Google Inc. announced on Friday that it has acquired Quest Visual Inc. and its translation app World Lens.
The purchase will allow the search giant to improve its Google Translate service, as well as Google Glass and Android's translation abilities, according to PC Magazine.
World Lens lets people use the camera of their iOS or Android phone to translate words instantly. The app can recognize different kinds of text and has the ability to translate it into any language that the user chooses, such as French to English, or English to Spanish.
Words on street signs and menus can even be translated by pointing the smartphone's camera at the text, CNET reported.
No comments on the deal have been made by Google or Otavio Good, CEO of Quest Visual.
Language packs for the app that were previously sold for purchase are now free to download. The packs are combinations of English and another language, which include French, Spanish, Italian, Russian, German, or Portuguese. As a result, World Lens primarily translates between English and a second language, and vice versa, PC Magazine reported.
The app also works with Google Glass, and doesn't require a signal to perform tasks.
"With World Lens, we've seen the beginnings of what's possible when we harness the power of mobile devices to 'see the world in your language,'" reads a post on World Lens' website. "By joining Google, we can incorporate Quest Visual's technology into Google Translate's broad language coverage and translation capabilities in the future."
Quest Visual, which was founded in 2009, currently operates out of San Francisco, according to PC Magazine.
The four-person team had worked with Google on World Lens before. Google held a demo for the app, along with four other Glassware apps, at the November 2013 hackathon for Google Glass.
The Glass Development Kit was also introduced at the event, CNET reported.
Good said at the time that the company was looking to add features to the app that included reading technology that would help the visually impaired.
