Awesome Apps

Remember the old Apple saying 'There's an App for That!'? With the world of apps continuing to grow at what seems like an ever increasing pace, it shouldn't be surprising that there are apps to help people see. Now you may be thinking, 'help people see? Don't you need another person for that?', and there are those apps too; but the ones I generally tend to prefer use Artificial Intelligence (AI) to help me see.

I also don't feel that we as blind people should have to pay an arm and a leg to have access to these tools, which brings me to my two favourite apps. Seeing AI and Tap Tap See are two apps that I really would hate to live without. They are both free and specialize in image recognition. I believe that Tap Tap See uses some agent based recognition, but from my knowledge, Seeing AI is all AI.

With these apps I can read text, recognize images, scan QR codes for products, get the colour of an object, and even read handwriting (still a growing part of Seeing AI). If I'm looking for a certain kind of soup in my pantry, all I have to do is hold the can in front of my phone with one of the apps open and it will tell me which can I have in my hand.

For quick reading tasks, I usually use Seeing AI since it has a quick reading mode that doesn't require you to take pictures, it just reads as it sees text, which is extremely handy. Tap Tap See is usually my go to for colour recognition because it is usually more accurate on that front. I also use Tap Tap See for recognizing photos with items that may be less recognizable to AI, which is why I think that Tap Tap See uses agent based recognition for at least some things.

The field of AI is such an exciting thing for me. Only a decade ago, apps like this seemed like they were way off in the future, but here they are! When your phone has Seeing AI as the first recommended app to open since you use it most often on picking up your phone, you know it is something you would struggle to live without.

These apps have even come in handy when using apps or websites that aren't accessible, so I can see what is on the screen and maybe figure out where to click. These apps are truly techtastic and make my life so much easier!