At a bare minimum, we looked for a promise that apps won’t sell or share your data without consent. Attention to security: We were skeptical of apps that encourage you (or require you) to upload your scans to their own cloud servers for storage and OCR, as well as those that don’t provide clear security and privacy policies.Diverse format options: You’ll probably end up scanning text documents and receipts most of the time, but a good scanning app should also be adept at capturing less-common materials such as whiteboards, book pages, newspaper and magazine articles, and business cards.If the app can automatically back up scans to cloud storage, all the better. Ample sharing options: A good scanning app provides a convenient way to share your scans and OCR results on all the channels you like to use-email, Dropbox, Google Drive, Slack, printers, faxes, and more.
Some apps export raw text (either as a TXT file or copied to the clipboard), while others provide formatted text in RTF or DOC files. Accurate text recognition: The best scanning apps use optical character recognition (OCR) to locate text in an image and convert it to an editable document.Different apps provide different scan resolutions and different filters, some of which are better than others at smoothing out wrinkles, shadows, and other blemishes. Great image quality: Although the scan quality is partly dependent on the quality of your phone camera, it also has a lot to do with the app itself.We looked for apps with intuitive controls, a thoughtful layout, and helpful features such as automatic document recognition and capture. Ease of use: Above all else, scanning apps have to be easy to use, or else you won’t want to use them.Here’s how Live Text worked with my messy print and a little bit of cursive:įrom personal to work and more, there are lots of use cases for iPhone Live Text OCR. We tested that out too and – at least for now in the beta – it works, but the accuracy may depend on the handwriting being a bit more legible than mine. your text even without tapping the Live Text icon firstĭuring the WWDC keynote, Apple showed off Live Text recognizing handwriting. Or you can also just swipe or tap to select/copy/paste/etc.Tap the icon to recognize all available text in an image.Open Apple’s Photos app in iOS 15 and look for the same Live Text icon (viewfinder square with three lines).Live Text works for photos and screenshots you’ve already taken.Live Text even works with stylized fonts (although it confused Disney’s cursive “y” for a “p” in the example above. If the Live Text button and yellow viewfinder aren’t showing up, try moving closer to the text.feature live links that can be acted on with a long-press And text like phone numbers, emails, dates, addresses, etc.When you have the yellow viewfinder surrounding the text you want, tap the Live Text button to be able to select, copy, look up, translate, and share recognized text.Look for the yellow viewfinder rectangle to appear as the camera notices text as you move your camera around.Bottom right corner when in portrait orientation or bottom left in landscape.With iOS 15 in the Camera app, look for the new Live Text button (viewfinder square with three lines).
OCR FOR APPLE HOW TO
How to use iPhone Live Text OCR in iOS 15 In the Camera app iOS 15 uses secure on-device intelligence to help you discover more in your photos, quickly find what you’re looking for, and relive special moments. There is so much rich information in your photos, from memorable places you’ve visited to handwritten family recipes.
OCR FOR APPLE DOWNLOAD
Up until now, you’ve needed to download a third-party app to get this functionality on iPhone and iPad.īut with iOS 15 (iPadOS 15 too), Apple is including optical character recognition (OCR) as a seamless option in the Camera app as well as for photos and screenshots you’ve already taken in the Photos app. Live Text isn’t the flashiest of features but it really offers a lot of convenience. Let’s looks at how iPhone Live Text OCR works from photos to screenshots and handwriting too. One of the handy new features arriving with iOS 15 is the option to quickly recognize text and select, copy, paste, and lookup in both the Camera and Photos app.