The Photos app on your iPhone and iPad has a Live Text feature that allows you to copy and paste text from an image, so you can save needed information with a few quick taps! Let's cover how to copy text from a picture in the Photos app.

Why You’ll Love This Tip

Copy and paste text information from photos of printed documents, restaurant menus, storefronts, or flyers.
Save the copied text on your iPhone or iPad or send it to someone else.

How to Copy Text from a Picture on iPhone & iPad

System Requirements

This tip was performed on an iPhone 17 Pro Max running iOS 26.4. Find out how to update to the latest version of iOS.

Your Camera and Photos app now have a Live Text function that allow you to select and copy text from pictures and then paste the text elsewhere. For large text, you can sometimes just press and hold to select text to copy and paste, but for smaller or more complex text, you will often need to use the Live Text function, which has a built-in text copier feature. For more nifty Photos app tips, don't forget to check out our free Tip of the Day newsletter. Now, here's how to convert words in photos to editable text without having to retype them:

Open the Photos app.
Tap on a photo that contains text to open it.
Tap the Live Text icon in the lower-right corner. This will identify all of the text in the image.
Press and hold on some text, then drag to highlight text in the photo.
If you want to copy all text in a photo, press and hold on some text and tap Select All.
When you have the desired text highlighted, tap Copy.
Swipe up to close the Photos app.
Open the app you'd like to paste the text in, I'll pick the Notes app and create a new blank note.
To paste the text, press and hold the space where you would type your text and tap Paste.
Now the copied text will appear in the note, email, or message you've pasted it into!

That's all there is to it! It used to be tedius to extract text from pictures because you had to type it out yourself or use a third-party app to complete picture of text to text conversions. Thankfully, we can now easily copy and paste text from images to save your favorite recipes, book titles, project notes, and more. The possibilities are endless! Next, learn how to view your iPhone clipboard.