On iPhone, Live Text copies text from photos and the camera without a connection: open the photo, press and hold on the text, select what you want, and tap Copy. It runs on the phone itself and works on iPhones with an A12 chip or later, which means the iPhone XS and XR onward. On Android, Google Lens and Circle to Search can copy text from images, but they’re Google Search features, so test them in airplane mode before you count on them offline. For reading, translating or pulling details out of a document, an AI model that runs on your phone can do the job without uploading anything.
How to copy text from a photo on iPhone #
Live Text uses optical character recognition (OCR) running on the iPhone’s Neural Engine, so the photo stays on the phone.
- Open the photo or screenshot in the Photos app.
- Press and hold on a word, then drag the handles to select the text you want. Or tap the Live Text button (the icon that looks like lines of text inside a frame) to highlight all the text in the image.
- Tap Copy, then paste it wherever you like.
It also works in the Camera app: point at text, tap the Live Text icon when it appears, and select. And it works in screenshots, Safari images and Quick Look previews of files. Live Text can also translate the selected text or look it up.
How to copy text from a photo on Android #
- Google Lens: in Google Photos or the Google app, open the image, tap Lens, then choose the text option and select what you want to copy.
- Circle to Search: on phones that support it, long-press the navigation handle or home button, circle the text, and copy it.
- Scanner and note apps: many apps use Google’s ML Kit, which includes text recognition that can run on the device.
Because Lens and Circle to Search are part of Google Search, how much works offline depends on your phone and version. The only reliable way to know is to turn on airplane mode and try.
Using an on-device AI model to read text in images #
OCR tools copy the text. An AI vision model can read the text and do something with it in the same step:
- “Type out all the text in this photo exactly as written.”
- “What’s the total and the due date on this bill?”
- “Translate this sign into English.”
- “Summarize this page in three bullet points.”
- “Turn this receipt into a list of items and prices.”
- “What is this form asking me to fill in?”
Personal LLM runs vision-capable open models on your iPhone or Android phone. Add the image-support file for a model (195 MB to 1 GB), attach a photo or take one, and ask. The image is processed on the phone and never uploaded, and it works in airplane mode. Ministral 3 3B is quick on documents and screenshots, and GLM 4.6V Flash is the strongest option for documents on phones with 8 GB of RAM or more.
Live Text or an AI model: which should you use? #
| Job | Best tool | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Copy text exactly | Live Text or Lens | OCR copies letter for letter |
| Copy a phone number or address | Live Text or Lens | Fast and exact |
| Pull out specific details | AI model | It can find the total, the date, the name |
| Understand or summarize a page | AI model | It explains, not just copies |
| Translate and explain | AI model | You can ask follow-up questions |
| Handwriting | Try both | Results vary with neatness |
One caution about AI models: they read and then write, so they can paraphrase, skip a line or misread a digit, especially small models with small print. When the exact wording matters, copy with Live Text or Lens and use the AI to understand it. More on what vision models do well is in asking AI about a photo offline.
Tips for cleaner results #
- Good light, no glare. Shadows and reflections cause most errors.
- Flat and square-on. Photograph pages straight down, not at an angle.
- Crop to the part you need. Less clutter, better accuracy, and smaller images are faster for AI models.
- One page at a time. Especially with AI models on a phone.
- Zoom for small print. Take a closer photo rather than a wide one.
- Check numbers. Digits like 1 and 7, or 0 and 8, are the classic mistakes.
What about scanned PDFs? #
A PDF from a scanner is sometimes just a picture of each page, with no text inside. Apps that search PDFs, including document chat features, can’t read those because there’s no text to extract. Either use a scanner app that adds a text layer, or take photos of the pages and use Live Text or a vision model. What is RAG explains how document search works and why image-only PDFs fall through.
Why copying text offline matters #
The images people most often need text from are also the most sensitive: IDs, bank statements, medical letters, bills and screenshots of messages. Cloud OCR and cloud chatbots upload the image to process it. Doing it on the phone keeps those images off other people’s servers. If you do use a cloud service, our guide to uploading photos to ChatGPT explains what happens to them.
Frequently asked questions #
Does Live Text work offline? #
Yes. Live Text runs on the iPhone’s Neural Engine, so it recognizes text in photos without a connection. It needs an iPhone with an A12 chip or later.
How do I copy text from a picture on Android? #
Open the image in Google Photos, tap Lens, and select the text to copy, or use Circle to Search on supported phones. Test in airplane mode if you need it to work offline.
Can AI read handwriting from a photo? #
Often, yes, if the writing is reasonably neat and the photo is clear. Both OCR tools and AI vision models struggle with messy handwriting, so check the result against the original.
Is it safe to copy text from ID or bank photos? #
With on-device tools like Live Text or a local AI model, the image stays on your phone. Avoid uploading those images to cloud services, and delete screenshots of sensitive documents when you’re done.
Why can’t my app read the text in my PDF? #
The PDF is probably an image-only scan with no text layer. Photograph the pages and use Live Text or a vision model, or rescan with an app that adds text recognition.