New Live Text Languages Added in iOS 16

With the release of iOS 16, Apple expanded its optical character recognition (OCR) feature, Live Text, by introducing recognition support for three new languages: Japanese, Korean, and Ukrainian. This update significantly increased the tool's global usability, allowing users to extract, translate, and interact with text found in both photos and paused video frames across these newly supported scripts.

Newly Supported Languages in iOS 16

In iOS 16, Apple officially added support for:

• Japanese
• Korean
• Ukrainian

These additions joined the existing roster of languages originally introduced with iOS 15, which included English, Chinese (Simplified and Traditional), French, German, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish.

Additional Live Text Enhancements in iOS 16

Alongside the expanded language support, Apple implemented several functional upgrades to Live Text in iOS 16:

• Video Integration: Live Text is no longer restricted to static images. Users can pause any video containing text across Safari, Photos, and other native apps to copy, lookup, or translate content directly from the video frame.
• Quick Actions: With a single tap, Live Text can automatically convert foreign currencies into local currency, translate foreign text on the fly, and convert units of measurement (such as temperatures, weights, and distances).
• Expanded App Integration: Live Text capabilities were integrated directly into the Camera app and translate tools system-wide for smoother workflow integration.

Hardware Requirements

To utilize Live Text and its new language models in iOS 16, users require an iPhone powered by Apple's A12 Bionic chip or newer. Supported devices include the iPhone XS, iPhone XR, and all subsequent iPhone models running iOS 16 or later.