How to search the text inside your screenshots on iPhone

Good news first: your iPhone can already search the words inside screenshots. Here's how, and why it still sometimes lets you down.

Search screenshots with the Photos app

1. Open Photos.
2. Tap Search.
3. Type a word you remember from the screenshot.

Photos reads the text in your images, so a screenshot of a recipe card or a parking sign will often show up for a word that was in it. You can also long-press text in any photo to copy it, thanks to Live Text.

Why you still can't find it

• It's mixed in with everything. Your screenshots live alongside thousands of photos. A common word brings back a lot.
• You remember the idea, not the words. If you search "door hinge trick" but the screenshot says "fix a squeaky hinge in 30 seconds", nothing comes up.
• The link is gone. A screenshot of a post doesn't remember which post, which app or which person. Even when you find it, you often can't get back to the original.
• There's no "why". You took it for a reason, and the screenshot doesn't know it.

Keep a screenshot with where it came from

When a screenshot is about a post or a page, save the link and the screenshot together, plus a note.

That's what the Add screenshot option in SaveSearch is for (it comes with Pro). You save the link, add the screenshot, and SaveSearch reads the text out of it so the words are searchable. Your note ("fix for the bathroom door") is searchable too. So you can find it by the words in the image, by your own words, or by the link, and you get back to the original post in one tap.

It's especially handy for Instagram and TikTok, which often won't let anyone read a post's caption. A quick screenshot makes those saves searchable.

Read more: how to search your Instagram saved posts.