Google Lens is essentially a VR information-gathering experience for the walking sim that is your life. It allows you to reach out and grab anything you see in front of you. Interested in whether the dentist down the street is reputable? Google Lens helps you pull up all their Yelp reviews, even as you stand at the threshold.

What does Google Lens do? The crowning achievement of the Google Lens app is its ability to grab hold of any example of writing or print around you and convert it to text on your phone.

What are some other cool things to do with Google Lens? You may have just found your new favorite app to toy with randomly when you're bored.

1. Identify Clothes and More With Google Lens

How does Google Lens work? The Lens app basically lets you Google everything around you by reading the text that you put in front of it, either a chosen image or one that you've just taken. The future is now. We never thought that we would live to see this day.

Interested in checking out a book that your friend is newly obsessed with? Simply pick the book up off of the shelf and snap a photo. You'll be able to learn more about the story, the author, and also where you can borrow or buy the book online. You can even identify the author of a quote that you find printed somewhere in the world.

You can do the same with any of the brands around you: food, clothing, pretty much anything that you can take a photo of. If there is no text in the image, Google Lens performs a glorified reverse-image search. Now, if your Lens app skills are covert enough, you can steal the look of complete strangers without bothering them for their brands.

Related: The Best Apps to Identify Anything Using Your Phone's Camera

2. Use Google Lens to Add Events to Your Calendar

If you'd like to add a new appointment or an event that you see advertised to your calendar, doing so is as easy as taking a photo with Google Lens and following the prompts.

We can probably all relate to the uncomfortable feeling of hastily thumbing details into your phone as those behind you in line grow impatient and unruly. What's Google Lens good for? It's basically the world's best small-time secretary, here to help you keep your affairs in order at all times.

3. Find Restaurant Reviews on Google Lens

We learned how to find a restaurant on Google Lens with the Location finder.

If you're passing through town and are curious about any of the local joints that you come across, you can use the Google Lens app to find them online in seconds. Snag a photo of the storefront and make sure to enable the Lens app's Location mode by hitting the button near the bottom and toward the left of the UI.

Yelp reviews, menus, and the rest are all made available to you, ready to help you make your big decision.

4. Use Google Lens to Translate Text

Gone are the days of painstakingly trying to memorize the intriguing Latin bumper sticker emblazoning the car ahead of you. Now, if you're safely stuck in traffic, you can whip out Google Lens, grab a photo, and have the text translated automatically, with Translate mode enabled.

This can be applied to anything legible, whether an exotic menu item that piques your curiosity during a late-night outing or the mysterious tattoo that your buddy decided to get etched into himself in a foreign language. If it's there to read, you deserve to know what it says.

Related: Hidden Google Photos Search Tools You May Have Missed

5. Use Google Lens to Identify Buildings and Landmarks

The Google Lens app can identify any building.

If you're a travel bug, you've probably seen more incredible places than you can even remember. Well, Google Lens can help you make the most out of every trip, no tour guide required.

Some people have reportedly also used this feature to identify plants with Google Lens, as well. Are you feeling lucky?

6. Use Google Lens to Copy Business Cards to Address Book

This Google Lens idea is especially useful if you've ever attended a conference, trade show, or other networking event. The unfortunate stack of business cards you inevitably accumulate almost always befalls some tragic fate before making it home to be cataloged.

Now, you don't even have to ask your new contact to waste a card on you at all. Just ask them to hold it up and you can scan it into your records instantly.

What Is the Function of Google Lens?

The best way to use Google Lens is for you to decide. Anytime you see something worth remembering or learning more about is the right time to give the Google Lens app its chance to shine. The Lens app has been mistakenly assumed by many to be an Android-exclusive, but Google Lens for iPhone is just as functional and addictive.

Nobody has been excluded from the party here. To get a taste of the world through the eyes of Google, we highly recommend giving the Google Lens app a try.