OneStep Reader

Category

Description of App

OneStep Reader gives you instant access to print anytime and anywhere.
OneStep Reader 3.0 is a rapid and efficient text recognition app. Its text-to-speech, text-to-Braille, and text highlighting tools make it valuable for blind, low-vision, dyslexic, and others with reading differences.
Use it to import or take a photo of anything containing text. Take a photo and the app reads text out loud or displays it on a connected refreshable Braille display. Read with more ease thanks to the simultaneous highlighting of the sentence and word that is being read on the picture or in the plain text document. The app helps you get a good photo with special alignment tools, including spoken and vibration guidance. Snap multiple pages, such as a book, for later reading.
Winner of the 2014, 2015, and 2016 AppleVis Golden Apple Award for Best Assistive

Technology App.
• Reads image-based PDF and JPEG files, and now tagged PDF and ePub files too!
• Exports OneStep reader files as HTML or TXT files.
• Navigates by line, sentence, word, or character.
• Crop, rotate and edit the pictures you take before performing text recognition.
• View documents in PDF presentation mode with double highlighting while reading.
• View reading order and language-tagged PDF documents.
• Add and remove bookmarks in PDF documents.
• Switch between PDF view and reflowable text view.
• Read documents in the increasingly popular ePub format.

The app also has synchronized text highlighting to help you read along with the spoken text, a benefit for people with dyslexia and other reading difficulties.

Need nutritional information from your breakfast cereal? OneStep reader can read labels. Out shopping and need a price? OneStep Reader can read price tags. Want to know what came in the mail? OneStep Reader captures it all.

OneStep Reader captures print from your computer or tablet screen. Photograph the screen and know exactly what that error message says.
Little details abound. We got rid of the fifty-page limit for batch recognition. Everything gets turned on its side with landscape support. Add subfolders to the local folder structure. Use Microsoft OneDrive, Dropbox, or Google Drive to store and retrieve your documents. You can now make calls, send emails, and open hyperlinks directly from documents; call or email your new contact directly from the text of her business card!

Fully localized versions (user interface, recognition and speech) are available in: English, German, Italian, French, Spanish, Norwegian (Bokmål), Swedish, Portuguese, Dutch, Turkish, Danish, Polish, Russian, Japanese, and Czech.

Other languages available for speech and recognition only: Afrikaans, Albanian, Bulgarian, Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Croatian, Estonian, Finnish, Greek, Hungarian, Icelandic, Indonesian, Romanian, Serbian (Cyrillic), Serbian (Latin), Slovak, Ukrainian.

Supported devices: iPhone X, iPhone 8 Plus, iPhone 8, iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus, iPhone SE, iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus, iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 5s, iPhone 5c, iPadPro, iPad Pro 12.9-inch, iPad Pro 9.7-inch, iPad Air 2, iPad Air, iPod touch 6th Generation, iPod 5th Generation.

Visit our website at: www.OneStepreader.com

Version

3.4

Free or Paid

Paid

Apple Watch Support

No

Device(s) App Was Tested On

iPhone

iOS Version

11.3.1

Accessibility Comments

This app is completely accessible with VoiceOver.

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

@knfbreader

Recommendations

25 people have recommended this app

Most recently recommended by Brie96 3 years 11 months ago

Options

Comments

By alex wallis on Tuesday, October 7, 2014 - 06:07

the app is also compatible with ios7 at time of writing, so you don't have to be on 8 to use it.

By Edward Alonzo on Tuesday, October 7, 2014 - 06:07

interesting that its not very usable on the plus I would have thought that would have been the absolutely best phone to use it on with its new image stabilization. very strange.

By Fleurppel on Tuesday, October 7, 2014 - 06:07

I'm having trouble getting documents into focus. I hit the view report button, and it says something like, "top edges visible rotated 2 degrees clockwise," so I move the phone slightly to the right, and then there's no report available. Also, when it says both the top and bottom edges are visible at 0 degrees, taking a picture only produces part of the document.

Does anyone know what's going wrong? Thanks.

By alex wallis on Tuesday, October 7, 2014 - 06:07

I am not sure what the thing to do is when the top and bottom edges are visible, but about the field report, that feature is very unreliable, and I am on ios 7.1.2, speech often fails after a few field of view reports, I have reported it to them, and I would encourage others who also agree to do the same thing.

