KNFBReader iOS App Announced for $99

I was really looking forward to this app but I can't afford that. Wow.

I will absolutely be buying this app, and probably upgrading my iPhone to get the best experience. I can easily see this becoming as valuable to me as my iPhone itself.

I was floored by the demos in 2008 and once again am floored in 2014. My x actually predicted this in 2011 and his prediction came true. I think he will be recommending this to his clients when it comes out.

Chatting with a friend about the price and when I said I'd never seen an app for more than twenty bucks he said I wasn't looking hard enough haha. I'm sure the app is worth it but wow. Do they have a layaway? Haha!

if it was 2010. Things have moved on and I think it is to much, for to little, to late.

While I still think the price is insane, when my boyfriend found out I might finally be able to easily read my own stupid insurance mail, he said he would buy it.

this has me thinking though. Does the NFB just know how many other apps we've all frustratingly tried and knows it can get that amount for this app?

And is there a lite version to try before dropping that amount of cash?

One of the things I miss about being sighted is reading my own dang mail.

Hi,

honestly, I really don't know what should be worth such a high price here. Most things mentioned I can accomplish by other means, which don't cost me so much money. For example, I already get quite good scanning results with prizzmo. On the odd PDF file I maybe get once a year, I can perform a OCR on my PC. Unless this translation feature is absolutely perfect, which I don't really believe, I don't know why to spend this money.

Hi! I have an important question which I will ask on behalf of all non-Americans reading this. Given that this KNFB Reader IOS app has been developed by an American advocacy organisation for the blind, that got me wondering, will it be available outside the USA? If it is, I'm still not sure whether I will buy it, as I usually only try to do OCR on my iPhone when my PC is out of action, but I'm sure it would still be useful to many people to know whether the KNFB Reader IOS app will be in app stores all over the world, or just in the US one.

Will you be able to transfer this app from your existing phone to a new one? If not, I will pass.

Having listened to an audio boo demonstrating the app posted by someone who attended one of the demonstrations, it certainly sounded quite good.
I will probably get the app, because I have had limited success with prismo, and in fact find the guided mode that tries to help focus in on the page more of a hindrance than a help, it wasn't well implemented.
I get some results with text detective though far from good results, and that only cost a few pence.
I am aware of knfb readers great reputation so I am expecting something very good especially for the price tag and considering the fact people hold on to old phones just to keep using it.

I'm not sure about availability outside the United States. As it supports multiple languages, one would certainly think so.
However, to the second question, Unless KNFB does something really odd and doesn't go through the app store, which I can't imagine why they wouldn't, you will be able to transfer this app to any iDevice you own. App purchases are associated with your iTunes account and once you buy an app, you can load that app on other iDevices you own under the same iTunes account.
Hope this helps.
Jim

I don't know why the "small Market" argument is being used here. AI Squared is a small company and is developing access tech for this same "small market" and they are able to charge $20 for Zoom-Reader. Also, it seems like there are many other applications that does the same things that KNFB Reader does. For example, Text-Detective, Text-grabber, Prizmo, and Google-Goggles. Another thought is that the demos of KNFB Reader seemed very scripted, and I wonder if people will get the same results when they go to use KNFB Reader in their everyday tasks.

Well, I scanned a tones of books using simple Canon flatbed scanner and I shooted some documents using FS Pearl and some IOS apps such as Prismo, Text Grabber and Fine Scanner. The results of standard scanner and photo shooting are not comparable. Standard scanner gives out a way better results than any cammera I tried so far.
Comparing just cammeras, FS Pearl gave me the best results and that's because of one thing everyone should have in their minds - Pearl has a heavy stand, you are not using it with your hands.
From all that experience I strongly doubt KNFB Reader will have better results than the apps I already tried. If you want to do any serious work with OCR with cammera, you need to put the cammera on the stand and to have the material you're shooting also fixed. There's no way you can do it with a free hand and to get decent results. So, $99 for this app is just waste of money because you'll get more less same results with the apps with considerably lower prices. Yes, of course, you can shoot bills and similar weekly mail but you can do it with cheaper apps, you don't need to pay $99 just because you're blind.

