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Apple's New Visual Intelligence Function Will Look Up Anything You Screenshot

The latest upgrade for Apple's AI is drawing comparison to Google's Circle to Search.

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Headshot of Jon Reed
Jon Reed Managing Editor
Jon covers artificial intelligence. He previously led CNET's home energy and utilities category, with a focus on energy-saving advice, thermostats, and heating and cooling. Jon has more than a decade of experience writing and reporting, including as a statehouse reporter in Columbus, Ohio, a crime reporter in Birmingham, Alabama, and as a mortgage and housing market editor for Time's former personal finance brand, NextAdvisor. When he's not asking people questions, he can usually be found half asleep trying to read a long history book while surrounded by multiple cats. You can reach him at joreed@cnet.com
Expertise Artificial intelligence, home energy, heating and cooling, home technology.
Jon Reed
2 min read
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Apple's Visual Intelligence will be able to add an event to your calendar based just on a screenshot of a concert poster.

 Screenshot by CNET

See something interesting while scrolling on your iPhone? A new feature in iOS 26 will make it easier to learn more about it with updates to Apple's Visual Intelligence announced Monday at the company's annual WWDC event. 

Visual Intelligence can already use the company's Apple Intelligence models to identify what you see in the real world and photograph with the camera. The new feature is that you can take a screenshot of anything and use Apple Intelligence to do things like ask ChatGPT about it, add an event to your calendar or search for a product using one of your apps.

Watch this: WWDC 2025: Everything Revealed in 10 Minutes

"You can search and take action across your apps using anything you're viewing," Craig Federighi, Apple's senior vice president of software engineering, said.

The feature will live within the same screen where you would edit or share a screenshot, with buttons at the bottom for different ways to use generative AI features. Simply use the same buttons you would to take a screenshot.

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You can look up a product you see on social media with a screenshot and go straight to Etsy to find something like it.

 Screenshot by CNET

The feature is reminiscent of Google's Circle to Search, which is available on Android devices and on iPhones through the Google and Chrome Apps. Google introduced that feature last year.

Read more: Everything You Missed at WWDC 2025: iOS 26, Liquid Glass Design and More

The biggest announcement from Apple at WWDC was its new design for all of its platforms, using a system it called "Liquid Glass." That will bring more transparency into the display of your iPhone, iPad or Mac. 

Other announcements included an AI-driven live translation function that will work in your phone and messaging apps and new ways to create emoji, including using ChatGPT's image generation models.Â