By Fleurppel on Tuesday, October 7, 2014 - 06:07

I've noticed the speech also fails sometimes when attempting to actually OCR things. Sometimes it works itself out, and sometimes you have to dismiss the app and relaunch.

By Fleurppel on Tuesday, October 7, 2014 - 06:07

I contacted them Friday after posting here. Their response was to send me a copy of the documentation (already found within the app) and to tell me to read the suggestions for alignment (already done). I've even tried using the tilt guidance and turning on the automatic picture, but that has only been successful once.

The automatic mode isn't fully operative yet. So keep trying with the manual mode. Practice is the best antedote to failure!

By Fleurppel on Tuesday, October 7, 2014 - 06:07

That explains why it doesn't take the pic even when the field report says it's perfect.

By Dane on Tuesday, October 7, 2014 - 06:07

I've tried this app, and it works quite well on my iPhone 5S. I'd recommend it to anyone looking for a good OCR app.

By jrjolley (not verified) on Tuesday, October 7, 2014 - 06:07

In reply to by Dane

Tried it on the off chance as I have one, works fine, recognition isn't quite as good but it's infinitely better than prizmo and all the other ones.

By Jordan Gallacher on Tuesday, October 7, 2014 - 06:07

Until people get their heads on straight, the KNFB app is worthless. Why? They were stupid enough to not get their Android version out at the same time. This is not right all. They should make it for all since in order to improve accessibility, things need to be available on both platforms at the same time!

By jrjolley (not verified) on Tuesday, October 7, 2014 - 06:07

In reply to by Jordan Gallacher

I wonder if the multitude of various configurations is one of the reasons KNFB isn't ready for android devices yet. It's probably a question of economics though, more blind users of iPhones than android I would think. It'll come to Android though I am sure, KNFB want as many using this reader as possible.

By Michael Hansen on Tuesday, October 7, 2014 - 06:07

Member of the AppleVis Editorial Team

Hello Jordan,

With all do respect, do you use an iOS device?

The reason I'm asking is that I'm trying to understand: why does KNFBReader not being available on Android make the iOS app worthless? I'm really trying to see the other side here, but I fail to understand how one has anything to do with the other. It would be like me saying a very good Android app was worthless simply because its developer did not also release it on iOS. A good app is a good app, regardless of which platform it runs on. Developer dedication, to whatever app and whatever platform, is to be appreciated.

Your attitudes notwithstanding, a huge majority of the people who have posted here about KNFBReader find it to be a very worthwhile app. I know I do.

By riyu12345 (not verified) on Tuesday, October 7, 2014 - 06:07

Hi.
i cannot understand how an app is werthless due to the fact that it's not on Android. It's a great app and works fine for everything I need it to. Oh an when I get my six, or six plus, (I'm thinking of getting the six since it's smaller but the six plus has better battery life,) It will work tuns better as far as I've been told.

By jrjolley (not verified) on Tuesday, October 7, 2014 - 06:07

In reply to by riyu12345 (not verified)

You're so close to the text in any case it'll not be much better. We're talking about how much better the reader will be on new phones when the app's not been out five minutes. The processing speed and stuff is more than adequate for good results now.

By Bryan Jones on Tuesday, October 7, 2014 - 06:07

This app has quickly become one of my most important productivity and daily living tools. The simplicity, speed and accuracy with which KNFB Reader handles most of my daily OCR tasks is a relief. Where I used to schedule a block of time to sit down and work my way through a stack of mail, receipts or other paperwork using a combination of Prizmo on the iPhone and FineReader on the Mac, I now find myself processing such items as I get them because KNFB does it so quickly.

I find the app to be very flexible and forgiving compared to the handful of other point-and-shoot IOS OCR apps I've used over the past few years. I can hold mail at arm's length or toss a receipt on the countertop, point the camera in the general direction with a rough estimate of proper alignment, and KNFB usually manages to either locate and speak the text quickly or tell me nothing was found, in which case flipping the paper and trying another scan takes only a few seconds.

There are sertain OCR tasks which I still perform with Mac FineReader and/or my desktop scanner, processing large PDF files or using the ADF to import printed items that consist of more than a few pages for example, but probably nineteen out of twenty OCR tasks I now handle with KNFB Reader on my iPhone 5S.

