How to use iOS’s Live Text feature

I’m thing of a hoarder erstwhile it comes to absorbing facts — I’ll spot thing online oregon successful a photo, and a tiny dependable successful my encephalon says, “You’ll beryllium capable to usage that notation somewhere, somehow. Save it truthful you tin find it later!” Which is good if it’s conscionable a enactment oregon 2 of text, but what if that info is wrong an representation — a photo, say, oregon adjacent a drawing?

Luckily, backmost successful 2021, Apple introduced a diagnostic successful iOS 15 called Live Text, which makes it imaginable for iPhone users to drawback text, email addresses, telephone numbers, and much from images. Live Text works with some handwritten and typed substance and supports a assortment of languages.

Once you’ve captured substance from an image, you tin paste it into a document, an email, a substance message, etc., conscionable arsenic you would immoderate copied text. (A suggestion: you mightiness privation to proofread it earlier you nonstop oregon station it, particularly if you’ve copied handwritten substance — Live Text is beauteous good, but it’s not perfect.) Just property connected the selected substance and take Copy. You tin besides prime Translate if you privation to construe it to different connection oregon Look Up to get much information.

You tin usage Live Text with your camera app oregon straight from Photos oregon Safari. Here’s however to seizure the substance successful these 3 apps.

Capture substance utilizing the camera app

One of the handiest ways of utilizing Live Text is connected documents oregon objects that are astir you successful existent time. If you person an iPhone XS oregon later, you tin usage the camera app to rapidly drawback immoderate substance — say, the sanction connected a merchandise label, oregon of a publication you privation to retrieve to bargain — and driblet it into different app. You don’t adjacent person to drawback a photo. It’s precise easy:

Capture substance from photos

If you’re viewing immoderate pictures with substance successful the Photos app, you tin prime and interact with substance there. It works conscionable similar selecting existent substance anyplace other connected iOS: pat and clasp connected the substance successful an representation and you’ll spot the familiar-looking bluish highlights popular up.

The hunt barroom successful Photos volition besides hunt for substance wrong images successful your photograph library, which is useful if you cognize you took a screenshot oregon photograph of a receipt and conscionable aren’t definite when. Once you find it, you tin transcript it utilizing the steps above.

Capture from web images successful Safari

Text tin besides beryllium selected straight from images connected the web successful Safari. To drawback text, conscionable item the substance successful the representation arsenic you would immoderate text, and deed the Copy button.

Update, August 30th, 2024: This nonfiction was primitively published connected July 1st, 2021, and has been updated to relationship for changes successful the OS.