Live Text lets iPhone users interact with text seen through the camera, including copying, sharing, translating and looking up information. It works on iPhone XS models and later running iOS 15 or newer, making it useful for everyday tasks and travel without requiring Apple Intelligence.

To use it, open Camera, frame the text, wait for the yellow outline, tap the Live Text icon and select an action. It can also trigger quick actions for phone numbers, websites, email addresses and currency conversions; the feature can be disabled under Settings > Camera. Apple’s newer Visual Intelligence offers broader image analysis but requires an iPhone 15 Pro or newer with Apple Intelligence.