By riyu12345 (not verified) on Tuesday, October 7, 2014 - 06:07

The app has been out longer than five minutes :)
As for it working the same or not that much better, that may be true but I think i might, just might, get better results. Anyway I'm not getting the six for the KNFB reader, I'm getting it because it's faster than the five s when it comes to siri, bigger which is better for me and soundds clearer. This app is great for scanning things but it's a shame you can't really scan books with it. Although to be honest I get all my books online so that's not a problem with me. Well I guess you can scan books but I don't like doing it since it takes so long.

By LaBoheme on Tuesday, October 7, 2014 - 06:07

"Tried it on the off chance as I have one, works fine, recognition isn't quite as good but it's infinitely better than prizmo and all the other ones."

it's like saying it is better than Taurus and all the other cars, what exactly are the others? Taurus is certainly not perceived as one of the best cars.
as a matter of fact, prizmo is mediocre at best in my opinion. sure it has some fancy features like scanning multiple pages, but as far as OCR is concerned, it is not very good, and it reflected in app store reviews.

By jrjolley (not verified) on Tuesday, October 7, 2014 - 06:07

In reply to by LaBoheme

What is it with blind people and a total lack of a sense of humour these days. By "BETTER THAN ALL THE OTHER ONES!" I meant, "IT! WORKS! BETTER! THAN! ALL! OF! THE! OTHER! SCANNING! APPS!". Clearer? thought so.

For god's sake

By Kelly on Friday, November 7, 2014 - 06:07

Added support for iPhone 4S, iPod Touch 5th generation, iPhone 6 and 6 plus;
- Larger fonts now available for low vision users;
- Changes and bug fixes to improve performance on all supported devices.

By Chris Harrington on Friday, November 7, 2014 - 06:07

Good afternoon,
I downloaded the app this morning, and tried to use it to read mail.
However, after the picture was taken, the app was not recognizing text. Anyone else having this problem?

By alex wallis on Friday, November 7, 2014 - 06:07

About the getting warm and the battery, remember that things like tilt guidance if used continuously will eat your battery very quickly and probably cause the phone to warm up.
About the warming up, I wonder if heavy use of the camera, camera flash etc causes the warm up.
Also if you have the setting for flashlight always on enabled in settings this will eat your battery.
Remember that camera flash and this flashlight setting are different settings.
I have my flashlight always on setting turned off in settings, and the camera flash on automatic and I use the tilt guidance sparingly.
I have noticed sometimes the app takes ages to process documents I find in that case its often easier to try taking another photo rather than just waiting, and if that fails to exit and restart the app.
Personally I feel the app has been well worth it, I have used it to read letters from my bank and sort the post routinely for family members.
I have also used it to find information out about various medicines, I don't regret buying the app at all, and I am sure it will only improve with time.

By alex wallis on Friday, November 7, 2014 - 06:07

Yes I agree the flashlight is always on setting could be labelled more clearly, as the switch name ends with on and the state can be on or off, Maybe it might be better labelled as flashlight, and then just have an on or off state, in fact I might suggest that.

Setting to auto is probably a bad idea because you are expecting the software to judge if the lighting is any good. I always left the flash to on, even with the original classic reader so it's best to possibly leave it at on at all times.

By alex wallis on Friday, November 7, 2014 - 06:07

but sometimes if you leave it always on you can have two much light, and get a sort of reflection or glare I think, especially if your taking photos of glossy surfaces.
I would say leave it on automatic, if you get bad results, maybe try off and if its still bad try on. That's why there are three states for users.

I never trust the auto setting on any of these readers. If you know the target document is glossy, use glass or something like that to take away the glair. I don't even know why I help any of you lot anyway, you all know more than me it seems with regards to these readers, even though I have been at this for years. To hell with it

By alex wallis on Friday, November 7, 2014 - 06:07

Lol James, you seem to really like throwing your toys out of the pram, I never said you were wrong, I was simply offering an opinion along with some advice about other factors to consider. This is a community where we all try to help each other, and your above comment certainly doesn't seem in the spirit with this idea.

Even the documentation recommended that the flash be left on in most circumstances so sorry for just agreeing with it. Oh, the best way to get rid of glair is to use a plain background, cloth, glass, something without much colour but I guess you already know that as you appear to act like you know it all anyway, spending more time whining to developers instead of using the dam product.

