Live Text on iPhone: from a photo to your calendar

Live Text reads the words in a photo. Here is how to use it for dates, and where it stops.

How to copy text from an image on iPhone

1. Open a photo in the Photos app, or point the Camera at text.
2. Tap the Live Text button (a small box with lines) that appears in the corner.
3. Touch and hold a word, drag to select, then tap Copy.

Live Text is available on iPhone XS and later with iOS 15 or later.

Add a date from a photo to Calendar

When Live Text finds a date or time, it underlines it. Tap the underlined date and choose Create Event. Calendar opens a new event for that date, and you fill in the rest.

Where Live Text stops

Live Text works one date at a time. A sports season, a school calendar or a party invite with an address means creating each event and typing the title, place and times yourself.

Snap to Calendar picks up from there

Open the same photo or screenshot in Snap to Calendar. It reads the whole image and lists every event it finds, with titles, dates, times and places. Check and correct each one, then save the ones you approve in one go. For Apple's newer camera features, see Apple Visual Intelligence vs. Snap to Calendar.

More calendar guides