Mobile OCR: How to Extract Text from Phone Photos

Mobile OCR is perfect when you’re on the go: menus, receipts, signs, whiteboards, and notes. The key is capturing a clean photo.

How to capture better OCR photos

• Light evenly: avoid shadows across the text.
• Hold steady: blur is the #1 accuracy killer.
• Fill the frame: move closer so text is large.
• Keep it flat: photos of curved pages reduce accuracy.

Fast workflow

1. Take a photo (or select from gallery).
2. Upload it to an online OCR tool.
3. Copy the text and paste into Notes / Docs.

Mobile OCR use cases

• Receipts and invoices
• Lecture slides
• Business cards
• Whiteboards

With a few capture tips, mobile OCR can be surprisingly accurate—and it saves time every day.