By alex wallis on Friday, November 7, 2014 - 06:07

James I am not even going to dignify your last comment with a response directly because of how aggressive it was, in fact I think I am going to ignore you now unless your making a comment I feel it relevant to come in on, I have no idea why you seem to have taken a dislike to me and decided to attack me I think its quite pathetic really especially as most of your comment had nothing to do with the app and was an attack on me. We are all hear to offer help and advice and there is no right or wrong answer, the camera flash settings are there for a reason, OK documentation might suggest leaving flash on all the time but this isn't right all the time, and I was suggesting it as being a cause of battery drain, as it happens I haven't ever scanned anything glossy so I have never needed to worry about glare myself.

By Scott Davert on Friday, November 7, 2014 - 06:07

Member of the AppleVis Editorial Team

The field of view report feature doesn't display at all, because it is self voicing. You'd think, with all of this pushing for braille literacy, coupled with the spread of deaf-blind awareness, that they would actually take such things seriously. That said, we've seen an update, and still no fix. Here's hoping it gets done the next time around.

By Bahzad on Friday, November 7, 2014 - 06:07

Gene, I understand that the process of shutting off VoiceOver and then re-enabling it can be pretty annoying. You might want to try turning off speech (done with a three finger double-tap), which would allow you to use the same commands that you'd use if speech is enabled. You can double-tap the field of view report button and receive the necessary feedback. Once finished, just perform the three finger double-tap again. Hope that helps.

By riyu12345 (not verified) on Friday, November 7, 2014 - 06:07

Hi.
When I take a picture with the ap voiceover usually stays quiet.

As for the field of view report, i hardly use it, and when I do I can hear the voice over voiceover, so the voice is louder than voiceover so it works fine for me.

By alex wallis on Friday, November 7, 2014 - 06:07

KNFB have stated they are hoping to get rid of non VoiceOver tts messages eventually,
Personally I hope this happens sooner rather than later, I don't see the need for the two voices anyway, OK yes one does give options to read buy sentence, paragraph etc, but I think we should be allowed the option to disable this completely and hide the controls on the bottom of the screen.
I would also prefer it if field of view reports were read buy VoiceOver.
Also, really the app isn't even using a different tts, its using the same voice as VoiceOver, just not the proper VoiceOver function.

A different API and everything. I hope they don't remove the TTS actually because I want the reading to start as soon as possible, not wait for a page to render to VO. Just my thoughts. I understand why they have done it, not everyone uses VO and some may want the controls. If it's an option then fine but I don't see what losing a couple of lines does for folk, it's not like the rendering respects formatting anyway, it's a reader to talk pages at you

By sockhopsinger on Friday, November 7, 2014 - 06:07

I don't mind the TTS voice, although I do wish I had the option to disable it. One thing is for sure, though. The one in KNFB Reader is nowhere near as annoying as the one in BlindSquare.

By alex wallis on Friday, November 7, 2014 - 06:07

My comment didn't seem to post for some reason.
The problem with losing a few lines is they could be important lines, and I just think this tts should be made optional for those who prefer VoiceOver and don't need all this fancy navigate buy paragraph stuff and who are happy with the navigation options offered buy VoiceOver.
It would be nice to be able to hide those play pause controls, and also to have pages turn automatically in multi page documents as already happens in apps like iBooks for example.
I just find those controls on the bottom of the screen break the flow of reading up and get in the way as you have to stop VoiceOver reading when it reaches them.

By Mike Freeman on Friday, November 7, 2014 - 06:07

In reply to by sockhopsinger

Amen!

By jrjolley (not verified) on Friday, November 7, 2014 - 06:07

I know, I know, I keep saying this but whining about VO and navigation doesn't really help those who rely on these functions. Dyslexics, learning disabled, people like that for home text navigation facilities are a must for them. Anyway, VoiceOver's rubbish at navigation half the time anyway, paragraph navigation doesn't seem to exist under IOS so there is something. I know this is just my view, but I do prefer a point and listen system without point, shoot, touch screen and hope I have not missed the top line because VO is still receiving the page from the reader because the text is an odd shade of pink with white nonsensical pictures in the middle of it... You get what I am trying to say, stop complaining for once and enjoy the product for what it can do, not what you demand it should do. Dyslexics should be able to use this reader, the elderly, those with cognitive problems, anyone who needs print spoken back to them so stop assuming that the universe uses VO for everything. I note that you probably didn't complain about Voice Dream Reader, that does similar things to this and that's a paragon of access and usefulness. This reader's been out nearly a month and we're still on about TTS instead of using our reader software? Ridiculous.

