This hidden iPhone trick will save you a ton of time

This hidden iPhone trick will save y'all a ton of time

iphone 13 mini display on leaning against books

(Image credit: Tom'due south Guide)

At college, a group of friends and I seriously considered pooling some money toward an expensive text-scanning pen that we planned to share. After spending countless nights painstakingly typing words from textbooks into our computers, we dreamed of a simpler life.

Today, iPhones and iPads running iOS 15 and to a higher place feature a piddling-known tool that would have had us clawing our way to the front of the line in an Apple tree Store: the Scan Text feature.

What does it practise? Well, it basically turns your iPhone or iPad into a highly efficient document scanner, instantly importing text from whatsoever certificate you point your camera at. It works with whatsoever of the all-time iPhones or best iPads, or any other Apple tree device running iOS fifteen.

Desire to know how to scan on an iPhone using this life-changing feature? Bank check out our quick guide below.

How to browse text on iPhone

i. Open an app yous want to scan text into — this could be Notes, Messages, or any other app that lets you enter text. In the text-entry area, tap and hold for a couple of seconds then release your finger. You should now see a scanner icon and "Scan Text" appear — or simply the icon, depending on the app you're using.

Screenshot from an iPhone showing the text scanning feature — (Paradigm credit: Apple tree)

ii. Tap "Scan Text" — or the scanner icon — and your camera volition now be in scanning mode. Now, simply bespeak your photographic camera at the text yous want to scan, and it volition appear in the text entry field. Tap "Insert" when you're ready to import it.

And that's information technology. I hope this characteristic changes your life every bit much as it would have inverse mine if it had existed 10 years agone. Now you know how to scan text on iPhone, you may be interested to know that y'all tin launch apps past borer the dorsum of your iPhone. As well check out some of our other guides, including how to get full-screen Caller ID on iOS xv and how to transfer data from iPhone to iPhone.

Dale Fox is How-to Editor at Tom'southward Guide, helping people get the most out of their applied science. He's been a tech nerd ever since childhood, when he used the money from his first job equally a paperboy to buy a subscription to GamesMaster magazine, and has a whole room at dwelling house dedicated as a shrine to the countless gadgets he's purchased over the decades. Dale was previously a presenter, reporter and editor in Prc, where he also worked every bit a copywriter for OnePlus at its Shenzhen HQ.