How to Disable Live Text on iPhone

By Brian Peters Updated 02/14/2023

Live Text is a very cool feature introduced in iOS 15. It works in both the Camera app and the Photos app to automatically scan for text appearing in an image. It allows the user to easily search for text, or copy it directly from an image. However, Live Text can sometimes get in the way. If there are many blocks of text, you may find the indicators distracting and you may prefer not to have them if you do not often use the feature. If you like to work in the Photos app one handed, double tapping may not function as expected; double tapping in a block of detected text will not zoom but will instead select the text. If for these, or other reasons, you want to turn off this feature, this guide explains how to disable Live Text in iOS 15.

How to Turn Off Live Text on iPhone & iPad

Live text not working for you? You may want to turn it off temporarily or even permanently. There are two options for doing so: you can disable the feature system wide, or within the Camera app only, but unfortunately you cannot disable it specifically for the Photos app.

How to Disable Live Text for the Camera app

Open your iPhone Settings.
Scroll down to Camera and tap it.

Find the toggle button for Show Detected Text. If enabled (green) tap it to disable the option. It should appear gray once it's disabled.

After finishing these steps, when you return to the Camera app, the yellow frames used to indicate blocks of text should no longer appear, but it will still be available in Photos. Continue to the next section for directions to turn off the feature in both Photos and Camera apps.

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How to Disable Live Text System-Wide

Open your iPhone Settings.
Locate General and tap it.

Scroll down to Language & Region and tap it.
Find the toggle button for Live Text. If enabled (green) tap it to disable the option. It should appear gray once it's disabled.

At this point, the Live Text feature will be disabled completely, in both Camera and Photos, so be sure to remember the somewhat odd location for this feature in case you want to turn it back on in the future! If you ever change your mind and want to re-enable this feature, you can also learn how to convert currency with Live Text.

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Author Details

Brian Peters

Brian Peters is a Feature Web Writer at iPhone Life, a creative writing hobbyist, and general technology enthusiast. He has a bachelor's degree in English, and has completed National Novel Writing Month multiple times. He lives in the Austin, Texas, area with his wife, two dogs, and two cats.

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