Since the feature’s inception, users have been able to grab phone numbers, addresses, and plenty more from images. Now it’s even better – so here’s what’s new for Live Text, as well as how to use it on your iPhone in iOS 16.
What is Live Text and what’s new in iOS 16?
Source: Future
In its simplest form, Live Text lets you manipulate text within an image. Whether you’ve taken a photo of a restaurant menu or a business card, Live Text lets you copy the text out to send a message, create a note, use an email address, or call the number.
Because this is done using on-device intelligence, you’ll need an iPhone XS, XR or later.
This feature will also work on iPadOS 16.1, which will be released in October 2022.
You can, however, pull text from video content if you have an iPhone running iOS 16 or later.
If you pause, for example, an educational video and need to pull down some of the data to include in your notes, you can highlight the text and pause the video.
There is also a new feature called ‘Quick Actions’ for Live Text. By taking a picture of a text in another language, for example, you can translate it instantly.
A number of other quick actions are also available, including sending an email when finding an email address, calling phone numbers, converting currencies, and more.
Using Live Text in the Camera app
Source: Future
Tap the icon that looks like a barcode scanner in the corner of the viewfinder in the Camera app of iOS 16.
You can highlight portions of the text shown by doing so, which brings up the Live Text overlay. Tap the ‘Copy All ‘ Quick Action in the corner to copy all the text to your clipboard, so you can paste it into an app right away.
Source: Future
Live Text gets a little confused when it thinks the image is upside down, but copying the text will, naturally, correct it.
How to use Live Text in the Photos app
Source: Future
Images and videos in the Photos app follow the same process. The “Barcode” button gives you the option to “Copy All” or highlight individual parts of the text.
Whenever you don’t have time to hover and copy down some information, grab a photo or video and come back to it later.
How to use Live Text in the Translate app
Source: Future
With iOS 16, you can now access Live Text through the impressive Translate app. You can find the app in your App Library or via Spotlight if you’ve never used it before.
You can open the camera at the bottom of the screen once you’re in. You’ll need to take a photo to translate in real-time, but the app works extremely fast.
If you need to translate a phrase into multiple languages, you can pick the language after the fact.
