iOS 15 Visual Look Up: Learn More About Objects in Your Photos

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but with the iOS 15 Visual Look Up feature you may get more than that. Visual Look Up allows you to find out more information about the objects in your photo.

Wonder what that mystery fruit from the supermarket is? Use Visual Look Up to find out.

What kind of dog does your neighbor have? Visual Look Up has the answer. 

Compatibility

It is important to note that this feature is only currently available in the United States. 

Visual Look Up only works on devices with the A12 Bionic chip or later.
The following models support Visual Look Up:

• iPad mini, 5th generation, and later
• iPad, 8th generation, and later
• iPad Air, 3rd generation and later
• iPad Pro 11-inch, all generations
• iPad Pro 12.9-inch, 3rd generation and later
• iPhone SE (2020)
• iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, iPhone XR
• iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, iPhone 11 Pro Max
• iPhone 12, iPhone 12 mini, iPhone 12 Pro, iPhone 12 Pro Max
• iPhone 13, iPhone 13 mini, iPhone 13 Pro, iPhone 13 Pro Max

Enable

Visual Look Up is much like a new skill your virtual assistant Siri has learned. No content will show up if you don’t allow Siri to use on-device learning to suggest relevant information based on your device usage. To enable this:

Step 1: Open your Settings app, then scroll down to Siri & Search.

Step 2: Under Content from Apple, toggle the switch on for Show in Look Up.

Here’s how to learn more about what’s in your photos using Visual Look Up.

Step 1. Open your Photos app. Tap on a photo to open it in full screen.

Step 2. This information icon,  tells you that there is Visual Look Up information available. Tap the icon to bring up the Visual Look Up option. 

Step 3. Tap the icon that appears on the photo. Different icons will be used to indicate the different objects that you can view. Or you can select the Look Up option from the photo details.

Step 4. “Siri Knowledge” will be the first result and you can swipe up to see more. Results will depend on the object you are looking up. 

Limitations

Visual Look Up is still in the early stages and depends largely on machine learning. Visual Look Up may not work on your device for a variety of reasons.

1. Visual Look Up doesn’t work well when there are too many objects in the picture, but it usually works fine when only a single object is in the photo. When you take a photo, make sure it’s centered in and focused on a single object as much as possible.

2. Sometimes, Visual Look Up may detect more than one object in the photo, causing an error retrieving results. 

3. If you’ve taken a photo of the object on its own and your device still can’t detect the object, the quality of the image may be a culprit. Check for lighting issues and glare before taking a photo.

4. Siri requires an internet connection to fetch relevant data whenever you tap the Visual Look Up icon. Make sure you have a stable internet connection when using this feature.

Conclusion

This is generally a powerful tool that can detect an object in a photo despite an incomplete view of the object. There may still be some more improvements coming our way for the feature soon. Who knows what Apple is cooking up!

Use your photos to become an instant expert on different topics. Not that we needed an excuse to take more photos of dogs, but now you can say it’s for educational purposes!

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