Did you know Visual Look Up on iPhone can identify food you've taken pictures of and give you recipes? Those of us who enjoy food photography can now recreate the dishes in our favorite photos!
iPhoneLife Logo
Tip of the Day  
Mon, 06/09/2025

Editor's Note

Lesson 3 of iPhone Life’s iOS 18.5 + Apple Intelligence Course is coming up! This Wednesday, June 11, at 4:30 p.m. ET, Instructor Nicholas Naioto will show you how to find, organize, and identify photos faster than ever, plus how to unlock hidden features using Visual Lookup. Then, you’ll be guided through powerful new customization tools so your iPhone works exactly the way you want it to. Join us on Wednesday to master the all-new Photos experience & deep customizations!

PS: Follow along with iPhone Life’s coverage of the WWDC Keynote Address, which starts at 10:00 a.m. PDT today, June 9!

August Garry's picture
August Garry,
Associate Editor at iPhone Life

How to Find Recipes with Visual Look Up on iPhone

Did you know Visual Look Up on iPhone can identify food you've taken pictures of and give you recipes? Those of us who enjoy food photography can now recreate the dishes in our favorite photos! 

Why You’ll Love This Tip:

  • Recreate your favorite restaurant meals at home from a picture you took today or years ago using Apple’s Visual Lookup.
  • Discover new recipes that you know you’ll love by browsing through your digital photo albums.
  • Download or screenshot a photo of a friend's meal or a restaurant menu, and your iPhone will help you recreate it at home.

How to Find Recipes from Photos Using Visual Lookup

System Requirements

This tip was tested on an iPhone16 running iOS 18.5. Find out how to update to iOS 18.

Your iPhone can look up similar recipes based on a photo you've taken of a meal. It doesn't matter if you take a photo, screenshot one on social media, or download one from the internet; you can use your iPhone's Visual Lookup to discover a similar recipe. For more iPhone tips, check out our free Tip of the Day newsletter. To discover similar recipes of photographed meals:

  1. Open the Photos app.

    open the iPhone photos app
  2. Tap a photo of food.

    tap an image of food in photos app
  3. Tap the i icon.

    tap i info icon to use visual look up iphone
  4. Tap Look Up Food.

    tap look up food to use visual look up on iphone for food
  5. You’ll see a list of recipes. Tap Show More to see more options.

    tap show more to see more iphone visual look up results
  6. Swipe up and scroll to see the different options based on cooking time, calories, and serving size.

    swipe up to see more recipes from iphone visual lookup
  7. Tap a recipe to go to the website and see the full recipe.

    tap recipe under photo to use recipe mode iphone

Pro Tip

If you search for food in the Photos app search bar, you can better navigate all the photos you’ve taken of food. It may show you cartoon images of foods or food-themed items, but it will still narrow down your search.

Now you know how to discover new recipes similar to the meals you’ve had or seen simply by searching your Photos app. Next, learn how to tag cats and dogs in your People album in the Photos app.

 

Share This Tip

Got a Tip You Would Like to Share? Let Us Know.
Yesterday's Tip

More from iPhone Life

Follow iPhone Life

iPhoneLife Logo
Copyright © 2026 Mango Life Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Mac, iPad, iPhone, Apple TV, Apple Watch, AirPods, macOS, iPadOS, iOS, watchOS, and Apple are all trademarks of Apple, Inc.
You have opted in to receive this email from iPhone Life magazine: Insider Daily Email
To stop receiving these emails, you may:
Mango Life Media LLC | 402 North B Street | Fairfield, IA 52556