How to use Live Text in iOS 16 for your iPhone
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While iOS 16.1 is available, iOS 16 as a whole is packed with new features, including Live Activities, shared iCloud Photo Library, and new collaboration tools.
It’s not all about new features though, as it also brings a massive update to iOS 15’s excellent Live Text feature that arrived last year.
The smart feature became incredibly useful from the start, allowing users to extract phone numbers, addresses, and much more from images. The good news is that it’s even better now – so with that in mind, here’s what’s new for Live Text, in addition to how you can use it for your iPhone in iOS 16.
What is Live Text and what’s new in iOS 16?
Live Text, in its simplest form, lets you manipulate text in an image. For example, whether you took a photo of a restaurant menu or took a photo of a business card so you don’t forget, Live Text lets you copy the text and use it to send a message, make a note, use an email address or call.
This is done using on-device intelligence, but that does mean you need an iPhone XS, XR or newer.
It also works on iPadOS 16.1, released in October 2022, so you can use the feature on all your devices whenever you need to.
However, if you have an iPhone that can run iOS 16, the main new feature for Live Text this year is the addition of extracting text from video content.
The idea is that if you’re pausing an educational video, for example, and you need to retrieve some data to add to your notes, you can do so by pausing the video and highlighting the text.
Another big new feature is the inclusion of Live Text Quick Actions. For example, you can take a photo of text in another language and translate it immediately.
Other quick actions available include starting an email when finding an email address, calling phone numbers, converting currency, and much more.
Using live text in the Camera app
In iOS 16’s Camera app, hold your device so that the text is clearly visible on your screen and tap the icon that resembles a barcode scanner in the corner of the viewfinder.
Doing so displays the Live Text overlay and lets you highlight parts of the displayed text. You can also click theCopy everythingQuick action in the corner, which copies all text to your clipboard so you can immediately paste it into an app.
In the example above, you can see that Live Text gets a little confused into thinking the image is upside down, but copying the text naturally restores it back to the correct orientation.
Using Live Text in the Photos app
The same process applies to images and videos in the Photos app. Just tap the aforementioned “Barcode” button and you’ll be given the option to “Copy All” or highlight individual parts of the text.
This can be especially useful if you don’t have time to hover and copy some information – just grab a photo or video and look back at it on your own time.
Using live text in the Translate app
One of the big additions in iOS 16 is that you can access Live Text through the impressive Translate app. If you haven’t used the app before, you can find it in your app library or through a Spotlight search.
Once you’re in, there’s a new option at the bottom of the screen to open the camera. It doesn’t translate in real time as far as you need to take a photo, but the app works incredibly fast.
You can also choose the language afterwards, which means that if you need to translate a sentence into multiple languages, you can do it with ease.