Is Visual Look Up not working on your iPhone in iOS 17? Here are all the reasons why it doesn’t work and what you can do to fix it.
You can use the Visual Look Up feature to identify various objects, landmarks, animals, books, plants, works of art, and more in your image library, and then offer information about them that it draws from the web. Although it’s a handy feature, it doesn’t always work, and if you have an old device, it might not work at all.
So, if you’re having trouble using the Visual Look Up feature on your iPhone running iOS 17, here are some reasons why it might not be working and what you can do to fix it.
1. Make sure your iPhone Model Supports Visual Look Up
If Visual Look Up is not working, it may be because your iPhone model doesn’t support the feature. Visual Look Up only works on iPhones with the A12 Bionic chip or later, meaning only the following iPhone models support Visual Look Up:
- iPhone SE (2020 and 2022 models)
- iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, and iPhone XR
- iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, and iPhone 11 Pro Max
- iPhone 12, iPhone 12 mini, iPhone 12 Pro, and iPhone 12 Pro Max
- iPhone 13, iPhone 13 mini, iPhone 13 Pro, and iPhone 13 Pro Max
- iPhone 14, iPhone 14 Plus, iPhone 14 Pro, and iPhone 14 Pro Max
- iPhone 15, iPhone 15 Plus, iPhone 15 Pro, and iPhone 15 Pro Max
If your iPhone is compatible but Visual Look Up is still not working, move on to the next solution.
2. Switch to a Supported Region to Fix Visual Look Up Not Working on iPhone in iOS 17
Another reason why you might not be able to access and use Visual Look Up on your iPhone could be because of your region. The Visual Look Up feature on the iPhone is restricted to only a handful of regions around the world. These include Australia, Canada, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Spain, Singapore, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
So, if you are currently not residing in one of the mentioned regions that currently support Visual Look Up on iPhones, you will not be able to use it on your device. In order to use Visual Look Up, you will have to switch to a region that supports the feature. Follow the steps below to change the region settings on your iPhone:
- Open the Settings app, then tap General followed by Language & Region.
- Tap Region, then select a region that supports Visual Look Up.
3. Switch to a Supported Language to Fix Visual Look Up Not Working on iPhone in iOS 17
Whether Visual Look Up will work or not depends upon the language set on your iPhone. So, if you’re using an unsupported language, the feature will not work as intended. To make sure you’re able to use the feature, change your primary iPhone language to one of the following supported languages:
- English.
- French.
- German.
- Italian.
- Japanese.
- Spanish.
Follow the steps below to change the primary language on your iPhone:
- Head to Settings, then tap General followed by Language & Region.
- Tap Add Language, then select any one of the six supported languages outlined above and set it as the primary language.
4. Make Sure Siri Look Up Is Enabled
Visual Look Up is much like a new skill your virtual assistant Siri has learned. No content will show up if you don’t allow Siri to use on-device learning to suggest relevant information based on your device usage. To enable this, here’s what you need to do:
- Open the Settings app, then tap Siri & Search.
- Under Content From Apple, toggle the switch on for Show in Look Up.
5. Make Sure the Image doesn’t have Problem
Visual Look Up doesn’t work well when there are too many objects in the picture, but it usually works fine when only a single object is in the photo. Hence, when you take a photo, try to ensure it’s centered and focusing on a single object.
In some cases, Visual Look Up may detect more than one object in the photo, causing an error in retrieving results.
If you’ve taken a photo of the object on its own and your device still can’t detect the object, the quality of the image may be a culprit. Check for lighting issues and glare before taking a photo, as you can greatly improve the accuracy of Visual Look Up
6. Make Sure You Are Connected to the Internet
Siri requires an internet connection to fetch relevant data whenever you tap the Visual Look Up icon. You’ll know your issue is a lack of internet connection when your device shows a Visual Look Up icon, but you get a** No Content Found** displayed in the results.
7. Make Sure the Object Is Supported
Despite the constant updates the feature has received since its introduction, Visual Look Up is still largely dependent on machine learning algorithms. It means that while the feature does get better over time, there’s a chance it won’t recognize the object you want to learn more about.
So, if you know that the item you’re trying to learn about is supported, ensure that you try a different image from the internet because–as mentioned earlier–the first image you chose could also pose an issue, not letting Visual Look Up work.
8. Restart Your iPhone
Like other features on the iPhone, Visual Look Up may not work due to random errors. If you are still having problems, restart your iPhone to clear up minor software bugs and other glitches that may be causing an error. Go to Settings > General > Shut Down.
9. Update Your iPhone
If the above solutions fail, update your iPhone. To do this, go to Settings > General > Software Update to see if an iOS update is available for your device. Updates carry performance improvements and bug fixes, so try to update your iPhone to see if it resolves the Visual Look Up not working issue.