Apple Vision Pro 'Visual Search' Feature Can Identify Items, Copy Printed Text, Translate and More

Wednesday June 21, 2023 5:39 pm PDT by Juli Clover

The Apple Vision Pro headset's visionOS operating system includes a feature called "Visual Search," which sounds like it is similar to the Visual Look Up feature on the iPhone and the iPad.

vision pro headset 1
With Visual Search, users can use the Vision Pro headset to get information about an item, detect and interact with text in the world around them, copy and paste printed text from the real world into apps, translate text between 17 different languages, and more.

Real world text that includes contact information, webpages, and unit conversions and similar information can be acted upon in visionOS. So, for example, if a printed handout has a website link in it, you can scan the link with the Vision Pro, opening up a Safari window to view the website. Or, if a recipe calls for grams and you need ounces, you can convert using the headset.

Real-time text translation will also be useful for traveling and other instances when you might want to quickly translate what you're seeing in the real world. The ‌Apple Vision Pro‌ headset will be able to automatically detect text and documents, similar to how the iPhone can detect text in photos and allow it to be interacted with.

The Visual Search function was found in visionOS by Steve Moser. visionOS can be accessed through the latest Xcode beta at the moment, as Apple released the first version of the software earlier today.

Related Roundup: Apple Vision Pro

Buyer's Guide: Vision Pro (Neutral)

Related Forum: Apple Vision Pro

Popular Stories

Apple's Vision Pro Layoffs Were Broader Than First Reported

Tuesday September 1, 2026 4:18 am PDT by Hartley Charlton

Recent layoffs of Apple employees working on the Vision Pro were broader than previously thought, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reports. Last month, Gurman said that Apple cut around 100 jobs from the Vision Products Group, with those cuts centered on the headset's gaming and immersive video teams. Gurman now says the layoffs also reached Vision Pro staff across the rest of the company, including ...

• 133 comments

Apple Seeds watchOS 27, visionOS 27, and tvOS 27 Release Candidates

Wednesday September 9, 2026 12:06 pm PDT by Juli Clover

Apple today seeded the release candidate versions of watchOS 27, visionOS 27, and tvOS 27 to developers and public beta testers. The release candidates are the final versions of the updates that will be seeded to the public as long as no final bugs are found during this last round of testing. The updates can be installed through the Software Update section in the Settings app on each...

• 12 comments

General visionOS watchOS and tvOS Betas Feature Redux

Apple Releases First watchOS 27.2, tvOS 27.2 and visionOS 27.2 Betas

Wednesday September 16, 2026 10:12 am PDT by Juli Clover

Alongside new betas of iOS 27.2, iPadOS 27.2, and macOS Golden Gate 27.2, Apple has released the first betas of watchOS 27.2, tvOS 27.2, and visionOS 27.2. The betas come two days after the 27.0 software updates were released. Registered developers can download the betas through the Settings app on each device. Two new Apple Intelligence features are coming to the Apple Watch Series 12...

• 4 comments

Top Rated Comments

vegetassj4

43 months ago

Excellent features but I have noticed things can get quite cluttered if you don’t stay on top of it.

Wait until they put in app ads on the thing....

Score: 21 Votes (Like | Disagree)

tripsync

43 months ago

it can even identify the missing digits in your bank account.

Score: 17 Votes (Like | Disagree)

appleguy123

43 months ago

Cool af

Score: 17 Votes (Like | Disagree)

tonywalker23

43 months ago

I read a few pages today in the new Make Something Wonderful book by Jobs, and I got to the section about the 2001 first Apple Store. He is talking about the apple products but then mentions that they also had third party cameras, camcorders, digital organizers, and mp3 players… and naturally my mind thought about how my iPhone does all that (and tons more) in a relatively short time after the Apple Store first opened...

And I wonder, 5-10 years from now?, what will this thing look like, how slim will it get, will it replace the glasses I wear now and be just a few ounces and look like normal glasses? Seems crazy to even think that...

But considering that my first gen iPod I listen to led to my thin and powerful iPhone, and the iMac g4 on my home desk is archaic compared to my 11" super thin iPad Pro → I look fwd to what the future holds for this tech and the innovation that comes along with it.

Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)