Your iPhone Has a Neat New Feature You Probably Didn’t Know About

Do you take iPhone screenshots? Of course you do. These new features make iPhone screenshots even more useful.

Close-up of a smartphone screen showing a photo of a street with a sidewalk and traffic cones. Below the photo are three interface options: a speech bubble icon labeled "Ask," a hand cursor icon with the text "Highlight to Search," and a magnifying glass over a photo icon labeled "Search." The phone has a dark case and is resting on a wooden surface.

Published 2 hours ago

·

Last December, Apple introduced the first Visual Intelligence features to its newest iPhones. This allowed users to long-press their Camera Control button and point their iPhone’s camera at something, then Visual Intelligence would identify what they were looking at and tell them about it.

For example, you could use your iPhone’s camera to identify and learn about a business or a restaurant (such as its open hours or its menu). You could use Visual Intelligence to translate messages and signs in different languages.

Then, in January of this year, Apple rolled out iOS 18.3, which gave compatible iPhones even more Visual Intelligence abilities, such as the ability to identify animals, plants, and insects. Additionally, it could recognize event posters and flyers and then add them to your Calendar app.

Fast forward to earlier this month and, thanks to iOS 26, Visual Intelligence has gotten even better. In addition to helping you identify things in the real world, it can now tell you more about what’s appearing on your iPhone’s screen.

Visual Intelligence x Screenshots

That’s right. With iOS 26, Apple has extended Visual Intelligence to your iPhone’s screenshots.

Instead of requiring your iPhone’s camera and Camera Control button, you can now take a screenshot — by quickly pressing the Volume Up and Side buttons at the same time — and you’ll see a Visual Intelligence prompt at the bottom of your screen.

This can be used in various ways.

A smartphone screen shows a photo of a brown Boxer dog lying on a white bed with its tongue sticking out. The screen interface identifies the dog breed as "Boxer" and has options labeled "Ask" and "Search" at the bottom. The phone is held in a person's hand. — Visual Intelligence can identify plants, animals (like the above boxer) and objects, and then link you to more information.

A hand holding a smartphone displaying a photo of a peace lily plant with broad, glossy green leaves. Above the photo, a text box from ChatGPT describes the peace lily (Spathiphyllum) as an indoor plant known for its broad glossy leaves and occasional white spathes that resemble flowers. — It’s integrated with ChatGPT, which can further tell you more about your screenshot.

You can take a screenshot or a plant or animal and, prompted by Visual Intelligence at the bottom, it can identify said plant or animal and link you to more information about it.

Visual Intelligence can help you identify products from screenshots.

Photo by Tucker Bowe for Gear Patrol

A hand holding a smartphone displaying Google search results for black backpacks, including images and listings from Amazon, eBay, Reddit, and modelkaro.com. The phone has a black case and shows a battery level of 91%. The background is a wooden surface. — And then link to you further reading or product links.

You can take a screenshot of some products, like shoes, bags or clothing, and Visual Intelligence will identify it and link to similar or matching products so that you can potentially buy it.

A close-up of a smartphone screen showing a photo of a white bowl filled with pasta, sausage pieces, and green vegetables on a table. The phone is held in a hand, and the screen displays a prompt at the bottom saying "Swipe up to see images from Google. — It can also help you identify food dishes, like this cavatelli with sausage and broccoli robe.

A smartphone screen displays Google search results for cavatelli pasta dishes, showing multiple photos of plates with cavatelli pasta mixed with sausage, broccoli rabe, and cheese. The results include captions referencing Italian restaurants and menus, with some results linked to Facebook, Instagram, and Sirved. The phone is held in a hand against a blurred brown background.

You can take a screenshot of an event email or Instagram event post and a “Add to Calendar” option will appear that, obviously, will add that event to your Calendar app.

A smartphone screen shows a screenshot editing interface with a preview of a promotional image for a "Fall Collection Release" event. The event is scheduled for September 10 from 5 to 8 PM at 1976 N Adams St. Below the preview, there is a calendar event creation panel displaying the event details with options to "Edit" or "Create Event." The interface includes buttons for canceling, sharing, and confirming the screenshot at the top. — If you screenshot emails or posters with dates, you can quickly add those to your Calendar app.

There’s a “Highlight to Search” function that, after taking the screenshot, you can use your figure to circle/highlight a specific part of the image and then tap “Search.” This way, you’re looking to learn more about a specific part of the image and not the entire screenshot.

Additionally, you can take screenshot and then ask ChatGPT what’s going on in it. If there’s a block of text, you can ask Visual Intelligence to summarize it and even read it out loud, too.

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

Which iPhones support it?

Like before, in order to take advantage of Visual Intelligence in screenshots, you first need to have an iPhone that supports Apple Intelligence.

This means you need to have an iPhone 15 Pro (not a normal iPhone 15), or any iPhone 16 model, iPhone 17 model or the iPhone Air. All older iPhones do not support Apple Intelligence and, therefore, will not be able to access these Visual Intelligence features.

To learn more about these new Virtual Intelligence features, check out Apple’s support page.

About the Author:

Tucker Bowe has been on Gear Patrol’s editorial team since 2014. As a Tech Staff Writer, he tracks everything in the consumer tech space, from headphones to smartphones, wearables to home theater systems. If it lights up or makes noise, he probably covers it.

Want to stay up to date on the latest product news and releases? Add Gear Patrol as a preferred source to ensure our independent journalism makes it to the top of your Google search results.

+ Add on Google

Apple