Using an iPhone is about to get a lot easier

Tech giant Apple has announced an update to its iPhone that is set to make life a lot easier for one particular group of people.

A revolutionary update to the iPhone is set to make using a phone a whole lot easier for people with vision impairment.

The launch of the Apple product’s newest update, iOS 15, was announced on Monday evening during the company’s virtual Worldwide Developers Conference.

One of the biggest new features unveiled was the Live Text function, which will allow the iPhone camera to read text in photos and transcribe it almost immediately.

Moments after taking a photo of something with writing on it – a whiteboard for example – users can have the words automatically transcribed.

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The new feature will make it easier for people with vision impairment. Picture: Supplied

Text can then be copied and sent via message or email, or stored in an area of the user’s choosing.

The feature can also be used with photos that already exist in people’s photo albums, meaning they can easily look up information about a place they visited, so long as its name was captured in the photo.

Update life-changing for vision impaired

The Live Text function has been dubbed “life changing” by Vision Australia’s manager of government relations and advocacy Chris Edwards, who said he would use the feature multiple times a day.

“I’ve used similar technologies before, but the benefit is that it will be built into the phone and be able to be more widely used,” Mr Edwards told news.com.au.

He said the feature would be useful when he received a delivery, as it would allow him to easily read the label and identify if it was for him or another family member.

The feature was one of several announced Monday evening. Picture: Supplied

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It would also be useful when reading the instructions for a meal, choosing which bottle of wine to drink and reading letters in the workplace, he said.

“It really supports your independence, and being able to do things yourself without getting support from other people,” Mr Edwards said.

Without such advanced technology, everyday tasks would be far more difficult, he said.

“There’s barriers around things like signs, somebody handing you a piece of paper in a meeting at work, or simply trying to identify what a product is,” he said.

“Without this sort of technology, those things are impossible.”

Having such technology built into a product used universally was “a huge step forward”, Mr Edwards said.

“The community is always excited about technology improvements that aren’t special but are just part of everyday products,” he said.

“It’s life-changing in the respect that it’s available to everybody and because of that it enables people like myself to be able to live independently.”

As if the tech couldn’t get any more advanced, another feature called Visual Look Up will also allow users to look up information about an image just by clicking on it.

By using this feature, users can search the web about an item in their photo in just one tap.