You don't even have to take a photo or video - just pointing your camera at a sign, book, menu, or another object in the real world is enough for Live Text to kick in.

The Camera app's new powers work great when traveling abroad or studying a foreign language, as well as whenever you need to convert measurement units from one system to another, like liters to gallons or British pounds to US dollars. Now, there are quick actions for Live Text that turns Camera into a text translator and unit converter. While Live Text was helpful in the Camera app on iOS 15, the most you could do was select, copy, and speak content it identified. On iOS 16, Live Text has become much more powerful, especially in your default Camera app. Your iPhone's Translate app comes in handy for real-world language translations, and Siri's pretty good at converting measurements, but there's an app on everyone's lock screen that can do both: Camera. When you see foreign words on a sign, unfamiliar currencies on a dinner menu, or a recipe using a different measurement system, there's a good chance you google it for a translation or conversion.