How To Fix Live Text Not Working On iPhone & iPad In iOS 15

Live Text not working on iPhone or iPad? That’s a shame, because it’s one of the most important new iOS 15 feature! It allows you to grab text from Camera and images found on your iPhone. You can copy the rich content or perform quick actions like call, send mails, look up directions and much more.

Live Text Not Available On iPhone

First, you have to know that the feature isn’t available on all iOS 15 compatible devices. Unfortunately, because of hardware limitations, iPhone X or earlier models aren’t able to recognize rich text.

Supported iPhones

To have this clear, below you can find a list with all iPhone models that support Live Text. The minimum requirement is the A12 bionic chip:

• iPhone SE (2nd generation)
• iPhone XR
• iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max
• iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, iPhone 11 Pro Max
• iPhone 12, iPhone 12 Mini, iPhone 12 Pro, iPhone 12 Pro Max
• iPhone 13, iPhone 13 Mini, iPhone 13 Pro, iPhone 13 Pro Max

iPhones Not Compatible

iOS 15 devices that but are NOT supported with Live Text are:

• iPhone SE (first generation)
• iPhone 6S, iPhone 6S Plus.
• iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus.
• iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus.
• iPhone X.

Live Text Not Showing On iPad

Secondly, you should also know that for the moment this feature is exclusive to iOS 15! It’s NOT available on iPadOS 15, thus you can’t find it in the iPad Settings!

How To Fix Live Text Not Working

If you’re owning a compatible iPhone, have updated it to the public release of iOS 15 and Live Text is not showing up, perform the following troubleshooting options:

1. Change iPhone Language

In fact, there is one more limitation that you have to pass. According to Apple, Live Text is currently only supported by the English, Chinese, French, Italian, German, Portuguese, and Spanish languages!

If your iPhone isn’t set for one of the above languages you have to change the settings to get Live Text:

How to: Browse for Settings -> General -> Language & Region -> iPhone Language and select one of the supported dialects from the list!

2. Turn On Live Text For Photos

Next, you have to make sure that the feature is enabled. Because you’re already in the Language & Region settings, you will find the Live Text option at the bottom of the screen.

Enable it! This will allow you to select text in images to copy or perform quick actions.!

3. Enable Live Text For Camera

You also have to enable this feature for content that’s displayed in real-time by the Camera app:
How to: Open Settings and tap on Camera. Turn On Live Text!

4. Relaunch Camera App

If you reached this step and the issue is still not solved, your iPhone might experience a temporary glitch. I recommend you to force quit the Camera app from the App Switcher. Relaunch it and see if the LiveText icon has become available!

5. Restart iPhone

The next step is to reboot your iOS 15 device. A fresh start will flush minor glitches and the ‘three lines framed by the viewfinder’ icon might start showing up in the bottom-right corner of the screen.

How to: You can simply power iPhone Off and back On or use the force restart trick available here!

Have you managed to fix Live Text not working on iPhone? Did one of the above tips help out? Do you have a better solution? Use the comments section to share your feedback.

Related: Other common iOS 15 problems are:
– Storage bug shows wrong estimations.
– Silent mode bug mutes audio of some third-party apps.