How to Use Your iPhone's Visual Lookup

While we love adding the latest and greatest apps to our iPhones, there are plenty of exciting features in iOS that don’t require a download (or a credit card). One of the most fascinating is Visual Look Up, a nifty Photos add-on that allows you to explore the world around you with just a few quick taps.

Using Visual Look Up is as simple as

1. taking a photo
2. bringing it up in your camera roll, and
3. tapping the info icon.

We’ll walk you through the details of enabling and using Visual Look Up, including exploring plant species, food recipes, and other objects. We’ll also troubleshoot common problems with the feature.

How to use Visual Look Up

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Looking for some helpful screenshots to guide you through using Visual Look Up? We’ve got you covered. I’ll walk you through how to use your iPhone’s Visual Look Up by showing you how I used the feature to find the name of the flowers outside the café where I write.

1. Take a picture of the object you want to learn about. Here’s my excellent portrait of the flowers in question.



2. View the photo in your Camera Roll or in Photos. If the information icon (the circled “i”) has two stars attached to it, your phone has found information about the object. Notice how the “i” is sparkling in the photo above? That means my iPhone wants to give us some juicy details about these flowers. If the icon is just a circled “i” without any sparkle, then Visual Look Up hasn’t been able to read the object in question.



3. Click the starred information icon. When you do, you’ll be presented with some details about the photo, along with the option to “Look Up” more information about your object.



4. Tap “Look Up” to find more information about the object. Your iPhone will offer similar images from the web, providing its best guess for the name of what you’re trying to identify.

Visual Look Up can do more than just educate you about your neighborhood plants, though. Intrigued by a painting or a book? Snap a photo and see what Visual Look Up sends back. If the piece in question is well known, it’ll likely identify the artist and context for the work.

You can also use Visual Look Up on food, either to identify a dish or learn how to make it yourself. Results may vary, of course, considering Visual Look Up is effectively pushing you towards popular web results rather than providing definitive solutions. A perfect example can be found below: no one in their right mind (or at least not this Philly transplant) would ever call a cheesesteak a “beef-and-cheese sub.”

Why is Visual Look Up not working?

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There are a few common reasons why Visual Look Up won’t work, some that you can fix quickly and others that will hopefully improve with the next iOS update.

Visual Look Up is not enabled

Visual Look Up is automatically included with iOS 15, iOS 16, and iOS 17. If you have an iPhone SE (2nd generation) or newer and have updated to the most recent version of iOS, then the feature will be available on your phone.

If you previously changed your settings for Siri, though, then you might’ve inadvertently turned off Visual Look Up. Here’s how to check to see if Visual Look Up is enabled.

1. Open Settings.
2. Tap Siri & Search.



3. Scroll down to “Content From Apple.” Make sure that Show in Look Up is toggled on.

Visual Look Up can't identify the object

Visual Look Up is a rather new feature, having first appeared with iOS 16. As is often the case with newer features, that means it’s far from perfect. Sometimes, Visual Look Up tells me it’s identified an object only to render a non-answer.

The “Results” will instead offer you the opportunity to report an issue, though I have yet to do so despite the many objects (a lemon, a few record sleeves, some pages from a book I’m reading) that didn’t return any results. It seems beside the point; I don’t want to report an issue, I want to learn more about this thing!

Hopefully, the feature will improve with the next iOS update. Until then, I guess I’ll have to use Google. (Sigh.)

Visual Look Up isn't available in your language

Visual Look Up isn’t offered in every language. According to Apple’s website, it’s currently only available in English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, and Spanish. Even if your language is covered, it may not be available in your country: as of this writing, commenters online report that Visual Look Up is not yet available in Ireland, Switzerland, or New Zealand, even though they’re primarily English-speaking countries.