Blind and Visually Impaired Community
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A simpler and smarter scanning app (self.Blind)
submitted by karakitap
Hello friends,
I am Emre, the co-founder of Mediate. We have developed the Supersense app on Android to help people find objects and scan documents. Thousands of people use our app every week worldwide. For months, people have been asking us to bring Supersense to iOS.
Also, we heard from many people that they want a simpler, faster, friendlier, more accurate, and more comprehensive scanning app that everyone can use. In the last few months, I talked to more than 100 people and conducted in-person testing with at least 20 people to understand what people really need.
We finally finished developing the first version of our iOS app with lots of new features. You can access it here. I would love to get your feedback on it.
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By using Supersense, you can scan and read any type of physical document with enhanced accuracy. For people who don’t want to deal with lots of menus and buttons, it has a Smart Scanning mode which will automatically detect whether you want to quickly read a piece of text, a long document or currency. For people who would like assistance on how to point the camera for a document, it has an Auto-guidance feature that helps you on how to hold the phone for the most accurate results. Once the text is recognized, you can navigate the text blocks and share it to other apps.
We are working hard to continue developing our app with new features such as handwriting, barcode and any other needs that we hear from you.
Are you a current Supersense user? What do you think about these new features? What other feature do you think could help this community the most? I would appreciate any feedback.
If you would like to access our Android app, you can use this link:
$1
Best
I am Emre, the co-founder of Mediate. We have developed the Supersense app on Android to help people find objects and scan documents. Thousands of people use our app every week worldwide. For months, people have been asking us to bring Supersense to iOS.
Also, we heard from many people that they want a simpler, faster, friendlier, more accurate, and more comprehensive scanning app that everyone can use. In the last few months, I talked to more than 100 people and conducted in-person testing with at least 20 people to understand what people really need.
We finally finished developing the first version of our iOS app with lots of new features. You can access it here. I would love to get your feedback on it.
$1
By using Supersense, you can scan and read any type of physical document with enhanced accuracy. For people who don’t want to deal with lots of menus and buttons, it has a Smart Scanning mode which will automatically detect whether you want to quickly read a piece of text, a long document or currency. For people who would like assistance on how to point the camera for a document, it has an Auto-guidance feature that helps you on how to hold the phone for the most accurate results. Once the text is recognized, you can navigate the text blocks and share it to other apps.
We are working hard to continue developing our app with new features such as handwriting, barcode and any other needs that we hear from you.
Are you a current Supersense user? What do you think about these new features? What other feature do you think could help this community the most? I would appreciate any feedback.
If you would like to access our Android app, you can use this link:
$1
Best
CloudyBeep 3 points 3y ago
How is this better than Seeing AI?
karakitap [OP] 3 points 3y ago
Hey, thanks a lot for the question. Based on the publicly available data, we estimate that less 5% of the blind population uses smartphone apps right now and based on our interviews this is partially because even SeeingAI is too complicated for most users. This is especially true for the senior population. We have designed this to be usable by even the least tech-savvy users, so:
\- You can use the entire app with its Smart Scan feature without having to toggle through different modes. It predicts the mode you want automatically and starts that mode automatically.
\- For documents it guides to you take a good picture, so you don't need to be great at pointing the camera.
We are developing new proprietary systems to enhance accuracy, to add barcode scanning feature incorporated with nutritional information, and some other unique things as well. We will also add features that help you locate objects, like chairs, tables, doors in a physical space.
\- You can use the entire app with its Smart Scan feature without having to toggle through different modes. It predicts the mode you want automatically and starts that mode automatically.
\- For documents it guides to you take a good picture, so you don't need to be great at pointing the camera.
We are developing new proprietary systems to enhance accuracy, to add barcode scanning feature incorporated with nutritional information, and some other unique things as well. We will also add features that help you locate objects, like chairs, tables, doors in a physical space.
CloudyBeep 1 points 3y ago
"Less than 5% use a smartphone."
I would only say that that is true if you include people who lost their vision in old age and blind people with additional disabilities. These groups would probably not use smartphones if they weren't blind.
I would only say that that is true if you include people who lost their vision in old age and blind people with additional disabilities. These groups would probably not use smartphones if they weren't blind.
KillerLag 2 points 3y ago
That's true about them not using smartphones, but smartphones are rapidly becoming the standard. It's part of the Technology Adoption Cycle (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technology_adoption_life_cycle), where some people jump onto a technology early, and others late.
I've literally known clients who still use 5-6 year old flip phones that are held together by duct tape. A few years ago, one of my clients actually had and still used a rotary phone, until his phone service finally discontinued support, and he needed to learn how to use the keypad. Trying to explain the 0 was below the 8 instead of the 9 was surprisingly difficult.
I've literally known clients who still use 5-6 year old flip phones that are held together by duct tape. A few years ago, one of my clients actually had and still used a rotary phone, until his phone service finally discontinued support, and he needed to learn how to use the keypad. Trying to explain the 0 was below the 8 instead of the 9 was surprisingly difficult.
karakitap [OP] 1 points 3y ago
Yeah, this is the trend that we are trying to speed up. We talked to assistive tech trainers who help seniors use their first smartphone after they lost their vision. We see more and more people adopting smartphones as a key component of their toolkit.
However, even after people learn how to use a smartphone, using apps require another learning curve.
We estimate that the smartphone adoption rate is somewhere between 20-40% among the blind and the severely visually impaired, but the smartphone app usage rate is less than 5% among this total population. That's the number I was citing in my previous comment. (We haven't found good studies on this, so these estimations are based on expert interviews, public data, and relevant studies.)
I think our app is taking some good steps towards making this adoption easier and faster. We are building an interface that can work without taps, we are investing in features that guide people how to point the camera, among other things.
If we can make it twice as easy to use an app, that immediately helps us access a vast underserved population around the world.
However, even after people learn how to use a smartphone, using apps require another learning curve.
We estimate that the smartphone adoption rate is somewhere between 20-40% among the blind and the severely visually impaired, but the smartphone app usage rate is less than 5% among this total population. That's the number I was citing in my previous comment. (We haven't found good studies on this, so these estimations are based on expert interviews, public data, and relevant studies.)
I think our app is taking some good steps towards making this adoption easier and faster. We are building an interface that can work without taps, we are investing in features that guide people how to point the camera, among other things.
If we can make it twice as easy to use an app, that immediately helps us access a vast underserved population around the world.
bradley22 1 points 3y ago
I’ve tried the app and will be sticking to Seeing AI.
In my opinion it’s the same but payed and when it comes to reading; Seeing AI did a lot better.
In my opinion it’s the same but payed and when it comes to reading; Seeing AI did a lot better.
KillerLag 1 points 3y ago
What's the OCR accuracy rate? How many fonts does it support?
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