TapTapSee

Category

Description of App

TapTapSee is designed to help the blind and visually impaired identify objects they encounter in their daily lives.

Simply double tap the screen to take a photo of anything, at any angle, and hear the app speak the identification back to you (Note: Spoken identification requires VoiceOver to be turned on).

TapTapSee helps the blind and visually impaired become more independent in their day-to-day activities.

TapTapSee has been a huge hit with users taking thousands of pictures per-day. It has garnered multiple podcasts, reviews, as well as positive feedback within the community.

● American Foundation for the Blind 2014 Access Award Recipient ●
● Named App of the Month by RNIB in March, 2013 ●
● Inductee of AppleVis iOS Hall of Fame ●

MEDIA COVERAGE
● "The biggest plus for the app is that it was designed specifically with blind and partially sighted people in mind." - RNIB

● "The application simply works – whether you have taken a picture of a shirt, a plate, or a chair." - Disabled-World.com

● "You see, TapTapSee is like a sighted assistant that never grow tired of you asking 'what’s that?'" - CultofMac.com

● "This is beyond cool. It’s TapTapSee. It’s an app that allows visually impaired persons to snap quick photos to identify objects around them." - iSmashPhone.com

● "The app is truly amazing because of its accuracy and detail it is able to provide in a short time." - Bdmtech.blogspot.com

USER FEEDBACK

● "I love this app. I use it constantly to help organize my pantry and fridge! Its great!" - @KLove2008

● "Love this app, would have had soup on toast instead of beans if not for TapTapSee!" - @Disdatndot

● "I took a picture of my guide dog and it actually said the type of dog. German Shepherd dog lol. cool." - @IAmMarissaC

● "I've constantly been amazed how fast and accurate the app is at recognizing just about everything!" - @Csm120

FEATURES
* Rotor reader
* Flash toggle
* Auto-focus notification
* Identify images from your Camera Roll
* Repeat last image identification
* Share identification via text, email, or social media
* Barcode reader

COMPATIBILITY
* iPhones: 3G and up
* iPod Touch
* iPad

Follow on Twitter @TapTapSee or LIKE on Facebook.com/TapTapSeeApp

Version

3.1.0

Free or Paid

Free

Apple Watch Support

No

Device(s) App Was Tested On

iPhone

iOS Version

9.2.1

Accessibility Comments

With only 2 buttons, 1 to take the photo and 1 to go to the About page, this is about as simple to use as things can get.

VoiceOver Performance

VoiceOver reads all page elements.

Button Labeling

All buttons are clearly labeled.

Usability

The app is fully accessible with VoiceOver and is easy to navigate and use.

Developer's Twitter Username

@TapTapSee

Recommendations

19 people have recommended this app

Most recently recommended by Michael Hansen 3 years 1 month ago

Options

Comments

By John Gassman on Monday, January 21, 2013 - 15:58

Thhis is not a complicated app and the results so far are equally as simple. I took a picture of a frozen dinner and was told that it was a microwave dinner. I don't think that this app is going to give us specific answers as to what kind of microwave dinner I have. although it did also tell me that i was taking a picure of the Santa Claus Disney DVD which was correct. Voice over reads the displayed answer one time and there does not appear to be an option for replaying the answer or saving it.

By Ricardo on Monday, January 21, 2013 - 15:58

I've read the description, and saw no mention of crowd sourcing. Does anyone no for sure that this app does or, does not use people to identify the objects in the pictures users of the app take? I'd also like to know, why does it ask for access to your location.

By Jeffry Miller on Monday, January 21, 2013 - 15:58

I installed taptapsee and saw the easy ui, but when taking a picture all it said was picture 1 or 2 and then never did give me any info. I tried with money and it didn't tell me the denomination. It looked like a cool app, but I think it needs work.

