So, the next time youre at a friends place and you see that cool looking item, just whip out your phone and get scanning.

It appeared inside Google Photos, moved on to the Google Assistant, and finally graduated into the feature thats built in into almost every Android Pie device out there.

While Im sure a lot of you are aware of Google Lens being available on your phone, chances are youve not been using it to its full potential.

So, here are 10 useful Google Lens features you should try out on your phone in 2020.

Its a pretty awesome feature, and one that comes in handy quite often (at least to me).

Just point your camera at the text you want to copy and head into the Google Lens mode.

You can then simply drag to select whatever you want to copy, and then tap on the Copy text button.

So, next time youre out on a walk and you come across an unknown flower, try using Google Lens to figure out what it is.

You can simply point your camera at the flower, animal (or object) to find what it is.

If that doesnt work (sometimes it doesnt), I find it easier to just click a picture of it and use the Google Lens feature inside Google Photos.

Yeah, Lens is a little finicky right now, but well give it some time to learn more about the world.

That is, unless Google decides to send it the way of Hangouts, Google Plus, or Allo.

This doesnt always work, and as far as I can tell, it only works for business that are listed on Google Maps, so theres that.

For the most part, however, businesses are listed on Maps, and you should be able to get driving, biking, or walking directions by scanning their business cards.

Simply launch Google Lens on your phone, point it at the URL bar on your browser, and tap on the URL.

Google will auto-detect the URL text and will give you the option to go to that address in your smartphone.

Google Lens Code Extension To

However, you can always copy and paste the URL into a notepad document and scan that, or you can do what I did, and add a QR-code extension to your browser that converts URLs into QR codes which you can then scan with Google Lens and open in your smartphone browser.

You dont have to manually enter them into your calendar anymore.

Google Lens Movie You Booked

With Google Lens, you can simply scan the ticket to a movie you booked tickets to, or an event youre attending, and itll automatically suggest adding the event to your calendar.

Its a pretty handy feature that can save you the hassle of last minute reminders for that date with your SO, or anything else thats important to you.

Ive used it a bunch of times to scan movie tickets (thats basically all I ever do in my free time) and it works really well.

Simply point Google Lens at the store-fronts and itll identify the restaurants and bring up their ratings and reviews from Google Maps.

Basically, if you see a cool lamp, or a jacket, shirt, pair of shoes, or anything else anywhere in the world, you can use Google Lens to find similar looking objects along with buying links and reviews.

This feature is pretty good at doing what it does, and even though it does mess up every now and then, its still worth a try.

Google Lens For Mac