Article Summary
Imagine a world where your iPhone transforms into a visually intelligent assistant. This is the magic of the exclusive Visual Intelligence feature available on the iPhone 16 series, powered by iOS 18.2. By holding the camera button longer, you unlock the digital realm through your lens, allowing you to connect directly with ChatGPT or Google search for any image you capture. For those keen on links and addresses, it facilitates visiting websites, sending emails, and even adding events to your calendar with just a tap. Additionally, you can enjoy features like reading text aloud, translating texts, and obtaining precise information about places captured with your camera. So, have you tried this unique feature on your iPhone 16? And how was your experience with it?

Visual Intelligence is a new AI feature exclusive to the iPhone 16 series that relies on the camera control button. This feature is available in the iOS 18.2Here's what you can do with it, and how to get the most out of it.

From iPhoneIslam.com, the camera icon, intricately woven with a stylized knot design, stands out against a gradient background of blue and pink, seamlessly reflecting the evolution of visual intelligence in iOS 18.2.


Activating and using visual intelligence

From iPhoneIslam.com, a hand holding a smartphone running iOS 18.2 displays an image of a vibrant pothos plant with text explaining its characteristics. In the background, a wood floor and lush plants enhance the scene, highlighting the visual intelligence in every pixel. From iPhoneIslam.com, two smartphones displaying various images: one running iOS 18.2, showing a photo of a landscape with a person on a slope, while the other reveals a photo of a Border Collie accompanied by descriptive text, highlighting the advanced capabilities of visual intelligence.

Visual Intelligence works with Apple's Intelligence features, so it works if your device language is English, and your region setting is US.

To use Visual Intelligence, you need to long-press the camera control button for a few seconds to activate it. A normal press only opens the camera and controls it, so it takes a long press to access this feature. Make sure you're not already in the Camera app, as the feature doesn't work if the camera is active.

The visual intelligence interface includes a camera view, a photo capture button, and dedicated “Ask” and “Search” buttons. The “Ask” button communicates with ChatGPT, while the “Search” button sends the image to Google Search.

Using visual intelligence requires you to take a picture of what you’re looking at using the camera control button, then choose an option. The feature doesn’t work with “live camera view,” meaning you can’t point the camera at something and get information about it directly while you’re shooting. You have to take a picture first and then analyze it.

Also, you can't use photos you've already taken, which means you can't open your gallery and choose an old photo you've taken before to analyze. You have to take a new photo at the same moment you want to use the visual intelligence feature.


Get details about places

From iPhoneIslam.com, a person holding a smartphone running iOS 18.2, viewing an online profile of a restaurant and photos against a background of a building labeled “Cassava,” highlighting the platform’s enhanced visual intelligence capabilities.

If you're somewhere and want to learn more about a restaurant or store, long-press the camera control button, then press again to take a photo or tap the place's name at the top of the screen. Immediately after that, you can see the place's hours of operation, order delivery (where available), view the menu, services offered, and the ability to book an appointment, as well as call the place, or visit their website.


Text summary

From iPhoneIslam.com, two smartphones display text on their screens, highlighting iOS 18.2 features, including Apple Intelligence tools and visual intelligence. The sleek devices are set against a vibrant orange background, enhancing their modern appeal.

Take a picture of the text through the visual intelligence interface, then choose “Summarize” to get a summary of what’s written. This summary option is useful for long texts, but like other AI summaries, it’s brief and doesn’t provide in-depth details.


Read the text out loud

From iPhoneIslam.com, two smartphones running iOS 18.2 with visual intelligence display an image of a Zapp's potato chip bag, with the text read aloud feature enabled.

When you take a photo of text using the camera control button, you’ll see an option to hear the text read aloud. To use this feature, just tap the “Read Aloud” button at the bottom of the screen, and Siri will read it in the voice you chose.


Translate the text

From iPhoneIslam.com, two smartphones running iOS 18.2 show the Screen Translate feature in action, showing text translation and new language options powered by visual intelligence technology. The keyboard is shown below. .

If the text you captured with visual intelligence is in a language other than your own (currently limited to English), you’ll see a “Translate” option. You can tap it to get an instant translation.


Go to site links

From iPhoneIslam.com, a smartphone running iOS 18.2 displays a barcode scanner app, using visual intelligence to precisely focus on the barcode of a snack bag for easy identification.

If there is a link in the photo you took using visual intelligence, you will see a link you can click to visit the site.


Send emails and make calls

From iPhoneIslam.com, a smartphone running iOS 18.2 cleverly displays a close-up of a product’s nutrition label on its screen, set against a vibrant purple background. The display highlights the device’s advanced visual intelligence, enhancing your shopping experience.

If there's an email address in the image, you can tap it to create a message in the Mail app. Likewise, if there's a phone number, you'll see an option to call it.


Create an event in the calendar

From iPhoneIslam.com, two smartphone screens: one showing a notebook with written text and advanced date recognition feature, and the other showing a calendar app on iOS 18.2 where an event is seamlessly scheduled.

When you use Visual Intelligence on something that has a date, you'll see an option to add that event to your calendar.


Find and save contact information

For phone numbers, email addresses, and regular addresses, Apple says you can add the information to a contact in the Contacts app. You can also open addresses in the Maps app.


Scan QR codes

From iPhoneIslam.com, an iOS 18.2 smartphone shows a camera view focused on a set of medical supplies. The screen features options for photos or videos and highlights visual intelligence with a link to a website at the top.

Visual intelligence can be used to scan QR codes. You don't need to take a photo, just point your camera at the code and tap on the link that appears. QR code scanning also works in the regular camera app without visual intelligence enabled.


Ask ChatGPT

From iPhoneIslam.com, two smartphones running the latest iOS 18.2 show an image and text of an owl-shaped decoration on a bookshelf. Keyboards are shown below, showing the seamless blend of functionality and visual intelligence (visual intelligence) in the devices.

You can take a picture of anything and tap the “Ask” option to send it to ChatGPT with a question about it. For example, if you take a picture of something and want to know what it is, tap “Ask” and then type “What is this?” to access the ChatGPT interface. ChatGPT will respond, and you can continue chatting with it about it if you have more questions.

Uses visual intelligence ChatGPT Integration with Siri, which is optional. By default, no data is collected, but if you sign in with an OpenAI account, ChatGPT can store conversations for future reference.


Google search

From iPhoneIslam.com, three smartphone screens display a search for an image of Disney's Bambi cup, beautifully decorated with animal designs and filled with green liquid. Thanks to iOS 18.2, visual details enrich your visual perception experience.

You can take a picture of anything you see and tap the “Search” option to use Google Image Search to find it online. This is a useful feature for finding things you might want to buy, for example.

Have you used the Visual Intelligence feature on your iPhone 16? And did it help you? Let us know in the comments.

Source:

macrumors

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