LookTel Money Reader
Description of App
LookTel Money Reader instantly recognizes currency and speaks the denomination, enabling people with visual impairments or blindness to quickly and easily identify and count bills. Simply point your iPhone’s camera at a bill and the application will tell you the denomination in real-time. Several currencies are supported including the US Dollar, Euro, British Pound, Canadian Dollar, and Australian Dollar.
Featuring LookTel’s patented and proprietary object recognition technology, LookTel Money Reader makes it as easy to recognize bills as possible. There’s no need to hold the iPhone still or capture a photo and wait for a result – recognition happens instantly, and in real-time. Additionally, the app does not require any internet connection, which means it can read money quickly at any location, anytime.
LookTel Money Reader is a helpful mobile assistant that’s simple and easy to use. While shopping, use the application to verify money while checking out or to ensure you are getting the right amount of change back. It can also be used to quickly and easily sort money with total independence from virtually anywhere.
LookTel Money Reader provides Voice Over support for several languages including English, Spanish, French, Italian, German, Polish, Russian, Korean, Finnish, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, and Japanese. Additionally, the tone mode allows users to recognize currency with added privacy.
Note: If you are using an iPhone 3GS or 4th Generation iPod, LookTel Money Reader requires an environment with plenty of light.
Disclaimer: This app should not be used to detect counterfeit currency or be solely relied upon for money identification.
What's New in Version 2.1
Fixed bug for some Euro translations. Added support for several currencies including EUR, GBP, CAD, and AUD, and Voice Over support with multiple languages.
Version
Free or Paid
Compatibility
Device(s) App Was Tested On
Accessibility Comments
This app works extremely quickly and easily to identify U.S. currency with an iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, or 4th generation iPod Touch. You do not have to adjust controls, tap buttons or learn to hold the camera at specific distances from your target. It works with crumpled bills, parts of folded up bills, etc. and announces "$1, $5, $10, $20, etc." as your camera passes over the bills. (Should work with $50 and $100 bills, too, but couldn't test this.) In poor lighting situations, the flash on an iPhone 4 automatically comes on with no user interaction. Faster than oMoby. This only works with U.S. currency. When tried with Canadian and other bills, the app remained silent. Highly recommended for the $1.99 price.
AppleVis Editorial Team Note: Now works with other currency. Check out in the Description for what currency that are now supported. Also, it is no longer $1.99 US. They have raised the price to $9.99 US.
VoiceOver Performance
Button Labelling
Usability
Other Comments
For more information, see the IPPLEX web site (link given below). They have other products under development:
Solutions Under Development We are currently developing a full suite of assistive solutions for persons with visual impairments or blindness. Here's a look at some of the projects we are working on: Identifying objects Recognize packaged goods such as items in your kitchen or grocery store, organize money, quickly identify a medication bottle, easily find a CD in your music collection, and more! For objects that cannot be recognized using their packaging images, LookTel provides a set of printed and pre-trained image tags that can be applied to virtually any object in your home such as clothing, Tupperware with frozen food or a glass jar. Simply peel and attach the tag to an object, point your mobile phone at it, and record an audible description of the item. Identifying landmarks Increase your personal mobility and have confidence in your orientation by training the system to recognize destinations such as a home or building entrance. Simply take a photo and label it by speaking into the phone’s microphone. Later, you can use LookTel to confirm that you have reached your own home, friend's apartment, or as many other destinations as you desire. Personalized image databases Customize LookTel by teaching it to recognize other items of importance to you. Capture photos of the items and label them with your own speech tags. Then, when LookTel "sees" them again, you will hear your own message about the items you taught it to recognize. This can become a family activity, and with each tag, you gain control over the visual world around you. Remote sighted assistance LookTel provides additional state-of-the-art tools for remotely connecting to another person that can provide a wide range of assistive services to make day-to-day activities easier. Through a combination of live video, hi-resolution photos and GPS tracking data sent from your cell phone, remote assistants can help read signs on street corners and buildings, provide turn-by-turn directions, and use integrated resources such as Google Maps to identify nearby points of interest and help you learn a new neighborhood. With LookTel, the help of a sighted assistant is within pocket reach at all times. Text Reader Use your mobile phone to take a photo of any printed text and the system will read it back to you. As LookTel sends these images to a server running a full-featured optical character recognition engine, this solution offers a more robust mobile text reader that can handle complex pages of text and skewed or rotated images. Support If you have any questions or want to contact support, please email us at info@looktel.com.
Comments
#1 Works even with screen curtain on
I forgot to add that this app works even if you have your screen curtain on, and even if you are not holding your iPhone very steady, although it may take a few seconds more to recognize and announce the bill if this is the case. Your bills do not have to be in any particular orientation, nor do they have to be completely separated. The app also worked accurately and reproducibly on bills that were folded in half or in thirds, where only part of the bill was visible, though identification may take longer. It also works on crumpled bills. If you have a pile of overlapping notes, arranged in a fan, and slowly move the camera from left to right, it will announce different denominations. However, it will continue to repeat the denomination of the bill currently in its field ("$1", "$1", etc.) until shifted onto another target, so you may want to process your notes separately. Also, the camera stays on and active as long as the app is running in the foreground, so remember to click the Home button when you're done to turn the camera off and exit the app.