By sockhopsinger on Friday, November 7, 2014 - 06:07

It's an opinion.

By alex wallis on Friday, November 7, 2014 - 06:07

James, I really don't like your attitude and I find you saying I am whining offensive, I am allowed to express my view just as much as you are. Don't say those of us who don't agree with you are whiners because we are not.
I am not saying remove the alternative tts options at all, I am saying give an option to hide that panel of buttons on the bottom of the screen so those of us who don't want it can enable it, buy all means keep the alternative tts for non VoiceOver users though. You seem to dislike anyone who doesn't agree with your comments or points of view.

By jrjolley (not verified) on Friday, November 7, 2014 - 06:07

It seems that not many in our industry stand up for those with different needs though, that is what irritates. We here at Applevis are mainly VO users, but I am sure the KNFB folks did field testing to see if the navigation was something that was wanted. Do you seriously believe they included it just to irritate Alex because he wants VoiceOver to do everything when someone with serious impairment can't even perform a flick but can access the Reader with a switch device as a possible example? That's all I am saying, we need to consider others outside of VO. Making the interface overly complex defeats the point. As I have said countless times, it'll be rendering speed they are concerned about at KNFB, they market it as a fast OCR system and will want it to appear that way, hence the TTS.

Either way, it doesn't really matter - I suspect they won't remove it entirely anyway. Imagine how rubbish voice Dream would have been if it weren't for the fact it used alternative voices. Notice that app started out for the learning disabled community first, we just need to consider things from all angles.

By alex wallis on Friday, November 7, 2014 - 06:07

James again your missing my point, I am saying keep the options sure but give a setting under settings tucked away to disable the third party tts completely and hide that panel of buttons.
I find your comment about did they include it just to annoy alex rather childish.

By riyu12345 (not verified) on Friday, November 7, 2014 - 06:07

I agree that thinking of those who cannot use voiceover due to conditions they may have is a great idea and if this app can work for themthen that's awesome.

I've just spent many paragraphs arguing for the existence of the TTS and why they won't change it as it stands now, they want fast OCR and won't want the support calls for VoiceOver seeming slow reading pages or having some of the text missing because the page rendered slower than the user's speech rate. Being childish is complaining to developers about small details when half the functionality isn't implemented yet, give the guys a chance to add in the other stuff like the language translation and whatever else. We have a reader, just use it instead of complaining about it

By alex wallis on Friday, November 7, 2014 - 06:07

There is no reason why the tts couldn't be left enabled buy default with the option to disable if the user wanted.
Anyway I doubt commenting on this thread will make any difference because KNFB haven't engaged with applevis at all, and I know there is no law that says they have to, it would just be nice if they did that's all.

By raaj on Friday, November 7, 2014 - 06:07

Hello lovely people,

After thinking a lots, I've bought this app finally yesterday.

I was playing with it for a long and I found most of them success other than exporting feature. I tried exporting it to dropbox and even facebook, both failed unfortunately. Could someone guide how to do this? Or is there any glitch on that part?

Raajan.

By Jordan on Friday, November 7, 2014 - 06:07

No of course not. You iOS users can stick to Apple. Android has a lot more people using it than you really want to believe. The NFB has no idea what even equallity is since they are stupid enough to seem to like saying the iPhone is better than Android. Guess what! It is not. I have had 2 iPhones, and they were good but my Android devices are just as good. My S5 still kicks the iPhone out of the water. The KNFB Reader was completely stupid by not hitting Android at the same time. Stupid Stupid Stupid. Hell with that app just like the BARD app. We are working on it is all you will get if asked and that means never as far as I am concerned based on the fact that BARD has yet to appear. Oh BTW, I have a built in OCR on my S5 that works well. KNFB Reader is behind now.

By alex wallis on Friday, November 7, 2014 - 06:07

Do we really need something like the above comment on this thread?
It doesn't contribute anything to app discussion, at the end of the day developing for android is far more complex because of all the different phones out there and versions of android, the development issues are far more complicated with android than ios.