By Piotr Machacz on Monday, January 21, 2013 - 15:58

Pretty sure it uses IQ engines. Anyway I had quite a lot of luck with it. If you take the picture well does seem to make a difference EG I took a picture of my apple keybord and it just tolld me it's a computer keyboard. But when I later took a picture of my gamepad, which happened to be standing on that same keyboard it not only identified it as a playstation joystick, but also it said apple wireless keyboard." It seems to do a good job with clothing as well (it even tolld me that my Sweter had white and brown stripes). The only thing I wish it did was have a history of the results, and displaying them somewhere so you could reread them.

By aaron ramirez on Monday, January 21, 2013 - 15:58

Well... I really really hope it is IQ engines. Um, its funny I took a picture of my tongue, it said tongue, after that I couldn't send anything for a few minutes.

By Faerie on Monday, January 21, 2013 - 15:58

At first, I got, "Picture 1 taken" when I tried to take a picture. It takes about thirty seconds for the photo to process and then it will give a discription. Then it may say whatever it thinks your picture is, in my case, "Picture one is a dark photo." I need to turn my light on apparently. Anyway, it takes a minut is my point, so don't give up just because it doesn't give you an answe two seconds after the picture.

By Victor Tsaran on Monday, January 21, 2013 - 15:58

In reply to by Ricardo

It's definitely a crowd-sourcing effort. Don't know if a "location request" is triggered accidentally by the app but it may be that it is used to pick the closest agent. I certainly support any app that can make someone's life easier but a bit more transparency would be great as well. Also, don't know if it's VoiceOver, but the "About" screen seems to be empty.

By Santiago on Monday, January 21, 2013 - 15:58

Well, this app is just... amazing! It detects everything I show it, and I've shown it some strange and random items, for example, my iMac, my MacBook, my Apple TV, the TV remote, a slice of Pizza, an egg, cheese, my dog, it surprisingly got them all right.

By Kelly Sapergia on Monday, January 21, 2013 - 15:58

I just tried this app on my 4th Generation iPod Touch, and it failed miserably as far as describing what I took a picture of. It either said it was blurry, dark, or "null" for the most part, or else got it wrong. (The Screen Curtain was off when I tested it.) To be fair, I'm not sure where the camera is on the device, so that might be the problem.

By KLove on Monday, January 21, 2013 - 15:58

I love this app! It's absolutely taken the place of vizwiz for me. Also the fact that its geared for the blind, works awesomely well and it's free is great! It would be great to be able to replay or reread what it says but I'm not going to complain about that since the app is amazingly wonderful as it is. Thanks for doing such a great job!
The camera for the fourth gin iPod is located on the back top right corner of the device. You can feel a round circle there. That's the lins for the camera.

By Anthony R on Thursday, February 21, 2013 - 15:58

At first, I was totally unimpressed. I'd show it a box or a can, and it would say, "Box," or, "Can." Yeah yeah... Remember though that I'm a newbee to the Ipod, and now that I've gotten better at using the camera, I can't believe the results I'm starting to get. It does recognize currency, and when I take pics of cans and boxes, I can usually get really nice info. I took a pic of a pouch of betty Crocker Peanut Butter cookie mix and it told me exactly what it was. I took a pic of a generic hamburger helper, and it said, "Skillet Master Cheeseburger Macaroni." It even identified a can of mustard greens.

By Ken Downey on Thursday, February 21, 2013 - 15:58

In reply to by KLove

This app is not amazing, it's downright freaky. I ended at my pet bird, and it told me it was a green parakeet. Then, I am good at the TV and took a picture. My son was watching the Rugrats. For the first few snapshots, it just said cartoon, bye-bye the fourth one, it started telling me it was the Rugrats. That's crazy!

By Weary Mouse on Thursday, February 21, 2013 - 15:58

I think this app is a lot of fun. It gets similar results to oMoby but faster and with color. So, for example, oMoby said dog while TapTapSee said black and tan dog. However, for practical purposes, it's not as useful. In oMoby your results are saved and you can check spelling and go directly to the Internet to look up products. Yesterday I needed to know the values of some postage stamps. This app only said postage stamp, oMoby identified one as a three cent stamp and the other I was only able to get using Vis Wiz. For that sort of practical purpose, right now, I think the best thing we can do is have a folder fool of tools and keep trying them all. Some will improve and our chances of getting useful info, but it's too soon to know which will get us there first. Perhaps one that doesn't exist yet that will integrate multiple approaches. Including OCR.

