See It - Video Magnifier

Category
Utilities

Description of App

See It is a handheld video magnifier that works by streaming a real time video feed to your iPhone or iPad's screen from your device's back-facing camera. You can zoom the feed in and out, and apply image filters to make things easier to see. Also, for devices that support it, you can turn on your device's flash light for extra illumination and a sharper image.

Designed by the visually impaired for the visually impaired, See It is the world's only portable CCTV video magnifier for your iPhone and iPad! Why pay hundreds or thousands of dollars for a handheld portable CCTV, when there's an app for that?

See It supports the following image filtering modes:

  • Normal
  • Inverted Normal
  • Black and White (Grayscale)
  • Inverted Black and White (Grayscale)
  • Red Channel Only
  • Inverted Red Channel Only
  • Blue Channel Only
  • Inverted Blue Channel Only
  • Green Channel Only
  • Inverted Green Channel Only
  • Cyan
  • Inverted Cyan
  • Magenta
  • Inverted Magenta
  • Yellow
  • Inverted Yellow

Version

1.1

Free or Paid

Paid

Apple Watch Support

No

Device(s) App Was Tested On

iPhone

iOS Version

8

Accessibility Comments

When you run this app for the first time, two screens are displayed which give information on the app controls. These screens are not read by VoiceOver, and in fact there is no way to get past them with VoiceOver enabled. So, you will need to disable VoiceOver and then tap on the screen to navigate past these screens.

Once on the app's main screen, all the controls are recognized by VoiceOver. There is only one minor quirk, and that is with the slider control that adjusts the magnification level. This does not work correctly with the flick up or down gesture. Although the slider control visually moves, the magnification level does not change. However, you can workaround this - do a one-fingered double-tap and hold. Whilst keeping your finger pressed to the screen, slide it to the left or right. This will change the magnification level.

Of course, anybody interested in this app is going to have at least some residual vision. So although it can be used with VoiceOver (well, once you are past those first two screens, anyway), many users might not normally use VoiceOver or will disable it to use this app.

When I did this, I found the slider bar a little hard to locate and move, but that probably says more about the extent of my residual vision.

VoiceOver Performance

VoiceOver reads most page elements.

Button Labeling

All buttons are clearly labeled.

Usability

There are some minor accessibility issues with this app, but they are easy to deal with.

Other Comments

Using this on my iPhone, I found the maximum magnification to be a little too low to be useful. Again, this will be specific to my circumstances.

However, I did find that the app worked quite well with my preferred setting of inverted greyscale. On some other apps (such as ZoomReader) I have found that the video quality significantly degrades on this setting, and you have to hold the iPhone quite still to get clear and legible text. This can make for a very frustrating user experience, as you have to pan across text at a painfully slow speed in order to keep it legible.

If you are looking for a magnifier app for your iPhone, you should also consider VisionAssist. That offers a higher level of magnification, along with a couple of extra features not found in See It, such as the ability to adjust the contrast setting.

App Store Link

https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/see-it-video-magnifier/id514559829

Developer's Website

http://studiobebop.net/contact

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