How do I do that thing where I hold my iPhone up to something and it tells me what it is?

Factual Questions
1

I’ve been clearing deadwood out of my back yard and I’ve come across a couple of very young saplings that I think are volunteers.

They have a smooth brown bark with short horizontal white steaks, about a quarter inch long.

I’d like to use that iPhone function for a suggestion what kind of trees these are.

(Unless, of course, a Doper trained in silviculture can identify them from my description.)

2

I am not an iPhone user but I believe that you can get the google lens app for an iPhone. Or perhaps download google for iPhone and google lens can be accessed through that.

3

Depending on your iPhone version, it may either be built into the camera/photo app already (How to identify plants and flowers with your iPhone camera | AppleInsider) or you can download a third party app like ‎PlantNet on the App Store

PS Visual plant ID is not always reliable. There are many plants that look alike, so ideally the app you choose should also know where your picture is taken so it can cross-reference that with the plant’s known habitat distributions. And often the comments from other users can warn you if it might look like another common plant.

I think it’s better to use a proper science-based app like PlantNet that has you separately look at the different parts of a plant (flower, leaf, fruit, bark) for a more detailed identification, vs just a general guess based on an image search.

4

(nm, I messed up)

5

Seek is my go-to.