By Ken Downey on Thursday, February 21, 2013 - 15:58

In reply to by Weary Mouse

First I took a picture of my bird, and it said it was a green parakeet. Then I got curious it what it would do if I took a picture of the TV. My son was watching Rugrats, and when I pointed the device at the TV, it said cartoon. Next, it said flatscreen TV. Finally, when I took another picture of the TV, it said Rugrats cartoon!

By AnonyMouse on Thursday, February 21, 2013 - 15:58

Member of the AppleVis Editorial Team

What's New in Version 1.2

* Added "repeat" button (repeat last spoken result)
* Automatically turn on camera flash in low-light conditions
* Display message when VoiceOver is turned off

By alex wallis on Thursday, February 21, 2013 - 15:58

Has anyone else tried the new version? I have found since installing the update that I often get told picture is two bright, I never got that before with the old version. Now I get it quite often. In fact, I get this message more than I get useful answers from the app.

By Earth on Thursday, February 21, 2013 - 15:58

The app is fully accessible and very simple to use.

must have app for all blind user! very helpful and better than any other regonition app.

By rdfreak on Thursday, February 21, 2013 - 15:58

It is pretty amazing and I also wondered if there's web wokers involved. Get this: I took a photo of my partner and it gave me the result of his "left eye". We wondered how it/he/she knew it was his left eye. I also took a pic of my guide dog, but just a bit of her fur and the first result said "pet dog" and the second time I did it, it said "dog". Seriously, I don't think I got her head or anything so how did it/he/she know? Could have been any animal. :)

By Doug on Thursday, February 21, 2013 - 15:58

TapTapSee, as some have said in various posts, is beyond amazing and I cannot believe there is no human intervention. While so far, amazingly excellent, there seems very little info on the afterscan; like, Is there a Human involved any time at all. I actually scanned myself (did not break the camera) and I got the response man sitting in broun leather chair; that must be the ghost I guess!
I installed this app. I wanted to see just what it would or would not do. I have some vision, and do enjoy taking pictures. Around my house, it's seem to do well identifying various objects. Does anyone know whether or not this app can be developed as a full version camera that can be used by the visually impaired, or is it designed as a recognition app? Any help would be appreciated. Someone did it right.

By AnonyMouse on Thursday, February 21, 2013 - 15:58

Member of the AppleVis Editorial Team
Hello everyone! Just wanted to help in clerifying things. The TapTapSee use a combinations of a object recognition engine as well with human interactions. So to let everyone know. Human interactions are a big part of the TapTapSee results. This was recently mentioned in an interviews done by Accessible Devices with the developer of TapTapSee. He had mentioned that when something that can't be identified by the computer is then tagged for a human to review and responded back. So this is why you are seeing the good results. Hope this clerify the misunderstanding from a variety of forumns and mailing lists with wrong information.

By Doug on Thursday, February 21, 2013 - 15:58

In reply to by AnonyMouse

Well, anonyMouse confirmed my rather strong suspicions; TapTapSee, as I suspected is a combination of human and electronic wizardry. One future feature I would like to see would be the ability to store previously recognized items which have already been recognized by either human, electronicly, or both sources. This would likely decrease time in recognizing the same object again. At the rotten antiquity of 65, I might yet see the day when I can use my IPhone to actually pick out groceries for myself rather than tying up store staff. Too bad I wasn't born 30 years later, such a pity that youth is wasted on the young! The man in the brown leather chair!

By AnonyMouse on Thursday, February 21, 2013 - 15:58

Member of the AppleVis Editorial Team

Excellent! Fixed the 3GS crashes and now has the new audio beep when the picture is in focus!

 

What's New in Version 1.3

 

* Added focus lock "beep" to aid in focusing
* Better flash behavior to expose pictures properly
* Fixed crash on non flash-enabled devices

 

By AnonyMouse on Thursday, March 21, 2013 - 15:58

Member of the AppleVis Editorial Team

What's New in Version 1.4

 

* Better network handling, images sent faster and more efficiently.

