Live Text lets you convert text in photos, screenshots, and even text from your live camera into searchable, copyable, and editable text.

In iOS 15, iPadOS 15, and macOS Monterey, Live Text is everywhere: in screenshots, in your photo library, and even in text input areas. What it does is recognize words in any image and then convert them into regular text. From there, you can select it, copy it, share it, look it up, and even translate it. Live Text also brings Apple’s “data detectors” to the party, so you can, for example, tap a phone number in a photo of a store sign and then dial it with the Phone app.

If you’ve ever typed a word in a paperback to look up its meaning, long-pressed a link in a magazine to see a web preview, or tapped the name of a place to see it on a map, you’ll love Live Text. It makes the real world searchable, editable, and more usable.

In the new Mac, iPad and iPhone operating systems, Live Text is just there. There is no special mode. Apple has added live text everywhere it makes sense. There is a new button every time you take a screenshot that lets you highlight all the text in the image, and it is the most complex it has ever been.