#2 Esther, thanks for reviewing
Esther, thanks for reviewing this app, it works exactly as you described, I am very pleased to finally find a solid money recognition app for the iPhone (it's even better and easier to use than any hardware solution I've tried) , I tried it with different lighting conditions and angles and it seems to work every time, I gotta say this is a must have app, here's hoping their upcoming accessibility apps are as good as this one.
#3 I am very impressed with this
I am very impressed with this app. I was sure there was more to it than this, but nope, just point your phone at the bill and it tells you what it is! Simple as that! awesome stuff!
#4 LookTel also works with the iPad 2
This app also works with the second generation iPad which, like the iPod Touch 4G, has a camera. We speculated this was true, but the original app was released before the iPad 2 debuted. The developers of LookTel confirmed this information at CSUN, and also mentioned that they plan to add a vibration mode in the next version of the app for deaf blind user accessibility, and that subsequent release versions will add support for Canadian and UK currencies, in response to feedback and requests.
#5 Looktel
The opening screen just has the logo on it and since this logo isn't announced it is possible to be confused if the app is opened or not.
#6 Updates
LookTel now recognizes Euro for our friends over seas in Europe.
What's New in Version 2.1
Fixed bug for some Euro translations. Added support for several currencies including EUR, GBP, CAD, and AUD, and Voice Over support with multiple languages.
#7 braille support added!
I don't see a vibration mode, however, instead of self voiceing, the app now utilizes VO for its results. As such, braille devices are now supported! This is a very good and reliable app!
#8 A Few Changes
Looktel now costs $9.99. However, it now also recognizes several different currencies in addition to U.S.
#9 Version 2.2 update improves speed and accuracy of identification
The latest update to LookTel Money Reader (v. 2.2, November 29, 2011) brings performance gains in speed and accuracy. This appears to resolve issues some users had with the version 2.0 update which, although it brought support for recognizing international currencies, slowed down the speed of recognition. The improved performance applied to all currencies I tried (U.S., Canadian, Australian, and Euros -- no Pound notes currently.) Since version 2 of LookTel, you turn the mute switch on if you want denominations reported as tones instead of announced. One dollar is a single, low tone. Five dollars are three low tones. Ten dollars is a single, short high blip. Twenty dollars is two short, high blips. Fifty Euros gives three short, high blips. The app will announce the bills with or without VoiceOver turned on, but will leave off qualifiers if VoiceOver is not turned on (e.g. just "10 dollars" instead of "10 Canadian dollars" or "10 Australian dollars"; but will use distinct voices for each country's currency, although speaking speed is fixed.)
This is a very good update.
#10 Works great!
Majorly impressed with this app just like everyone else.
Only blip I noticed is that it doesn't recognize the brand new Canadian plastic money - the $100 bills just came out and I got a couple for Christmas. Tried to have the app recognize them out of curiosity but no go - didn't expect it to since it's new. And not sure if Money Reader would recognize a regular paper $100 bill? Has anyone tried?
I'm sure LookTell will update eventually once the more common bills crop up. As it is, the plastic money has Braille on it. I think the $50, $20, $10 and $5 are coming out in consecutive years.
#11 over priced
I would get this app, but tbh I think it is a little over priced (£6.99 in the UK).
#12 Cost
As apps go this might seem overpriced. However, I would rather spend $9.99 U.S. for an app on my Iphone than spend $100 on something like the IBill.
Same thing goes for Looktel recognizer or Digit-eyes. I almost spent $130 on the Pen Friend Labler. I'm so glad that I didn't.
#13 agree with the LookTell recogniser.
Yeh, I totally agree with the LookTell Recogniser...
However, in the UK the RNIB make this note detector and it is only priced at £1.25, so im guessing nomore than $2 in the US right? so for me there is a cheaper option and I guess thats why im reluctant to buy the app. All you have to do is hold your note against the plastic and once it is securely in place you can detect the note by feeling where the note ends on the note detector. Plus in the USA, is all your money given as notes? because in the UK we have pounds which is a whole lot easier too as they are different shapes etc
But will defo check out the looktell recogniser:) and wow u have to pay $130 for the penfriend labeller? it's only £60 in the UK. but I guess that adds up at the end of the day, coz by the time it is converted into your currency and postage costs are included then it will probs add up to the same amount.
#14 Other money reading apps are in the app store like voicy reader
ARE other money reading apps such as the Voicy money reading app just as efficient as the look tell money reader? Obviously the look tell reader is over priced and this particular one is $6.99. Has anyone had any experience with this, or have any suggestions?