Since loosing my site in '08 I have not been able to read my own mail. The scanners and such that are available were way too much and I get no assistance with blind tech. Does anyone know if the NFB will let us use a lite version to test this app before dropping so much money on it? I have no luck with any of the other apps mentioned. Maybe my hands shake too much.

No lite version that I"m aware of but maybe ask the knfb folks if they can do that, like text that will stay on the screen for 30 seconds so you can see what the results will be.

I personally want to buy it as I have no luck with ocr and the camera will just keep getting better on the ios devices.

Hi. first off, I'm sorry you lost your sight. No it's not pity it's just a statement. second, have you looked into the commission for the blind wherever you live? Also how about the lions clubs? Granted you may be forgive me a bit old, as they deal with younger adults, teens that sort of thing, it's it's a go to. Once in a great while one of these comes on sale, it's a machien called SARA or Scanning and reading appliance, now iwth a camera attached. as you said, this is not cheap 1800 American dollars, but i for one will eventually buy one. Provided nothing comes out before i save the cash. I would try www.blindbargains.com and look in the classified section. they have braille displays, they have cc tvs though that might not help you. Hope i helped. Sorry if I sound disjointed, i'm hungry!! :)

I don't see why it shouldn't be available in other countries; afterall, I had the KNFB reader on my talks phone here in Australia.
Even though I found it very difficult to use the prev version on the Nokia, I will def buy this; sounds pretty good.
I would assume one could transfer the app from one device to the other like any other app; I mean I can't see why there'd be a problem.

It's a lot of money, but to me it'll be worth it, and so I'll be buying it. It would be great if there was some sort of trial, even a day or two, because it's a lot of money to drop on something we haven't been able to try.

I will fork over the money after I hear about experiences from people who will be using this in non-scripted situations. I'm not saying that the demo was scripted, but when a company demos its own product like this, it makes one suspicious. If I hear good things, I will buy. If I don't, ... oh well.

It really is too bad they aren't going to provide some kind of limited demo people can use. I mean, like it or not not everyone has a hundred bucks of disposable income just lying around, screaming out to be spent on an iOS app.

Brad said:
"...or we can pay for a flatbed scanner and then by scanning program for pc which are more than $099"
Of course we can. Decent flatbed scanner is around $100 and ABBYY Fine Reader for PC can be bought for about $200 and it is tripple times KNBF Readers price but with flatbed scanner and AFR you'll get the results and the job done which I can't say about phone apps.
The main reason I'm frustrated about this is the price. Just because this is a specialized product for the blind it automatically costs us a fortune comparing to the similar apps for the general population. That's just not right and it is disgraceful!

It would seem to me that this app, or any other that does basically the same thing, is only as good as the camera you're using to "see" the document. I am like some of you, I want to hear demos of this app in action, from someone not affiliated with NFB to insure it will do what they say it does. I want to hear the results of reading cans, boxes, CD covers, transit schedules, mail and so many more things. I don't see how it could do any better than the rest of the apps out there, because the iPhone camera is only so good at taking the picture of the document. Add in lighting, the shaking of the hand, that's a lot of variables for any scanning app. As far as the $99 goes, I think it could have been cheaper. The fact that there isn't a Lite version makes me more suspicious than ever that it won't do as promised. If it can do all they say it can, it will be worth the $99 and then some.

as someone who used the KNFB Reader Mobile on the n86, I will be buying this . I just hope it will be usable on my old iPhone 4S

If the KNFB Reader isn't as good as we're all hoping, I'll probably look into finally going scanner and Mac app. Unfortunately as far as all the blind orgs and the help they offer, It sucks I went blind young, at 29, because I fall into a total grey area for assistance. Add that my primary disability and the cause of my blindness, MS, keeps me from being in a vocational or school program and yeah poof, there goes help. But, I do ok. :)

Hope you got some food in you. *Grin*

$99? now that, is just as ridiculous as the HumanWare Communicator for $249 hahahahahaha

But, I suppose that's why they call them applications, to apply money to their accounts hahahahahahahahahahaha

