Windows 11 can now ‘read’ text from your phone’s photos — how to use the new feature
If you own an Android phone and use Windows, you may be envious of the interconnectivity between iPhones and Macs. However, a new feature, according to Windows Central, is improving the integration between both platforms.
Windows users in the Release Preview Channel, which grants access to experimental features before they roll out widely, can now take advantage of optical character recognition (OCR) within the Windows Phone Link app.
In other words, you can have your PC scan photos taken on your phone — and it will automatically highlight text in those photos for your personal use.
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How to test the new OCR feature
As mentioned, the feature is available in the most recent Windows Insider Preview build, which you can access by joining the Windows Insider Program.
After running Windows 11 26120, you can test the OCR feature by ensuring that you have a phone paired with Phone Link. Open the app and choose "Photos," which lets you see all the photos you've recently shot on your device. Next, click the "Text" icon at the top, which will reveal a menu that says "Select all text" and "Copy all text." Choose any.
Finally, open any app with a text field, like Notepad for example, and paste the text. And there you have it; you've just copied-and-pasted text from your phone's photo.
It's worth noting that Phone Link, which allows users to sync their phones to their PCs for a variety of purposes, is device-agnostic, so iPhone owners with PCs can get in on the action, too.
This new OCR feature is expected to become widely available soon.
Alex Perry is a tech reporter at Mashable who primarily covers video games and consumer tech. Alex has spent most of the last decade reviewing games, smartphones, headphones, and laptops, and he doesn’t plan on stopping anytime soon. He is also a Pisces, a cat lover, and a Kansas City sports fan. Alex can be found on Bluesky at yelix.bsky.social.
