I think you will find it is better in iOS 27, but not sure since I don't have something with iOS 26 to compare.
Richard, USA, The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance." -- Alan Watts (1915-1973) My web site: <https://www.turner42.com/> https://www.turner42.com From: [email protected] <[email protected]> On Behalf Of Dan Sent: Friday, September 11, 2026 6:56 AM To: 'Richard Turner' via VIPhone <[email protected]> Subject: Re: Scanning text on the phone with Live Recognition, iOS 27, and maybe before Yep, it is available in 26.6.2 also on my 16E. Dan Beaver (KA4DAN) USA On 9/11/2026 9:22 AM, 'Richard Turner' via VIPhone wrote: This message was first sent to the BlindApples list in response to someone looking for answers to determine text orientation on a page. I'm sharing it here because I think folks will want to know about this if they don't already. I certainly didn't. First, I think Live Recognition is the answer for text orientation and many other quick items or scene descriptions, at least in iOS 27. By default, you can start Live Recognition with a 4 finger triple tap. I would recommend going into VoiceOver settings, VoiceOver Recognition, Live recognition and turning off the default question. So, it does nothing until you ask it. I pointed it at a book I knew was sideways and asked it "What is the text orientation," and it told me clearly. Below are Siri answers to a few questions I asked: Does text recognition use the cloud? No, the iPhone's Live Text feature does not use the cloud. All text recognition happens directly on your device using on-device machine learning. This means it works completely offline and your photos and data are not sent to Apple or any external servers. How do you set up Live Recognition? You can set up a shortcut for Live Recognition in a few different ways. You can triple-click the side button or Home button by going to Settings, Accessibility, then Accessibility Shortcut, and selecting Live Recognition. You can also set it up to activate by tapping the back of your iPhone, or by assigning it to the Action button on supported models. Ways to Set Up Live Recognition Shortcuts Triple-Click Shortcut Go to Settings > Accessibility > Accessibility Shortcut, then select Live Recognition. If I ask questions, does Live Recognition use the cloud? If you ask questions using Live Recognition or Visual Intelligence on your iPhone, the processing happens on-device first. If your request is too complex for the phone to handle locally, Apple Intelligence securely sends only the relevant data to Private Cloud Compute. This server-based system processes the request and returns the results without storing your information or making it accessible to Apple. Another note on my experiments this morning, The scene description with live recognition is the closest thing to Be My eyes I have found and it is almost immediate. If you have a phone with Apple Intelligence, give it a good run for its money. I do not know how much of this is because I'm using iOS 27 beta, but this alone could be a good reason to update to iOS 27 on Monday, though I highly recommend reading the AppleVis Blog when it comes out before updating to make sure there are no red flags for you. The link is www.applevis.com/blog <http://www.applevis.com/blog> Look for a heading about Apple Releases iOS 27 …etc. HTH, Richard, USA "The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane.” - Marcus Aurelius My web site: https://www... On Sep 10, 2026, at 1:13 PM, Lisa Belville via groups.io <mailto:[email protected]> <[email protected]> wrote: Wow, Richard, thanks for this, and thanks for doing the extra work. Lisa Belville [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> On 9/10/2026 2:41 PM, Richard Turner via groups.io wrote: Because of the discussion about attempting to find out the orientation of checks and other documents, the issue of confidentiality came up. Can you scan text without it going to the cloud. At this point, orientation is off the table, but these are the apps that I have confirmed do the OCR on the phone and not the cloud so you can scan personal information safely. I tested with both wi-fi and cellular off. VDScan: can do multipage documents. After scanning, you can elect to save the image, the text, or discard the scan. You would have to export the text or image so if you truly want security, discard the scan. Seeing AI on the read tab, without document recognition. It just reads what is in the camera view. LiveRead, also just reads what is in the camera view. Prizmo Go, Also does OCR on the device and you can discard the scan so it is not stored anywhere.. HTH, Richard "The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane." - Marcus Aurelius My web site: https://www.turner42.com/ _._,_._,_ _____ Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#37385) <https://groups.io/g/BlindApples/message/37385> | Reply to Group <mailto:[email protected]?subject=Re:%20Re%3A%20%5BBlindApples%5D%20Scanning%20text%20on%20the%20phone%2C%20not%20in%20the%20cloud> | Reply to Sender <mailto:[email protected]?subject=Private:%20Re:%20Re%3A%20%5BBlindApples%5D%20Scanning%20text%20on%20the%20phone%2C%20not%20in%20the%20cloud> | Mute This Topic <https://groups.io/mt/121187341/142124> | New Topic <https://groups.io/g/BlindApples/post> _____ BlindApples links: ________________________________________ To send a message to the list, or start a new topic, send to: [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> To receive a list of email commands to control your subscription via email, send a blank message to: [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> _____ Your Subscription <https://groups.io/g/BlindApples/editsub/142124> | Contact Group Owner <mailto:[email protected]> | Unsubscribe <https://groups.io/g/BlindApples/leave/10648826/142124/380003781/xyzzy> [[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> ] _._,_._,_ -- The following information is important for all members of the V iPhone list. If you have any questions or concerns about the running of this list, or if you feel that a member's post is inappropriate, please contact the owners or moderators directly rather than posting on the list itself. Your V iPhone list moderator is Mark Taylor. Mark can be reached at: [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> . Your list owner is Cara Quinn - you can reach Cara at [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> The archives for this list can be searched at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "VIPhone" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> . To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/viphone/003a01dd41f0%24a37e68f0%24ea7b3ad0%24%40comcast.net <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/viphone/003a01dd41f0%24a37e68f0%24ea7b3ad0%24%40comcast.net?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> . -- The following information is important for all members of the V iPhone list. If you have any questions or concerns about the running of this list, or if you feel that a member's post is inappropriate, please contact the owners or moderators directly rather than posting on the list itself. Your V iPhone list moderator is Mark Taylor. Mark can be reached at: [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> . Your list owner is Cara Quinn - you can reach Cara at [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> The archives for this list can be searched at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "VIPhone" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> . To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/viphone/fbc37570-88ff-4c54-a960-dcf830fd1ec7%40gmail.com <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/viphone/fbc37570-88ff-4c54-a960-dcf830fd1ec7%40gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> . -- The following information is important for all members of the V iPhone list. If you have any questions or concerns about the running of this list, or if you feel that a member's post is inappropriate, please contact the owners or moderators directly rather than posting on the list itself. Your V iPhone list moderator is Mark Taylor. Mark can be reached at: [email protected]. Your list owner is Cara Quinn - you can reach Cara at [email protected] The archives for this list can be searched at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "VIPhone" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/viphone/00cf01dd4205%24159e52b0%2440daf810%24%40comcast.net.
