Live Text makes it easy to interact with text you see anywhere by pointing your iPhone’s camera at it.
A feature called Live Text leverages your iPhone’s camera to instantly interact with text you point to. It is available on iPhones up to the XS series running iOS 15 and later. When you view a website, sign, poster, flyer, or almost anything else within your camera’s frame, you can copy or share it, search for information, or even translate it.
It is similar to the Visual Intelligence feature, but does not require an Apple Intelligence-enabled iPhone and is limited to interacting with text. All you have to do is hold your phone up, press the button Live Text on the screen and choose the desired option.
This feature is especially useful for travelers, but there are many ways to use it in everyday life, such as:
- Capture information about an upcoming event that you see on a flyer.
- Share the contents of a written note with colleagues instead of taking a screenshot.
- Search for a website or send an email without having to enter the address.
- Contact a telephone number displayed on a sign.
- Currency conversion.
- And much more!
Using Live Text is easy
Christine Persaud for Woozad
To use Live Text with a compatible iPhone like the new iPhone 18 Pro, open the Camera app, position the desired text in the viewfinder, and wait for a yellow frame to appear around the text. Once you see that, tap the little grid icon (three lines surrounded by four corners) at the bottom right. Choose an option from the menu, like Translate Or Copyor use dots to capture the desired part of text (like a website address). You can also choose to Select all.
You have many options for working with selected text. A basic method is to copy and paste the content as text into apps like Messages, Notes, or Mail. To try Share for faster sending than copy and paste can provide, or to use other methods like AirDrop. You can also Seek a web address or information you want to search for, or Translate text in another language.
Some content displays a quick action at the bottom of the screen to make a call, visit a website, start an email, convert currency, and other common actions. If you don’t want to use it, you can turn off Live Text by going to Settings > Camera and turn off Show detected text.
Live Text vs. Visual Intelligence
Christine Persaud for Woozad
Apple introduced Visual Intelligence with iOS 18.1 as part of Apple Intelligence in September 2024. Apple’s version of Google Lens works a little differently than Live Text, going beyond text to analyze much more. It requires an iPhone compatible with Apple Intelligence (iPhone 15 Pro, 15 Pro Max or newer).
There are several ways to activate it. First, make sure Siri is enabled (Settings > Siri). Long press the camera control button (if applicable), customize the action button to call visual intelligence (Settings > Action button > Visual intelligence) or select Siri from the Camera app if Siri AI is enabled. You can also access it from the lock screen or control center if you add the icon there (scroll down at the top right, tap and hold any empty space to open the edit menu, select Add a control and choose Visual intelligence).
Once activated, hold the phone near something, like a plant or landmark. From there, you can get more context from Siri, run a Google image search, or use ChatGPT to find more information. You can point the phone at a business sign to get information like opening hours, menu, reviews or even a reservation window.
Additionally, Visual Intelligence will interact with text just like Live Text. Once enabled, you can translate, read aloud, or summarize, as well as tap a phone number, email address, or website to open it in an appropriate window. Live text happens organically when the phone detects text as part of the Camera app, while visual intelligence expands on this to provide even more information in a specific camera mode.
