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I must admit, one of my favorite recent-ish Android[1] features is that all text is made selectable in the app switcher using on-device OCR. Regardless of the a

I must admit, one of my favorite recent-ish Android[1] features is that all text is made selectable in the app switcher using on-device OCR. Regardless of the app[2], you can just swipe up and start selecting text. [1] ...at least on the Google Pixel. [2] ...unless it's a banking app and it blocks permissions for screenshots and similar things.

pastage 1y ago
OCR seems to be working on recent Android versions not only Google hardware.
- jayknight 1y ago
  Yep, on my S22, I long-press home and can then circle or swipe text to copy, or translate if needed.
jadbox 1y ago
This is my favorite feature on Android next to sideloading.
svobodovic 1y ago
Yes, I just wanted to reply the same thing. It's a great feature for these use cases (albeit, I too would like to see more universal or friendlier approach to text-selectability in apps). Additionally, the text copied in this manner can be instantly opened in Clipboard editor (at least on Google Pixel), and when selected again there, it offers even more contextual options, such as translate in one of your installed apps (like Deepl). That way, you can translate the "non-selectable" text in a very few short taps.
bapak 1y ago
Same for iOS, just not immediately possible. In iOS the new screenshot UI makes it a little easier, before it would need at least 3 taps and a couple of seconds to make it selectable
- al_borland 1y ago
  The OCR in iOS and macOS has been a game changer for me. It seems like such a small thing, but it changes how I work in a big way. If someone is sharing a webpage, I don’t need to ask for the link anymore. Just take a screenshot and click it. I do this multiple times every day.
  - matt-attack 1y ago
    Agree, I’m constantly taking screenshots of crazy URLs in Zoom meetings. Just a quick screenshot, and click. Furthermore, the number of apps that make text unelectable is mind-boggling. It’s crazy to me that my common workflow now for selecting text out of an app is just a screenshot it and select right out of the image. It just always works, perfectly.
digianarchist 1y ago
On iOS you can create a shortcut to push a screenshot through the built in OCR and copy to clipboard. You need to crop beforehand if you don’t want all the text on the screen. https://imgur.com/a/NctIGsK https://imgur.com/a/NctIGsK
- cryptonector 1y ago
  On recent iOS versions it just happens. You try to click on an image in the browser to save it and whoops! you're clicking on text in the image that iOS already OCRed for you. And the Photos app will let you search for OCRed text, and it OCRs _all_ the text without you having to lift a finger.
  - digianarchist 1y ago
    It’s 50/50 if the screenshot thumbnail screen shows for me these days. The action works 100% of the time.
abustamam 1y ago
> unless it's a banking app and it blocks permissions for screenshots and similar things. Yeah those can fuck all the way off. I'm lucky I have two phones so I can take a photo of my screen and use it for OCR or whatever, but it's ridiculous I have to do that. I understand that for security purposes they don't want to let you take a screenshot in case of a man in the middle or whatever, but let me risk it. Warn me or something, but let me do it.
- 71bw 1y ago
  Exactly the reason I still use LSPosed with the disable_flag_secure module on my device.
  - abustamam 1y ago
    Oh, that's neat. It seems like LSP is no longer maintained. I'll look for alternatives.
    - 71bw 1y ago
      https://github.com/JingMatrix/LSPosed https://github.com/JingMatrix/LSPosed OR, if you want to partake in shady shenanigans, there's always the official LSPosed internal testing. Forgive me for this Telegram link but it's the best option to share this: https://t.me/RootDetected/138/510 https://t.me/RootDetected/138/510
  - gear54rus 1y ago
    Absolutely in the same boat except some crappy apps won't run on rooted devices anymore (to the point I have a special garbage phone that's stock and it has revolut and k&h so far) so there's literally no escape.
    - 71bw 1y ago
      Revolut works fine as long as you're happy to follow the cat-and-mouse game. Use the Hide My Apps LSPosed module along with TrickyStore and a valid keybox and you're gucci. Problem is, this setup needs almost constant maintenance.
andai 1y ago
This includes not just images, but text which is part of the app's UI, and not otherwise selectable, right? If so, that is pretty funny. Running advanced machine learning models to extract the data that we already have (but won't let the user access normally).
averageRoyalty 1y ago
> unless it's a banking app and it blocks permissions for screenshots and similar things. Can you not disable this? I just tested on stock iOS, and I can screenshot all of my banking apps.
crossroadsguy 1y ago
Blocking screenshots for certain apps has been like "someone drowned in a lake -> block access to the lake". The only thing it helps in is helping banks close the tickets when you inform them of a bug and they ask for screenshots and you tell them you can't because their app doesn't allow it, so "… closing this ticket since we received no further input from the customer. Please feel free to reply if you need anything else." They never tell me to take a photo from another app and I never volunteer to do that because if they reply like this I know they are not going to work on the bug.
- bart7782 1y ago
  Blocking screenshots also blocks screen recording and screen sharing. Which actually helps to increase security. As someone with remote access to your phone will not be able to use banking apps. You can only see them when holding the device physically.
  - pjc50 1y ago
    It's another case of "I am the legitimate owner of this phone and authenticated into this app, and yet you still want to block me from using it?" modern problem.
pjc50 1y ago
This is also my new favorite Android feature. It also enables translation. It even works for non-left-to-right languages, e.g. vertically written Japanese. The only downside is its tendency to immediately search for whatever you've selected, dumping all sorts of nonsense into my search history. I do like when an accessibility feature is a hammer one can use against web designers who've disabled other features. The next one I want is "zoom non-zoomable web pages and apps".

