You can now use Nano Banana image generator even without Gemini, here’s how

Nano Banana recently fueled a whirlwind of trends for generating an unimaginably wide variety of images with Gemini. But limiting the image-to-image generation tool just for amusement or entertainment undermines its true potential. That’s why Google has been testing ways to combine it with other tools, including AI Mode, to deliver more refined search results. Google has now confirmed the move, while also expanding Nano Banana to tools beyond Search.

Google recently announced that Nano Banana is coming to Search through Lens. With Lens, you can now snap a picture and transform it with Nano Banana by adding a text prompt. This update makes Lens just another way to access the Nano Banana, which previously required the Gemini app.

The Nano Banana option sits in the expanded button layout at the bottom of the Google Lens interface, exactly where we spotted it last week when the feature was still being tested. While we also found Google testing Nano Banana in Circle to Search, that hasn’t made its way to the release yet.

If you’d rather use images generated with Nano Banana for better visual search, Google is also bringing the AI Mode to search. Here, you can either add the image of an object and ask AI Mode to search for items or products resembling it. You can also prompt it to make tweaks and search using that image.

Besides Search, Google is also relying on Nano Banana to jazz up results from other tools. For instance, it’s now also being deployed in NotebookLM to create distinct visual styles, such as watercolor, retro, and anime, for Video Overviews. Unlike Search, you can’t add images for a visual guide, but the extra options also make Video Overviews much more engaging for a broader audience.

Additionally, Google is teasing Nano Banana’s arrival in the Photos app. While it hasn’t detailed how that could work, we recently also spotted its abilities to merge images, create collages, and fuse elements from different photos into a single one being tested in the Photos app.

Notably, these features are only starting to roll out in the US and India and may not be available immediately. The availability in other regions has not been shared with us, so we cannot share a tentative timeline.