Use Your iPhone’s Camera to Scan Any Text
Saturday, August 6, 2022
Have you ever wished you could point your iPhone’s camera at a sign or piece of paper and have it automatically identify then copy the text into an email or a document?
That’s where Live Text comes in – this new iOS 15 trick lets you pull any text from pictures you take or have saved on your phone. And once you’ve pulled the text, you can paste it into any text field. It’s great for quickly sharing addresses, phone numbers, and anything else you don’t want to type manually.
Live Text works with typed and handwritten text, and understands English and other common foreign languages. It’s available on any iPhone or iPad released in 2018 or later.
To use the scan text feature, long-press inside a text field as if you are going to use the copy and paste prompt. You’ll now see a Scan Text button. You may also see a button that uses just the Scan icon, which looks like a piece of paper with brackets around it.
Tap the button, which will then replace your keyboard with your iPhone camera’s viewfinder. Point your camera at whatever you wish to scan, then follow the prompts on the screen. As you align the camera and text, you’ll see a live preview of the identified text. Tap the Insert button when you’re ready.