How to search for text in photos with iPhone

If you are an iPhone user, you may have encountered the problem of searching for text within photos. This can be particularly frustrating when trying to find specific information in a photo that contains a lot of text or when wanting to highlight important parts of a photo.

However, there is a solution. In this article, I will show you how to search for text in photos with iPhone using the native Photos app and other apps available on the App Store.

How text search in photos works on iPhone

Text search in photos on iPhone works by using Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology, which allows the device to recognize characters within images and convert them into digital text.

In practice, this means that you can search for specific words within your photos just as you would with any other type of digital document.

How to search for text in photos with the iPhone Photos app

The iPhone Photos app offers a built-in feature to search for text within your photos. Here's how to use it:

• Open the Photos app on your iPhone
• Select the album where the photo you want to search is located
• Tap on the photo to open it full screen
• Tap on the "Share" button in the bottom left corner of the screen
• Swipe right on the second row of icons and tap "Search Text"
• Type in the word or term you want to search for within the photo
• Tap "Search" and the Photos app will show you all photos containing that word or term

Note that this feature only works with clear and readable text within the photos. If the text is too small, blurry, or distorted, it may not be recognized by the app.

How to search for text in photos with iPhone: Steps to follow

If you want to search for text within a photo using your iPhone, here are the steps you need to follow:

1. Open the Photos app

To begin, open the Photos app on your iPhone.

2. Select the photo

Find the photo where you want to search for text and select it.

3. Tap Edit

After selecting the photo, tap on the "Edit" button in the top right corner of the screen.

4. Tap on Text button

In the lower toolbar, tap on "Text" button. This will turn your image into an Optical Character Recognition (OCR) document.

5. Search for text in the photo

After clicking on "Text" button, look for text in the photo. You can do this by scrolling up or down on the page.

6. Save changes

After finding the text you were looking for, save changes to the photo.

You have now learned how to search for text within your photos using your iPhone!

Step 1: Update iPhone to latest version of iOS

Before searching for text in photos with your iPhone, make sure you have the latest version of the iOS operating system installed. To do so, follow these simple steps:

1. Open the Settings app on your iPhone.
2. Scroll down and tap on "General".
3. Tap on "Software Update".
4. If an update is available, tap on "Download and Install".
5. Enter your passcode if prompted and wait for the update process to complete.

It's important to keep your iPhone up to date to ensure maximum security and functionality of the device. In addition, new versions of iOS often include improvements to existing features and new functionalities that may be useful to you.

Step 2: Open the Photos app and select the photo containing the text

After taking the photo or saving it in the Photos library, open the Photos app on your iPhone. Look for the photo that contains the text you want to search for.

You can use the search function within the Photos app to quickly find the desired photo. To do this, scroll down on the main screen of the app until you see the search bar. Type in a keyword or phrase related to the text you are looking for and press "Search". The Photos app will show all photos that match your search.

Once you have found the right photo, tap to open it. Make sure to zoom in on the photo to see the text more clearly. You can do this by pinching the screen with two fingers and spreading them to zoom in on the part of the photo containing the text.

Alternatively, if you prefer, you can select the editing function within the Photos app and crop only the part of the photo containing the text. This can make it easier to read the text without having to zoom in on the entire photo.

Step 3: Use the search tool to search for text in the photo

Now that we have taken and saved the photo, we can use the built-in search tool in the Photos app to search for text within the image.

To do this, we open the Photos app and select the photo in which we want to search for text. Once we have opened the photo, by tapping on the "Edit" button at the top right, a series of icons will appear under the image. We select the one with a magnifying glass shape.

At this point, a white box will appear inside the photo. By dragging this box onto the portion of image where we find the text we want to search for, a window will automatically appear with the text detected by our iPhone camera.

Selecting the newly detected text, we can copy and paste it wherever we want: for example in a message or in a text document.

• To summarize:
• - Open the Photos app and select the photo;

• - Touch "Edit" and select the magnifying glass icon;
• - Drag the white box over the portion of the image containing the text to search for;
• - Copy the detected text and paste it where desired.

As you can see, it's a very simple and fast process that allows us to search for text within photos directly from our iPhone. This feature can be particularly useful when we need to copy information from a photo, such as an address of a location or a contact's phone number.

Step 4: Copying and Pasting Found Text into Another App

After finding the text within the image, you can copy it and paste it into another app on your iPhone. This can be useful if you want to use the text to create a note or text message.

To copy text from the photo:

1. Tap and hold the text you want to copy until the text selection window appears.
2. Move the cursors to select all of the text you want to copy.
3. Tap "Copy" in the text selection window.

You can now switch to another app and paste the copied text. For example, if you want to create a note with the text, open the Notes app on your iPhone and tap the "+" button to create a new note. Then tap inside the empty space within the note and select "Paste" when the options window appears.

Remember that this method only works if the text in the image has been correctly recognized by the OCR app. If the app has not correctly recognized the text, you may need to try taking another photo or using another OCR app to try to get better results.

Conclusion

In conclusion, searching for text in photos with an iPhone is a very simple operation within reach of everyone thanks to the use of the Notes app. Thanks to this feature, you can easily find important information present in a photo without having to waste time browsing through images.

Please note that searching for text in photos only works if the text is legible and not too small or blurry. Additionally, the Notes app can only detect English language characters, so if you're looking for words in other languages it may not work correctly.

If you need to search for text in photos taken with a camera other than an iPhone or iPad, there are many other apps available on the market that offer this feature. Some of the most popular include Google Lens, Microsoft Office Lens, and CamScanner.

In general, searching for text in photos can be very useful for saving time and avoiding having to manually type information present in a photo. We hope that this article has been helpful to you and that you can use this feature to simplify your daily life!