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One of the useful new features in iOS 15, iPadOS 15, and macOS Monterey is Live Text. This feature converts text in images to text that you can copy. You can use this to point your iPhone’s camera at a phone number, then immediately make a call to that number; to zoom in on an address, then find that address in Maps; or even translate text on signs into one of a number of languages. <\/p>\n
This also works in macOS; not with a camera, but with photos or screenshots. In the Photos app, or in Preview, you can select and copy text from images. <\/p>\n
Here’s how to use Live Text. <\/p>\n
You may be familiar with optical character recognition, or OCR. This technique has been around for many years, and it is used to convert scanned documents into usable text. You scan a few pages in a standard scanner, then run the images through an OCR app, and the result is ether a PDF file with selectable text or a long block of text that you can then use where you want. <\/p>\n
Live Text is just another type of OCR. When your iPhone or iPad camera detects text in an image, it reacts by displaying a small indication icon. If you want to grab all the text in an image, just tap that icon. If you want to grab a selected bit of text, tap that text, and the Camera app displays it converted to text. You need an iPhone XS, iPhone XR, or later with iOS 15 to use Live Text.<\/p>\n
Here’s how this works. First I held my iPhone over the back of a book, with the camera looking at the area where its contents are listed. I tapped the contents, then the Camera app showed me that text, with a menu allowing me to copy it, select all, and more (tap the arrow to see more options). I selected all the text and copy it, so I could then paste it into another document. <\/p>\n