Having text in images on iPhone and iPad recognised and spoken without using VoiceOver

VoiceOver has several tools to speak text in images.

If you don't want to use VoiceOver there are still solutions available. The solutions outlined below are normally capable of dealing with text in fancy fonts and with handwritten text.

A quick and simple solution is available if your iPhone or iPad supports Apple Intelligence and you have enabled Siri AI.

Get the image on screen and then instruct Siri to read the text in the graphic on this screen.

If your device doesn't have Apple Intelligence you can ask an app to describe the image.

Be My Eyes or SeeingAI are both good choices.

If you install these apps, you will be able to share images with them for analysis using the standard share button. This isn't possible directly in all apps. You may need to save the image to your Photos or maybe take a screen shot but there will always be a way.

Since it works for every situation, let's describe how to get access to text in imagers using a screen shot.

If possible get the image displayed on its own or at least ensure it is displayed fully on screen.

Instruct Siri to take a screen shot.

Open Photos and tap on the new screen shot to fill the screen with it.

Tap the share button at bottom left and scroll up to find either Describe with Be My Eyes or Recognise with SeeingAI. Use either of these to have the image described and any embedded text is usually spoken.

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last updated 13 October 2026