Your iPhone can translate those cryptic symbols on clothing tags — I tried it out and finally know how to wash that sweater

• The iPhone's camera app has a built-in feature that decodes laundry symbols.
• If a user takes a photo of a clothing tag, a "look up Laundry Care" suggestion will appear.
• Here's a breakdown of exactly how to use it.

Have you ever gone to look at the washing instructions on the tag of an especially fussy item of clothing only to find what looks like a bunch of hieroglyphs?

While it's certainly possible to find a chart somewhere and decode all of those confusing laundry symbols one by one, it turns out there's a much easier way — if you have an iPhone running iOS 17, at least.

The function is built into your iPhone's camera app, so no special app necessary.

The feature, which some users first noticed back in 2023 shortly before the latest iOS launched publicly in September, isn't so commonly known. A viral TikTok video from user Aleisa Mora (@wtfaleisa on the app), which demonstrates how the function works, recently drew more attention to its existence.

"I love living in the future," Mora captioned the video.

I'm generally a bit mystified by all of those symbols on the clothing tags, so I was eager to try the feature out to find some laundry clarity.

Here's how it works:

1. Find an article of clothing that confuses you.

I looked for a piece of clothing that might give the feature a challenge. This sweater that I thrifted a while ago has at least five different types of materials: wool, cashmere, and elastane, plus cotton and wool in the lace detail.

2. Take a picture of the tag with the laundry care symbols.

While this particular clothing tag includes clear washing instructions at the bottom, not all items of clothing do — or not all have instructions in a language you understand.

3. Go to the picture you've just taken in your photo library, and click on the information symbol — a lowercase "i" with sparkles.

It may or may not even give a preview of a washing machine symbol, which you can faintly see here.

4. Click on "Look Up Laundry Care."

5. Look at the results.

The results should give you all the laundry symbols included on the clothing tag, plus what each of them means.