you want to install it from F-Droid or GitHub, you should know that Google is tightening sideloading with developer verification. Google is planning to roll it out globally in 2027, so installing from the Play Store is the simplest option for most users.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Is the open-source Circle To Search app safe to use?
The source code is public on GitHub under the GPL-3.0 licence. On top of that, F-Droid verifies that the APK it distributes matches the published source code, so yes, it's quite transparent.
Does Circle To Search work without the internet?
It works partially without the internet. You can copy text, scan QR codes and detect links, numbers and UPI IDs in offline mode, but image searches need an internet connection.
Will it work on my Samsung, Xiaomi or OnePlus phone?
Yes, Circle To Search works on any phone running Android 10 or later and it doesn't need Google Play Services.
