How to Convert Units with Live Text in iOS 16

Apple's iOS 16 enhances the Live Text feature by adding native, on-device unit and currency conversions directly within the Camera, Photos, Safari, and other system apps. By utilizing advanced optical character recognition (OCR) and machine learning, your iPhone can instantly identify physical measurements—such as weights, lengths, and volumes—and translate them into your preferred regional units without requiring third-party conversion apps or manual calculations.

How the Technology Detects Measurements

Live Text relies on the Apple Neural Engine to analyze visual data in real time. When an image, video frame, or live camera feed contains text, the system scans for numerical values paired with standard measurement units and abbreviations. It recognizes a wide range of terms, including:

  • Weights: Pounds (lbs), ounces (oz), kilograms (kg), and grams (g).
  • Lengths and Distances: Inches (in), feet (ft), yards (yd), miles (mi), centimeters (cm), meters (m), and kilometers (km).
  • Volumes: Gallons (gal), pints (pt), quarts (qt), liters (L), and milliliters (mL).
  • Temperatures: Fahrenheit (°F) and Celsius (°C).

How to Perform a Conversion

The conversion process is integrated directly into the user interface across iOS 16:

  1. Locate the Text: Open an image in Photos, pause a video playing in Safari or Quick Look, or point the Camera app at an object displaying a measurement (such as a recipe book, shipping label, or product packaging).
  2. Activate Live Text: Tap the Live Text icon (the small document outline with lines inside) in the bottom-right corner of the viewfinder or media frame.
  3. Select the Unit: Once the system highlights recognizable text, look for the measurement. In iOS 16, actionable data types like units are often automatically underlined or isolated.
  4. View the Result: Tap directly on the measurement. A pop-up context menu immediately appears, displaying the converted value in the complementary measurement system (for example, tapping "5 lbs" reveals "2.27 kg").

Regional Defaults and Customization

Conversions automatically adapt to your device’s locale settings. If your iPhone is set to a region that uses the metric system, Live Text prioritizes imperial-to-metric conversions. Conversely, if your device is configured for the United States, metric readings will primarily convert into imperial counterparts.

From the pop-up menu, you can tap the converted value to copy it to your clipboard for quick pasting into Notes, Messages, or other applications.