labeling things with an ios app?

I've used an app called Digit-Eyes to create labels for this purpose. I print the labels using a label printer called POQU.

The other option is Penfriend. This allows you to stick a small label onto an item and record your own voice to describe the item. All you need to do is keep the Penfrind in your pocket so that you can use it when needed.

Pen Friend is a neat little device. Its predecessor was a device called the "VoxCom". The way VoxCom worked was similar to Pen Friend.

You had a stack of library-shaped cards with a hole punched out of one corner; put a card into the device, record whatever, let us say "Can of No Bean Chili" for example, then use a string or rubber band to attach the card to the item in question.

Pen Friend is a much more elegant way of doing the same thing, with the exception that there are clothing tags as well as tags for other random things. The clothing ones even survive washing cycles.

Looktel Recognizer was even better, simply because it did all of the above, with just the iPhone camera and the app, of course.

Looktel had a few other great apps in the earlier iOS days, including a Money Reader, and a VoiceOver trainer that had a few mini games built-in that were designed to teach basic VO commands/gestures.

Sadly, I do not know if anyone has ever come up with a replacement for Looktel Recognizer. 🫤

It's an app paired with special NFC tags which can hold much more information than a standard NFC tag. WayAround makes tags in several forms. They have a tag that they call a two-hole button that you can sew onto things, and another button-type tag that they call an oval-hole button which you can attach with safety pins or silicone bands; both button types are also heatproof and coldproof to a rather impressive temperature range, and can go through the washer and dryer, as well as be stored in the fridge or freezer. There's also their sticker tags, which come in two shapes, square and round; their square stickers are for use on metal items, and their round stickers are for use on everything else. The same holds true for their next tag type, clips; they have square-edged and round-edged clips, and their shape also dictates what you can use them on, just as with the stickers. Their last type is magnets, and they can obviously only be used on metal items.

I really love this system for labeling because it allows me to put lots of different details on a tag, which I can customize to my heart's content. I'm planning on using some stickers on all my cards, but I'm putting my cards in sleeves and then putting the sticker on the sleeve so that I can just change the information on the tag which is on the sleeve when getting a new card. Doing it this way rather than putting the tag directly on the card allows me to reuse the tag. Once these stickers are on, they're pretty much stuck. They're quite sticky.

I hope this has helped you. I think the thing I like best about WayAround is that I don't have to listen to my own voice, and that I can swipe through to look at only the details I want/need to look at without having to listen to the whole tag, like I would with a Pen Friend or similar system. Plus, it uses my iPhone, which is something I have with me practically all the time, and this means that I don't have to carry around a separate piece of tech which I have to keep charged. WayAround plus Aira is an awesome combination. I can get the exact name of a product and the cooking instructions for it, and then I always have them, and I have everything in one place.

Thanks,
Shersey

Hey, I'm glad you've been able to try some of the tags. If you don't mind me asking, why haven't you been able to try the rest of the tag types? Is it a case of availability? I'm sure if you reach out to WayAround, they could help you sort something out.

As for attaching the tags to cards, personally, I wouldn't attach them directly to the cards. I would put them onto a sleeve and then put the card in said sleeve so that you can reuse the tag if your card changes.

Thanks,
Shersey

Well, my favorites would have to be the buttons (both types) and the round stickers. I know some people really like the clips, but I really don't care for them. I feel that they bend whatever they're clipped onto too much, but maybe that's just me.

Thanks,
Shersey

I guess you could give something like NaviLens a try. You have to print out the codes and tape them to things, though, so they're not the nost reusable things ever.

Thanks,
Shersey