With an iPhone it is possible to read texts in photos. If you then take a photo of a phone number, a text or address information, the Live Text function will easily recognize it as text. You can then copy and paste it into an email, document or note.
The Live Text feature is part of the iOS 15 operating system and works on recent iPhones. We mean a iPhone 11, 12, SE (second generation), XS or XR. If you have such a device, you still have to turn Livetext on, because this function is not active by default.
Open the app Settings and tap General†Then you go to Language and Region and put the switch live text on green. There you will read that Live Text is available for Chinese, German, English, French, Cantonese, Portuguese and Spanish. Don’t be put off by this, because the result is also more than decent in Dutch.
Select text
With Livetext you always start with a photo. For example, you can open an image with text on it in your photo library. Or you take a photo directly from a book or sign with text on it. Or you start with a screenshot.
If you hold your finger on a line of text, the grab points appear. With this you indicate the text fragment that you want to be recognized. The selected text turns blue. Hold your finger on the blue text until the menu copy appears. Tap on copyâ€
Paste or look up
After copying the text, you can paste it into another app or share it with someone via email or WhatsApp. If it concerns a text written in one of the supported languages, you can also have it translated directly into another supported language via the menu.
Instead of the command copy you can also do the command Search Selecting. For Dutch words iOS uses the online explanatory Prisma dictionary. iOS also appeals to online dictionaries for other languages. In addition, iOS shows website suggestions, news items, and movies that match this keyword.
â€