Student using iOS 15's Live Text to steal class notes gets an A+ at life

Work smart, not hard.
 By 
Jack Morse
 on 
Dozens of students seated in a lecture hall.

Why take notes when you can just take photos?

A viral TikTok showing a student using iOS 15's Live Text to copy, and digitize, a classmate's notes has renewed interest in the mostly overlooked feature. Live Text allows iPhone users with an iPhone XS or newer (and the latest operating system) to take a photo of text, highlight that text, and then copy and paste it.

While officially unveiled by Apple in June of this year, Live Text was only recently made available as part of iOS 15.

At least one French student clearly wasted no time in taking advantage of it.

A TikTok screenshot of an iPhone Camera app taking a photo of a student's laptop screen.
Hard at work. Credit: screenshot: tiktok
A TikTok screenshot of an iPhone Camera app zooming in on a photo of a student's laptop screen.
Zoom in. Credit: SCREENSHOT: TIKTOK

The video went viral on Twitter on Thursday, racking up thousands of retweets, after France-based writer Juan Buis tweeted it.

"students are starting to steal each other's notes with iOS 15 and it's... kind of genius," he wrote.

And while we can't independently verify that the video hasn't been altered in any way by the original poster, the depiction of Live Text's capabilities is accurate (we tested it out on a photo of a computer screen taken from a distance and it worked).

A TikTok screenshot showing the Live Text copy feature being used on a photo of a student's laptop screen.
Copy, paste. Credit: screenshot: twitter

Indeed, while we'd recommend asking permission from another student before copying their notes, this use of Live Text appears to fit the definition of "work smart, not hard."

SEE ALSO: Watch hackers Rickroll their entire high school district at once

With this video going viral, we may soon find out if the student actually taking the notes agrees.

Topics iPhone

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Jack Morse

Professionally paranoid. Covering privacy, security, and all things cryptocurrency and blockchain from San Francisco.

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