How to capture text from a video on your Android phone

One of the cool new features in iOS 16, the latest version of Apple’s operating system, is called Live Text, which lets you quickly capture and use text from a still image and now video. While Android doesn’t capture text directly from video (yet), it does capture text from still images using the handy Google Lens app – and with a little maneuvering, you can use Lens to capture text from a video too. It might not be quite as quick as Live Text, but it’s mostly painless and works just as well.

Here’s what to do.

• Create your video on your Android phone.
• Go to photos app and start the video.
• Pause the video where you want to copy the text.
• At the bottom of the video you will see a button labeled Get photos from this video. Tap on it.

• At the bottom of the screen you will now see a collection of still images from the video. If you decide you are not at the frame you want, you can move the indicator (the vertical line) you see in the stills collection until you get to the frame you want to export. When you’re done, click Export frames Button just above the row of still images.
• A pop-up window will tell you that your still image has been exported to the camera folder. You can tap the popup to view the photo, or go back to the Camera folder in the Photos app and find it there.
• In any case, as soon as you look at the still image of your video, you should see a copy text button at the bottom of the screen. Tap it and Lens will select the most likely text in the photo and invite you to copy it, search for it, hear it narrated, or translate it. If Lens didn’t select the correct text, use your finger to highlight the text you want.

• If the copy text button didn’t appear, just tap it lens App at the bottom of the screen and select text (also at the bottom of the screen). You can then choose either of those Choose All button (which captures all the text on the screen) or highlight the text in the desired image. You can then copy, search, listen, or translate it just as if you tapped copy text Button.