Have you ever found yourself snapping a photo of a business card or other information you want to write down later? Skip a step by using your phone’s camera to turn what it sees into usable text.
Point the camera and wait a moment for the phone to recognize that there is text in view. It might highlight the text or put brackets around it. Look for a symbol on the screen. Most icons for capturing text will have four rounded corners around them. Tap the symbol to see options like copying the text, adding it to a note, translating it, or reading it aloud (options vary depending on the phone’s features).
If your phone’s camera doesn’t do this automatically, you can still use it to copy text. Open the Google homepage on any web browser and tap the camera symbol on the right side of the main search box to open Google Lens. (You may be prompted to download the Google app, if you don’t already have it installed.) Then point your camera at the text and tap “select text” for options.