Live Text is Apple’s image-scanning and text-identifying technology that digitizes the text in a photograph and makes it interactive. Users can, for example, call or save a phone number they see on a photo, copy and paste text, or even edit out personal information. The feature is already available on iOS 15 and was originally thought to be limited to M1 Mac computers and newer versions of MacBook Airs and Pros. However in the most recent release notes for Monterey beta 4, Apple said, “Live Text now works across all Mac computers that support macOS Monterey.” Users on social media have been able to confirm that it’s possible to use Live Text on the older Intel models such as a Mac Pro from 2008. Monterey version 12 is the 18th major release of macOS and is currently undergoing a public beta. Some of the new features include a Portrait mode for FaceTime that blurs the background, upgraded Apple Maps that adds a new globe view and more details to cities such as New York and London, and more text-to-speech voices. However, these features are exclusive to M1 Macs. Apple has yet to announce if and when it will be bringing these new features to Intel-based Macs or has any intention to do so. But the implementation of Live Text highlights the possibility that the new features might move over.