pastage 1y ago

OCR seems to be working on recent Android versions not only Google hardware.

jayknight 1y ago
Yep, on my S22, I long-press home and can then circle or swipe text to copy, or translate if needed.

jadbox 1y ago

This is my favorite feature on Android next to sideloading.

svobodovic 1y ago

Yes, I just wanted to reply the same thing. It's a great feature for these use cases (albeit, I too would like to see more universal or friendlier approach to text-selectability in apps). Additionally, the text copied in this manner can be instantly opened in Clipboard editor (at least on Google Pixel), and when selected again there, it offers even more contextual options, such as translate in one of your installed apps (like Deepl). That way, you can translate the "non-selectable" text in a very few short taps.

bapak 1y ago

Same for iOS, just not immediately possible. In iOS the new screenshot UI makes it a little easier, before it would need at least 3 taps and a couple of seconds to make it selectable

al_borland 1y ago
The OCR in iOS and macOS has been a game changer for me. It seems like such a small thing, but it changes how I work in a big way. If someone is sharing a webpage, I don’t need to ask for the link anymore. Just take a screenshot and click it. I do this multiple times every day.
- matt-attack 1y ago
  Agree, I’m constantly taking screenshots of crazy URLs in Zoom meetings. Just a quick screenshot, and click. Furthermore, the number of apps that make text unelectable is mind-boggling. It’s crazy to me that my common workflow now for selecting text out of an app is just a screenshot it and select right out of the image. It just always works, perfectly.

digianarchist 1y ago

On iOS you can create a shortcut to push a screenshot through the built in OCR and copy to clipboard. You need to crop beforehand if you don’t want all the text on the screen. https://imgur.com/a/NctIGsK https://imgur.com/a/NctIGsK

cryptonector 1y ago
On recent iOS versions it just happens. You try to click on an image in the browser to save it and whoops! you're clicking on text in the image that iOS already OCRed for you. And the Photos app will let you search for OCRed text, and it OCRs _all_ the text without you having to lift a finger.
- digianarchist 1y ago
  It’s 50/50 if the screenshot thumbnail screen shows for me these days. The action works 100% of the time.

abustamam 1y ago

> unless it's a banking app and it blocks permissions for screenshots and similar things. Yeah those can fuck all the way off. I'm lucky I have two phones so I can take a photo of my screen and use it for OCR or whatever, but it's ridiculous I have to do that. I understand that for security purposes they don't want to let you take a screenshot in case of a man in the middle or whatever, but let me risk it. Warn me or something, but let me do it.

71bw 1y ago
Exactly the reason I still use LSPosed with the disable_flag_secure module on my device.
- abustamam 1y ago
  Oh, that's neat. It seems like LSP is no longer maintained. I'll look for alternatives.
  - 71bw 1y ago
    https://github.com/JingMatrix/LSPosed https://github.com/JingMatrix/LSPosed OR, if you want to partake in shady shenanigans, there's always the official LSPosed internal testing. Forgive me for this Telegram link but it's the best option to share this: https://t.me/RootDetected/138/510 https://t.me/RootDetected/138/510
- gear54rus 1y ago
  Absolutely in the same boat except some crappy apps won't run on rooted devices anymore (to the point I have a special garbage phone that's stock and it has revolut and k&h so far) so there's literally no escape.
  - 71bw 1y ago
    Revolut works fine as long as you're happy to follow the cat-and-mouse game. Use the Hide My Apps LSPosed module along with TrickyStore and a valid keybox and you're gucci. Problem is, this setup needs almost constant maintenance.

andai 1y ago

This includes not just images, but text which is part of the app's UI, and not otherwise selectable, right? If so, that is pretty funny. Running advanced machine learning models to extract the data that we already have (but won't let the user access normally).

averageRoyalty 1y ago

> unless it's a banking app and it blocks permissions for screenshots and similar things. Can you not disable this? I just tested on stock iOS, and I can screenshot all of my banking apps.

crossroadsguy 1y ago

Blocking screenshots for certain apps has been like "someone drowned in a lake -> block access to the lake". The only thing it helps in is helping banks close the tickets when you inform them of a bug and they ask for screenshots and you tell them you can't because their app doesn't allow it, so "… closing this ticket since we received no further input from the customer. Please feel free to reply if you need anything else." They never tell me to take a photo from another app and I never volunteer to do that because if they reply like this I know they are not going to work on the bug.

bart7782 1y ago
Blocking screenshots also blocks screen recording and screen sharing. Which actually helps to increase security. As someone with remote access to your phone will not be able to use banking apps. You can only see them when holding the device physically.
- pjc50 1y ago
  It's another case of "I am the legitimate owner of this phone and authenticated into this app, and yet you still want to block me from using it?" modern problem.

pjc50 1y ago

This is also my new favorite Android feature. It also enables translation. It even works for non-left-to-right languages, e.g. vertically written Japanese. The only downside is its tendency to immediately search for whatever you've selected, dumping all sorts of nonsense into my search history. I do like when an accessibility feature is a hammer one can use against web designers who've disabled other features. The next one I want is "zoom non-zoomable web pages and apps".