Why Use This Circle To Search App?
The Problem with Google's CTS Version
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Forced Cloud Syncing: Uploads your selection to servers even when you just want to copy text.
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Get's accidentally triggerd frequently, exposing sensitive data instantly to google
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Ecosystem Lock-in: Restricted to Google Search—no support for Bing, Yandex, or AI models.
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Locked to Google ecosystem—no choice of search engine
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Missing Features: Useful features like "Share" and "Save" have been stripped out.
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Hardware Exclusivity: Only available on expensive flagship devices (Pixel 8, Galaxy S24+).
What We Do Differently
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Only what you circle gets processed—nothing else
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True Offline OCR: Text recognition works 100% locally on your device—no internet needed.
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QR detection offline, Smart Scan offline—no unnecessary servers
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Universal Compatibility: Works with any search engine (Google, Bing, Yandex, TinEye,).
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Restored Utility: We brought back the "Share" and "Save" features Google removed.
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Works on any Android device, not just expensive flagships
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Works on De-Googled Devices no google programs needed.
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And has many other useful features
100% Independent: Works on any Android phone (Android 10+), without requiring Google Play Services or OEM-specific software.
Privacy-First: No background tracking or logs—just pure on-device selection.
➥ Download:
- github
It still needs a lot of improvements and isn't polished yet, as I am a solo developer working on it. You can download it from GitHub for now, as the new update is yet to be released on F-Droid.
It can be invoked in two ways:
Double-tap on the status bar – this method requires accessibility permission.
Set it as your default assistant – once set, you can trigger it just like your device’s default assistant (the exact gesture depends on your device).
If you prefer using a bottom gesture, you can move the overlay to the bottom of the screen. After that, you’ll be able to invoke it by long-pressing the bottom area of your screen.
Shame, would use if it actually replaced the Google CTS natively.
You can disable the native Google CTS long-press gesture from your device’s navigation or launcher settings—it depends on your device or ROM.
As for replacing the native Google gesture, it’s reserved for Google only, so third-party apps can’t override it directly.
That’s why apps use workarounds like a bottom overlay to trigger CTS or other actions. This app already supports that—you just need to set it up manually.
Its weird that google sends the bottom gesture to their own assistant even when you set a different default.
I'm in the same boat. I use gesture navigation so I have the pill at the bottom.
Holding that still opens Google's interface.
@Aditya_151@lemmy.world is there anyway to hook into that?
I guess for now the workaround is to enable accessibility service and move the overlay to the bottom.
edit1: also make sure to disable OG circle to search.
edit2: seems promising but doesn't do OCR text copy like OG circle to search (a future I use a lot). Will be keeping an eye on this.
By default, it uses a fast English model to keep the app size small, which can miss some text. You can download and import a more accurate OCR language model for the best accuracy from dev's telegram group.