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submitted 14 hours ago by Aditya_151@lemmy.world to c/opensource@lemmy.ml

Why Use This Circle To Search App?

The Problem with Google's CTS Version

  • Forced Cloud Syncing: Uploads your selection to servers even when you just want to copy text.

  • Get's accidentally triggerd frequently, exposing sensitive data instantly to google

  • Ecosystem Lock-in: Restricted to Google Search—no support for Bing, Yandex, or AI models.

  • Locked to Google ecosystem—no choice of search engine

  • Missing Features: Useful features like "Share" and "Save" have been stripped out.

  • Hardware Exclusivity: Only available on expensive flagship devices (Pixel 8, Galaxy S24+).

What We Do Differently

  • Only what you circle gets processed—nothing else

  • True Offline OCR: Text recognition works 100% locally on your device—no internet needed.

  • QR detection offline, Smart Scan offline—no unnecessary servers

  • Universal Compatibility: Works with any search engine (Google, Bing, Yandex, TinEye,).

  • Restored Utility: We brought back the "Share" and "Save" features Google removed.

  • Works on any Android device, not just expensive flagships

  • Works on De-Googled Devices no google programs needed.

  • 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.

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[-] otter@lemmy.ca 9 points 9 hours ago* (last edited 9 hours ago)

There is a popup explaining how it works when you install it. I asked something similar and the dev replied saying that they are looking into alternatives that don't upload the image anywhere: https://lemmy.ca/comment/22876710

Tldr from the pop-up:

  • it uses litterbox by default for the auto delete, and catbox when that fails
  • it needed to add uploads since apps aren't allowed to programmatically upload to search engines
  • it recommends against scanning anything sensitive since Google/Bing are keeping it too

I don't have the latest version since I got the fdroid release, but the GitHub release mentions a number of things that are now processed locally (ex. Text, QR, phone numbers)

this post was submitted on 21 Apr 2026
113 points (100.0% liked)

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