By Amber on Thursday, March 21, 2013 - 15:58

This comment is long. Just to warn you. OK, so I really am not one to get recognition apps, I figure I can do just fine on my own. I got vizwiz just because it gives you the ability to record a question about a picture before you send it, but apparently that has gone to crap. My friends told me about taptapsee, and I just got it to see what it was about, figured I could delete it if I decided I didn't like it. Well, I love it. And here's why. This thing, is the most accurate I've ever seen. Even more accurate than vizwiz ever was, in some cases. I figured I'd just list a few of the things I took pictures of, and what it said they were. Jar of peanutbutter Honey jar Cinnamon toast crunch Swissmiss cocoa recipes Took a picture of a box, and on one sied, nutrition facts. On the other side, poptarts. Gummy vitamins. Clear cococola glass. I took a picture of myself laying in bed, the lights were off. It said, girl sleeping. I just randomly held my camera above and at an angle to my table thing nest to my bed. It said, laptops, speakers, CD holders, and router on wooden table. It said I had a white shaggy dog. It said the wals were wood panneling. It also said the walls were a wooden floor, sometimes. It had lots of things to say about my friend's skeleton pumpkin halloween decorations on her table, it said halloween decor, skeleton decoration, and when I got up close to it it said punpkin decoration. I flipped the camera off just to see what it would say, and it said the picture was offensive. Finally I took another picture and it said middle finger. LOL! I took a picture of my foot, and it said woman's right foot. I took a picture of my mouth really close up and it said, lady shouting. I took a picture really close to my eyes, and it said blue eyes. I haven't tried it on currency yet but I trust it. The main thing I'm really excited about is that it can tell you, if you have boxes of food or whatever that feel just alike, what they actually are before you open them. Oh yeah, and one last thing. I had a prescription medication bottle on the counter, and I wanted to know if it would tell me what kind of medicine was in the bottle. I took many pictures and got a bunch of different things. I was at my parents house and they live in a city called Marshfield. This will be important later. Here are the things it said: medicine bottle, medication, etc. But the most amazing things were, on one side, it said, Marshfield Clinic Pharmacy bottle. And on the other side it said, may cause dizziness. I'm sure nobody is as interested as I am about this, but I had to post it anyway just to give people an idea. Here is an important thing to remember. You get different results with different pictures. So make sure, if a result isn't clear enough, such as box of food, take another picture and you may get a much more specific result. I really do think this is amazing and I would have bought it if it did have a price. It really is worth it.

By allseed on Thursday, March 21, 2013 - 15:58

All, TapTap[See is just like any other camera app in that if you want to get good results, you must get a clear image into it. make sure you've plenty of light and that your screen is clean and that you are not too close to nore to far away from the object of the image. Remember to press the repeat button if you haven't heard anything in about a minute, A minugte can seem like a very long time but it's easy to tell by counting your normal breathing cycle.

By AnonyMouse on Sunday, April 21, 2013 - 15:58

Member of the AppleVis Editorial Team

What's New in Version 1.5

* Translates announcement into local language
* New language support for various locales
* Focus beep suspended during VoiceOver announcements

By Cristiana on Sunday, April 21, 2013 - 15:58

I updated TapTapSee and was really happy to learn it says the pictured object/person in my native language: Portuguese. I was much happier, though, to finda out it identifies Brazil's currency with 100% accuracy. I wonder what will be next.

