During Apple’s preview of iOS 16 at WWDC, the company made so many changes to its upcoming iPhone software that it would be understandable if something was lost among all the other improvements. So I guess I could be forgiven if I thought about the ability to customize the iPhone lock screen or the many changes in iOS 16 Maps when Apple turned its attention to the visual search feature.
As Apple described it on stage, Visual Look Up in iOS 16 was capturing the ability to remove photo subjects from the rest of the background with just one click. You’ll then be able to paste that picture just about anywhere, from the Notes app to Messages.
“It seems fine,” I remember thinking at the time. “But also very slight.”
Well, since that time, I had the opportunity to download the iOS 16 beta and test out many of the features that Apple outlined for my public beta of iOS 16. And I want to tell you, the new capability in the iOS 16 Visual Search feature is just a few.
It’s true that there isn’t much to this copy-and-paste capability other than what Apple has described. But seeing it in action — including how easy it is to get a clean copy of an image without a background — makes you realize how impressive this visual search extension really is.
Visual Search: Brief Summary
Visual Look Up debuted last year with the arrival of iOS 15. The feature allows you to select an image on your phone—usually, in your Camera Roll, but it also works with Photos in Safari and Messages—and get quick information about what the image is about. This can include from landmarks to books and artwork. People seem to particularly like how Visual Look Up allows them to search for plants or discover dog breeds.
Since Visual Look Up requires a lot of processing power on the device, you need an iPhone with A12 Bionic or later to use this capability. This means that the iPhone XR, iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max or any device appeared after the 2018 versions.
Among the iOS 16 supported devices, iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, and iPhone X are unable to use visual search. Every iPhone capable of running iOS 16 is supported, which means that these phones can all take advantage of the new features that are available in iOS 16.
Visual Search in iOS 16: What’s New
In iOS 16, Visual Look Up is even smarter than before, as you can now use the feature to recognize insects, birds, and gnomes. And while it is useful, this is not the ability that struck me so much after using iOS 16 on iPhone 12.
It is the ability to raise the subject from the background of a very attractive photo. This is because performing this task is as simple as it sounds. You tap and hold on an object, and a menu appears that gives you a chance to copy or share the object you just removed from the photo.
But this description highlights the magic of what Visual Look Up can do. You don’t trace an object with your finger to remove an object – it takes more than a click to notice. Apple is also working on some helpful visual feedback: when you tap and hold, there’s a flash around the theme outline so you can see exactly what’s being copied before you decide whether to copy or share it.
Clicking the Share button brings up a share sheet to send the photo directly to someone else or transfer it to another nearby Apple device using AirDrop. Select Copy and the image is stored in your iPhone’s clipboard to be pasted into any application of your choice.
The most likely destinations are messages (in case you want to send a very specific image to someone) or notes for those times when you want a visual example in any document you create. I can see this visual search very useful as a search tool or as a way to share exactly the type of style you’re looking for or the object you’re describing with someone else who needs more visual cues.
How is a Visual Look Up picture taken
The ease of getting an object to cleanly lift its background is impressive — in a way, it looks like a mirror image of the Pixel 6’s Magic Eraser feature, erasing the background and not an unwanted target. But it’s also worth noting how clean everything is when removed from the background image.
I’ve included some typical shots like this picture of my daughter at her ballet party. Both she and Mom have been taken out of the main photo, and the resulting photo I pasted into Notes captures them cleanly. Only the top of my mom’s head is slightly cut off, because that’s the case in the original shot.
This photo of Dahlia from a botanical garden also drops her background without a fuss. I was really impressed with how you don’t lose the leaf pattern, and don’t leave a lot of noise around the edge of the image.
iOS 16 and Visual Look Up were a bit too extensive in this photo of an oversized Babe the Blue Ox statue. The seat in front of the legendary bull remains part of the picture, but other than that, it’s a very clean version.
Another picture of my daughter from a walk shows some of the limitations of the new Visual Look Up trick. The feature omitted her walking stick, so there’s a missing gap that cuts into the left side of her arm. However, there are four images pasted and only one of them looks funky – a pretty good hit rate for a feature still in beta.
iOS 16 Visual Look Up . Overview
It’s hard to put into words how amazing Visual Look Up’s photo ripping capabilities are, so I urge you to check it out as soon as you install the iOS public beta (or, if you’ve been waiting for the full release, when iOS 16 arrives for everyone this fall). It’s Apple’s best kind of thing — the hard work is done behind the scenes, leaving you with an easy-to-do task that leads to meaningful and eye-catching results.
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