Universal Translator on iPhone should provide OCR functionality in every app

Universal Translator on iPhone is a very useful feature when traveling. Arthur C. Clarke famously said that any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic, an ability that I still feel is true today.

Apple introduced Live Text OCR in iOS 15.

In the Camera app in iOS 15, look for the new Live Text button (three lines in the viewfinder). The lower right corner in portrait or the lower left corner in landscape orientation. Look for the yellow viewfinder rectangle and the camera will notice the text as you move it. When your desired text has a yellow viewfinder surrounding it, tap the Live Text button to select, copy, find, translate and share the recognized text.

You can also highlight text in the app, select More Options, and then select Translate.

However, there is a big limitation: not all applications allow you to select text. For example, in the map I can see the names of the streets, but I cannot select them as text to check the pronunciation in order to give the address to a taxi driver. So I've been doing this last week:

• Select a place I want to go
• Find the address on a map*
• Screenshot
• Open the photo app
• Select the street name
• Open the translation app
• Paste it in

##* Taxi drivers here are not interested in actual addresses, they want street names and block numbers, or the intersection of two streets , so I often need to know the pronunciation of two streets.

Again, here is a native app that lists all milongas (tango dance events) and lets you see all the details, but there is no way to select text. Again, I had to use the same clunky process to translate from a screen scrape.

What I would like to see Apple introduce is a system-wide OCR feature so any app can translate directly. Anytime text appears on the screen, there should be a way to select it for OCR.

Some gestures need to be considered for this and it won't hijack the existing app interface. For example, iOS can't use long press on non-selectable text like you can in Maps, which is how you place push pins, for example. Maybe a double click?

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