I'd be interested in comparisons between TapTapSee and LookTel Money Reader performance with foreign currencies. The latest update for LookTel Money Reader added support for recognizing the Brazilian Real. I tried running TapTapSee vs. LookTel Money Reader on various currency, and found that LookTel Money Reader was significantly faster in its identifications (at least on the dollars and Euros that I tried just now.) So I'd be curious whether anyone who has both apps can report back on the experience of using LookTel Money Reader vs TapTapSee for the new supported currencies:

Australian Dollar
Bahraini Dinar
Brazilian Real
Belarusian Ruble
British Pound (including new 50 Pound note)
Canadian Dollar (including new 20, 50 & 100 notes)
Euro
Hungarian Forint
Israeli Shekel
Indian Rupee
Japanese Yen
Kuwaiti Dinar
Mexican Peso
New Zealand Dollar
Polish Zloty
Russian Ruble
Saudi Arabian Riyal
Singapore Dollar
United Arab Emirates Dirham
United States Dollar

Of course, LookTel Money Reader is a paid app that currently lists for $9.99, and TapTapSee is a free app.

By Sammy on Tuesday, May 21, 2013 - 15:58

I would love if they would allow us to save the photos to the camera role! I love tap tap see's descriptions, and it could help me with taking pictures!
I just got the app and I’m thoroughly enjoying it. I really appreciate that developers are creating cool and practical things like this. But once the picture’s taken, where does it end up? Is it stored somewhere on the phone? Is it lost in cyberworld forever? Am I just being dumb and missing something extremely obvious? Like the previous poster, I’d love to have access to my pics once all’s literally said and done. I’d like to be able to upload cute ones of our Chihuahua being hilarious to Facebook if I so desire. Definitely not a complaint, but a possible direction the app could go in? Again, thanks for the app!
If TapTapSee took the direction of adding things like saving pics and the ability to upload, maybe there could be a free version with functionality like we have now, and then a paid version. Personally, I have no desire or need to be able to save my photos or upload them, because my primary reason for using the app is for identifying what's in front of me, not necessarily sharing it.

By AnonyMouse on Friday, June 21, 2013 - 15:58

Member of the AppleVis Editorial Team
What's New in Version 2.0

* Added "share" features
* Added save-to/load-from photo gallery

By Amber on Friday, June 21, 2013 - 15:58

Have you ever tried to take a quick picture of something to send to somebody? Then, you're left with numerous unnamed photos in your camera roll, and you don't know if you want to keep them, delete them, send them to other people, share them on facebook or twitter or something, etc. OK, well, this new version fixes that completely. There is a button labeled, library. When you click on it, it gives you all the pictures in your camera roll to choose from. Pick one, and wait. TapTapSee will tell you what your picture is of! Another really, awesome cool thing about tapTapSee now is that you can take a picture, and if it gets a really good description, you can save it! I am soooooo excited and glad to be able to know what my pictures are when they're not able to be named and just sitting there in my camera roll. I am also excited about the ability to save good pictures I take, although personally, I won't be using this feature much I don't think. Either way, I just wanted to tell you guys about what this new version has to offer and how to use it.

By Victor Tsaran on Friday, June 21, 2013 - 15:58

I think this app has great potential (brushing privacy issues aside for a moment). However, why is there no basic VoiceOver support for reviewing answers? Why do we even need the "repeat" button with the word "repeating" before the text is spoken? I don't quite understand this... The text is already available to VoiceOver, so just put it on the screen!

By AnonyMouse on Friday, June 21, 2013 - 15:58

Member of the AppleVis Editorial Team
What's New in Version 2.0.1 

* New icon and logo
* Refreshed about screen
* Some localizations updated
* Sharing text updated for Twitter

By Jen on Sunday, July 21, 2013 - 15:58

I tried OMoby. I tried DigitEyes. I worked really hard to get the best results from them, and got very little, if anything by way of identification. I took my first picture with Tap Tap See, and got, "Fancy Feast Chunky Chicken in Gravy," so that I could finally identify the specific food my cat loves. This app is unbelievable. I never thought any of these identification apps would work for me, because I believed myself to be completely inept at taking pictures. But I get clear results every time with Tap Tap See. It's especially helpful to me now, because a head injury last year has cost me my taste and smell senses, so now i use this app to identify perfumes, spices, even Scentsy bars so I can make my home smell nice when i have company. It's almost eeriely accurate. One day, I tried to take a picture of my cat, to see what it would say. I guess I didn't get the picture I meant to get, but I got these results, "Cat feet with state ID pet collar,", and it identified the state! I am amazed at the accuracy of this app, humbled that such a beneficial app is free, and so grateful to the developers for creating it!
HI Victor. I agree with you 100 %! Not only is that helpful for someone using VoiceOver, it makes things much easier for those using braille only to access the app. Now, you have to hit space with N to get the information again, and then space with N to go back out of the info. Unless you're a very fast braille reader, the result flashes up so quickly that it is difficult to access for slower braille readers.