I truly don't grasp why you guys are being so hard on the price. I realize this is 2014, not 2005. However, you should still be greatful! If I wanted an accessible application back then, it would've been thousands of dollars. I don't understand why you guys just sit here complaining about prices when you should be greatful the app will be there in the first place. Be happy for what you have; most of the blind community asks for is more, more, and more. I'm not saying settle for what you have, because that's never the answer, but neither is complaining.
I totally acknowledge $99 is... half the price of an iPod touch and a third of the price for an iPhone. But one thing that's hardly been said is that the blind community is fairly small. If this app is truly what it's cracked up to be, they must have put hundreds if not thousands of dollars into the development. Of course they're going to want to recover some of the revenue they put into making the thing in the first place.
If you have anything constructive, feel free to respond to me with it, but the atitudes are really poor at this point, especially the last poster.
Come on, guys. I know I sound harsh, but you guys are being so judgmental and preemptive on this it isn't even funny. I can point out a few apps on the app store created by sighted people that are hundreds of dollars; this is not an issue that pertains just to blind or visually impaired people.
Lastly, obviously they're aware of the competition. They're working with other blind people on this app is released, and if I had to wager some of those blind people have used other apps like prismo or TextDetective before.

i have never been able to understand the business model. if this was braille typing app, then yes only blind people would use it. if i am a developer of such app, i'll price accordingly based on my business objective.

apps like note taking, navigation and OCR are not niche products. if an app is so good and so easy even the blind can use, it can certainly be marketed to the mass, unless it is not really that good. sure, there are features some sighted folks may never use, but that is also true for many other apps. recognizing text 25 feet away? why wouldn't a sighted person want that?

as for things used to cost thousands, we are comparing apple to orange here. those are specialized devices and specialized software, and in many cases, government agencies paid the bill. many companies produced those things aren't even around any more, you don't think people had to worry about their own retirement?

If I'm going to spend that much, I want a limited time demo to see if it is worth it.

I saw a retweet from KNFB that stated a demo version is not made possible by Apple. Ok then, make a Lite version. I think that would stop a lot of questions about the price right there. Before I spent $20 on the MLB At Bat app, I tried the Lite version and bought the app the same day.

NFB, make a Lite version we can try for free and we'll stop complaining. Well, some of us will. ;)

@Aaron C:
And I repeat why not? Why does sighted people use scanners and scan books when they are able to read hard print? No matter if I'm blind or fully sighted I'd rather shoot PowerPoint presentation and perform OCR instead of taking notes down manually.
@Russ Kiehne:
I don't know why they said older iPhones and not sure which older iPhones exactly. The symbian version was capable of working with 5mp cammera (N82, N95) so I see no reason why it wouldn't work with iPod Touch 5G.

I don't think making a lite app would be impossible. When apps like MBraille came out, some people thought the price for that was high. If I'm not mistaken, you can now download the app, try it out with limited features, and if you like it, make an in-app purchase upgrade. I believe that is true of MBraille, but it is certainly true of other apps. Hopefully, this reader will employ such an idea.

Sooo, why don't they make tha app itself free, then have an in-app purchase for $99 to unlock all it's features? I think that would solve all the problems right then and there! At least, that's what I think. :)

I went to the session on the KNFB Reader while at convention and they did demonstrate reading tables. It read the tables just fine. There are different modes depending on if you're reading tables or not. One of the modes reads from left to right and then the other mode reads vertically.

It is possible that the reason they aren't offering a light demo is because they can't. They are including in the app at least one professional grade OCR engine, perhaps more, and it certainly seems plausible that their license agreement could be what is preventing them from offering a demo or even a subscription.

The app sounds as if it is a huge improvement and far more versatile than the KNFB Mobile Nokia phone I used to use, or the Prizmo app I currently have on my iPhone 5. I definitely will purchase it if the actual user reviews are consistent with its expected features.

There will be something else available around December. It is called Pocket Scan. Actual scanner that fits in palm. It has OCR built in and will have companion app. It's being funded on Kickstarter until July 16th. It is a Swiss company. It will work with VO on iOS. Spoke with developer and being tested by blind users now. It will be $150. I feel more practical. A blind reader essentially, but not $2000. Weighs less than a pound.