How to use Live Text on iPhone & iPad
With the release of iOS 15 came many new features, and that meant that some handy features flew under the radar. That’s the case with Live Text, a new feature for iPhone and iPad available as part of iOS 15 and iPadOS 15 respectively. The new feature uses onboard smarts to analyse photos for text and make it interactive, allowing you to copy, translate or just about anything else you could do with digital text on an iPhone or iPad.
Simply put, you could use your iPhone’s camera app to translate a restaurant menu when abroad, quickly copy text from a slideshow or call a number on a poster without having to type it in yourself. Once you know how to use it, it really is a capable tool for iOS users.
So, what can you do with Live Text? Once the text has been analysed by the device, you can perform actions like open addresses in the Maps app, create events based on times and dates, copy and paste chunks of text, directly load websites in Safari, add numbers to your address book (as well as call them directly) and it can even translate text in English, Chinese, French, Italian, German, Portuguese and Spanish.
It works best with larger fonts, but it’ll also work with handwritten notes – though depending on how messy the handwriting is, it can be a little more hit-and-miss.
How to enable Live Text on iPhone and iPad
Live Text is enabled by default iniOS 15andiPadOS 15, but in case you disabled it not knowing what it was, you can reactivate the handy feature by heading to Settings > Camera > Live Text.
How to use Live Text in the Camera app
The easiest way to copy or translate text from a poster, flyer or handwritten note in the moment is via the Camera app itself. Simply follow these steps:
How to use Live Text in the Photos app
Live Text doesn’tjustwork in the Camera app though; you can also access the feature in the Photos app – and it’ll apply to all photos in the library too, not just those taken since iOS 15 dropped in September 2021. Here’s how to use it:
How to use Live Text in the Messages app
You can also use Live Text within the Messages app in iOS 15 if you want to quickly share text with a friend or family member. It’s a breeze to use too:
Have you found Live Text useful in iOS 15 and iPadOS 15? How have you been using it? Let us know onTwitterorInstagram. For more on getting the most out of Apple’s latest software update, take a look at ourtop iOS 15 tips and tricks.
Author: Lewis Painter, Contributor
Lewis Painter was once a Tech Advisor Senior Staff Writer. He covers everything from iPhone to AirPods, plus a range of smartphones, tablets, laptops and gaming hardware.
