Skip to main content

Microsoft has a free app designed to help visually impaired users

Microsoft is using artificial intelligence to tackle a huge problem — helping visually impaired users interact with the world around them. To that end, it has developed Seeing AI, an iPhone app that recognizes people, places, documents, currency, and more to narrate your surroundings.

Open the app and point your phone’s camera at a friend, and Seeing AI will tell you who you’re looking at and the expression on their face. Point it at a can of soup in the grocery store, and it will read off the brand as well as the directions. The app can also translate printed text to speech, whether it’s on a paper or a label on a door. It can even tell dollar bills apart from one and another.

Recommended Videos

Seeing AI isn’t only intended for your phone’s camera, either. You can import images to the app through iOS’ share menu, and it will describe the picture and read text if any is contained.

The app sports a few experimental features as well, though they require you to have a data connection to function. There’s a “scene” mode, which will literally describe your environment, rather than simply reading text. Another mode can decipher and read out handwriting.

One of the more impressive aspects of Seeing AI is that everything the app can do — outside of those last two features — is handled locally on the device. Most of the time, you’ll never need the cloud’s help to use Seeing AI, which is a massive benefit. Everyone expects to be able to connect to the internet wherever they go, but the reality is much spottier — so it’s reassuring to know Microsoft has planned for the inevitable.

Microsoft’s latest project comes at an interesting time for the company, just a day after it ended support for its Windows Phone 8.1 operating system. While Microsoft may have struggled in building its own mobile devices, it’s currently producing some of its most interesting, unique, and helpful apps for other platforms.

Seeing AI is debuting on iOS, and can be downloaded for free. Microsoft has not disclosed when or if Android users can expect the app.

Adam Ismail
Former Contributor
Adam’s obsession with tech began at a young age, with a Sega Dreamcast – and he’s been hooked ever since. Previously…
New iPhone 17 Pro render keeps us guessing on the final design
Apple iPhone 17 Pro Render

Apple is to expected to announce the iPhone 17 series later this year, likely sometime in September if previous release patterns are anything to go by. By our calculations, that puts us around five months out, though math is not our strong point – we're writers here after all. 

What we do know however, is that in the upcoming months we are no doubt going to see more conflicting rumors about what we can expect from the iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Pro models in terms of design. A few months back, it was suggested the iPhone 17 Pro models would feature a new camera bar across their rear, taking on a more Pixel-like approach. 

Read more
Forget the iPhone 17 Pro design, the 20th anniversary iPhone could be the boldest yet
Leaked render of iPhone 17 Pro Max rear panel.

There are always plenty of rumours surrounding the next iPhone, with some even appearing over a year before the model in question is due to be announced. For this year it is the iPhone 17 series that is expected to be announced in September, with several reports claiming there will be a design change for the Pro models coming, as well as the arrival of the super slim iPhone 17 Air. 

But the latest report we are talking about here isn't about this year's iPhone, or even next year's. It's for the 20th anniversary iPhone model, that is set to arrive in 2027, alongside a potential folding iPhone. According to Mark Gurman's latest Power On newsletter, picked up by Macrumors, the iPhone Pro that launches alongside the folding iPhone will feature a "bold" design that makes more extensive use of glass.

Read more
Don’t hold your hopes for a fancy design refresh on the iPhone 17 Pro
The Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max's screen.

For nearly half a decade, Apple has sold smartphones that fundamentally serve the same design language originating on the iPhone 11. Later this year, the iPhone 17 series will hit the shelves. If you’ve been expecting an aesthetic makeover, there’s some bad news for you, unless you’re ready to spend big bucks on one of the Pro models. 

According to Bloomberg, the iPhone 17 Pro “will look meaningfully different,” compared to its iPhone 16 series counterpart. Alongside the rumored super-sleek iPhone 17 Air trim, these two are reportedly the biggest design refreshes in recent years on Apple smartphones. The approach, however, would still be quite modest. 

Read more