Even easier since iOS 16
Convert with your iPhone
Converting a unit or currency with the iPhone is a piece of cake. You do this with Spotlight, Apple’s built-in search function. However, since iOS 16 it is also possible in another way. For example, you can convert currencies to dollars, euros and yen or distances from inches to centimeters.
In the App Store you will find all kinds of apps that allow you to convert units and currencies. They are very popular, but you don’t actually need them. An advantage of special apps is that you can often use them offline, but you must have an internet connection regularly to look up the latest currency rates.
- New: convert in apps
- Spotlight
Convert currencies and units from apps
Since iOS 16, it has become even easier to quickly convert something. Do you receive a weather report with Fahrenheit from your American friend? Then simply tap on the unit and you will immediately see the conversion to Celsius and even Kelvin. The same goes for units such as meters, inches, liters and American cups. It also works in other apps, but only if the app uses the correct text formatting.
You can also point your camera at a unit and activate Live Text. Your iPhone will automatically recognize and underline the units. Tap it to view the conversion. This is useful, for example, in a restaurant where you cannot make chocolate from the amounts on the menu.
Currency converter with Spotlight
This method of conversion has been available on the iPhone for a long time. To make conversions, all you have to do is activate Spotlight and start typing. You do this by swiping down the home screen with all your apps until the keyboard appears. If you then type ‘$100’ or ‘100 USD’ in the search screen, the iPhone or iPad will automatically display how many euros that is. This depends on the region settings of your device.
If you would rather know how much Japanese Yen $100 is, you can enter ‘$100 to ¥’ in the search bar. We can imagine that you don’t always have the ¥ sign under an easy-to-reach button. But luckily you can also use ‘$100 to Yen’ or ‘$100 to JPY’. You can also convert units in the same way, such as ‘1 liter to cups’.
Are you abroad for a longer period of time? Then you can set the country as a region via Settings > General > Language and region, so that it automatically converts currency calculations to the local currency.
Would you prefer a separate app for currency conversion? Then we have a list of currency converter apps for you. In addition to iPhone and iPad, currency and unit conversions with Spotlight also work on Mac. Simply press Command + Spatie or the magnifying glass in the menu bar. You can read more about calculating with Spotlight in our separate tip.
