Document reader

What it does

Document reader helps you read longer text on paper. Point your phone camera at a document or book. Spoken instructions guide you step by step to move or tilt the phone until the whole page is in view, so you don't capture only part of it. Once it is lined up, your phone automatically takes a photo and recognizes the text. The result opens in a reading page, where you can have it read aloud, copy it, or ask follow-up questions.

When to use it

Use Document reader when you want to read a lengthy paper document or book in full, or save its contents to read at your own pace.

How to use it

Place the document flat on a stable surface, such as a table, and keep the paper as flat as possible. Point the camera at it, then tap the screen to start detection. The “Start detection” announcement means the phone is looking for a document in the camera view.

When it finds the document, the phone gives spoken instructions to help you frame it, such as “Move closer,” “Move back,” “Move left,” “Tilt top forward,” or “Hold steady.” Move or tilt the phone slowly as directed, and keep listening for the next instruction. When you hear “Hold steady,” keep the phone as still as possible. These instructions help you capture the whole page without cutting off its edges or photographing only part of it.

“Move closer” and “Move back” mean moving the phone toward or away from the document. “Tilt top forward” means tilting the top of the phone toward the paper.

Once the whole page is in view and the phone is steady, it automatically takes a photo and recognizes the text. You do not need to find or press a shutter button. A loading sound plays during recognition to let you know processing is still in progress. Wait for it to finish.

When recognition finishes, the document reading page opens automatically:

The recognized text is displayed in paragraphs. With a screen reader, move the focus through the paragraphs to listen to them one at a time.

Tap Play to read the entire document from the beginning. You can stop reading at any time.

Use the copy function to copy all the text. Before copying, you can use the text filtering option to remove English text and extra punctuation. This option affects both the copied text and what is read aloud.

The original document photo is automatically saved to Photos so you can find it later.

You can also open the Chat tab at the bottom of the app to ask follow-up questions about the recognized content.

When you return from the reading page to the camera, scanning resumes automatically for the next page. You do not need to tap Start again. Scanning and reading aloud both stop when the app goes into the background.