Cut-and-Pasting Text from Images on Android

I just discovered the most useful hidden feature on my Android phone.

You know when Facebook won’t let you cut & paste an excerpt from a post, or when you wish you could copy the text from an Instagram image? Now you can.

Swipe up to go to the applications carousel which shows a the screen of every application currently running on your phone. Within the carousel you can swipe your finger on any of these screenshots to select text. It works even if this text is not selectable in the app, or if it’s embedded in an image.

It’s a very useful feature when you like to cut-and-paste excerpts for your posts, like I do.

I tested this on a Pixel 3 with vanilla Android 11.