How to Find Any Screenshot by What’s Inside on iPhone and Mac

By Roman Resenchuk,

To find screenshots by content on iPhone or Mac, open CloudShots and type a word from the screenshot. CloudShots is a screenshot app for iPhone, iPad and Mac that reads the text and objects in every screenshot, so "matcha" finds the cafe menu I never named. I build it in my free time.

I wrote this because I kept losing screenshots I knew I had. A boarding pass, a receipt, a recipe, a list of films, a stack of books I wanted to read. In Photos they all look like thumbnails, and the filename is a timestamp. This post shows what CloudShots does with them and how to use it.

A screenshot has a date, a size and a timestamp for a name. Nothing says what is in it. The useful part is the content: the words on a menu, the flight number, the dish in a recipe. If the app that stores your screenshots cannot read that, you are left with scrolling and guessing from tiny previews.

  1. Install CloudShots on your iPhone and give it Full Access to Photos. Limited access cannot see the Screenshots album, so the app asks you to switch.
  2. Wait for the first import. CloudShots reads your Screenshots album in the background, and each new screenshot is added after that.
  3. On the Mac, choose the folder where your screenshots land. The Desktop is preselected. Screenshots you capture with the app go into the same history.
  4. Search. On the iPhone, open the Search tab. On the Mac, press Command Shift 2 for the panel and type in the search field. Type a word that appears in the screenshot, or what it shows, like "receipt" or "recipe".
  5. Open the result. Matches are marked in the picture, and links, codes and addresses in it can be copied with a tap.

The text search guide goes deeper on how the search matches words.

CloudShots does two things with every screenshot. It reads the text, and it recognizes what is in the picture, such as a plate of food or a document. Both are stored in a search index, so a word from either one finds the screenshot.

That is why one search covers very different things: a boarding pass found by the airport name, a receipt by the shop, a film list by a title, a stack of books by an author. Each screenshot is also filed on your device into a folder such as Receipts, Messages, Documents, Maps or Shopping, so you can browse when you do not know a word to type.

On devices with Apple Intelligence, CloudShots gives each screenshot a name that makes sense, and a short summary. I call this Smart names. The name is written on your device from the text and the picture, and it is searchable like everything else. Without Apple Intelligence you still get the text and object search, only the written names are missing.

Your screenshots and the search index travel between your devices through your own iCloud, so a screenshot taken on the iPhone is there on the Mac, the iPad and the Watch without a manual export. The recognized text goes with the screenshot, so another device does not have to read it again. The guide to syncing screenshots between Mac and iPhone shows the setup, and the iCloud screenshot manager page explains the idea.

The recognition runs on your device. The results sync only through your private iCloud database. CloudShots has no servers that hold your screenshots, and nobody at CloudShots collects them. The app sends crash and usage diagnostics, and you can switch them off. They never include a screenshot or the text inside one.

Search is free. The Free plan syncs and searches your whole library and opens the newest 30 screenshots. Pro opens the whole history and adds cleanup of the originals in Photos, which the free up space guide covers. You can get CloudShots from the download page.

How do I find screenshots by content on iPhone?

Yes. Open the Search tab in CloudShots and type a word from the screenshot or a thing it shows. The result is marked inside the picture.

Does it search pictures as well as text?

Yes. CloudShots also recognizes objects and scenes in the image and stores them as tags, so a word like "recipe" or "receipt" can find a screenshot that never spells it out.

Do I need Apple Intelligence?

No. Text and object search work without it. Apple Intelligence adds the written names and summaries on devices that have it.

Is anything uploaded to a server?

No. CloudShots recognizes on your device, and the results sync only through your own iCloud.

What does it cost to search?

Nothing. Search covers the whole library on the Free plan, and Free opens the newest 30 screenshots.

Hello, Roman here. I'm an iOS and macOS developer. In my free time, I build my hobby projects and here's CloudShots.app. I take a screenshot on my iPhone and it shows up on my Mac, iPad and my Watch. Smart names give each shot a name that makes sense. CloudShots reads the text inside and knows what's in the picture. A boarding pass, a receipt or a recipe, a film list, a stack of books. So I just type matcha and there's the cafe menu. Link and all. The AI runs on my device. Everything stays in my private iCloud. No servers. Download on CloudShots.app.

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