By Austin Grace on Wednesday, August 21, 2013 - 15:58

This app is a must have if you're blind or visually impaired. Let me tell you how much I love this app. I switched from an iPhone to a galaxy s4 as my main phone back in may of this year. I missed taptapsee. So today, i went out and bought an ipod touch 5 32 gb just so I can have taptapsee again. This app has helped me countless times. Now I don't have to wait for it to come to android. :) This app is a 10 out of 10. I can tell you that I would recommend the iPod touch 5 or iPhone 5 for taptapsee. It did not work very well on the ipod touch 4. I'd recommend a 5 mp camera or higher with this app. Thank you taptapsee team. :)

By ryan97 on Saturday, September 21, 2013 - 15:58

just gotta say, I really like this app when it works the only problem is though I suck at taking pictures, or that could be the light but either way I'm kinda curious, when you run the program is says you'll be suspended for taking certain types of pictures but is that a permanent thing? or is it temporary because I'm really bored these days and its something I might do just because I can if it won't get me permanently banned

By Harry Weber on Saturday, September 21, 2013 - 15:58

After updating to IOS7 and downloading the update to TapTapSee, the app no longer works. You can take one picture, then it freezes and nothing happens.

By Jesse Anderson on Saturday, September 21, 2013 - 15:58

In reply to by Harry Weber

I too updated to IOS 7 on an iPhone 5 and iPod Touch 5th Gen. After double tapping the screen to take a picture, the image freezes, and nothing else happens. This happens on both devices.

By Brooke on Saturday, September 21, 2013 - 15:58

In reply to by Harry Weber

I've got iOS 7 and the latest version of TapTapSee. The first time I ran it, it timed out. Then I was able to take 2 or 3 successful pictures. And then, when I would double-tap the "Take Picture" button, nothing happened, the camera wouldn't engage, and it would just repeat, "Take Picture." I closed the app with the app switcher, restarted the phone, and the same thing happened. I opened CamFind, took 2 successful pictures, and then tried TapTapSee again. This time, it worked, and I got 2 more pictures out of it.

By jim on Saturday, September 21, 2013 - 15:58

it seams that if there is no light the camera will not fire. maybe someone forgot to turn on the automatic flash. because when i turned on a light it worked fine.

By Guest on Saturday, September 21, 2013 - 15:58

I tried the latest version before updating to iOS 7 and I found a bug. There're some extra words following the description, such as "on iTunes (null)", when copying to the clipboard. And, after updating iOS, I cannot repeat the results.

By AnonyMouse on Monday, October 21, 2013 - 15:58

Member of the AppleVis Editorial Team

What's New in Version 2.1.0

* Added status bar for rotor compatibility
* Fixed issue with VoiceOver overlapping itself
* Enable/disable auto-flash
* Added Danish localization
* Fixed translations for certain "share" functions

By MarkSarch on Thursday, November 21, 2013 - 15:58

In reply to by AnonyMouse

Updated Oct. 28/ 2013 version 2.1.1 Personally I haven't seen any change since last version this app completly accessible using voiceOver still I'm having issues using the app to read photos or pictures using the Camera roll into the app using the library button. What's New in Version 2.1.1 * Fixed some localizations
Marco, What issue are you experiencing exactly when it comes to uploading Camera Roll photos into TapTapSee?

By Michael Hansen on Tuesday, January 21, 2014 - 15:58

Member of the AppleVis Editorial Team

In reply to by TapTapSee

TapTapSee version 2.1.3 is available in the app store with new subscription/credit options (not specified): "What's New in Version 2.1.3 * New subscription / credit options available for purchase"