Submitted by bvs on
Hello everyone,
I would like to introduce Texie, a new iOS11 OCR to voice app for USA and Canada. Point your camera at printed text, signs, labels, & handwritten notes, and Texie will recognize (OCR) and read it out aloud within seconds. Texie runs in a continuous video stream, and beeps when it detects text. I would love your feedback on version 1 of this app, and have some free promo codes to give out. Please email promo@bluevinesolutions.com or bvsmailuser@gmail.com if you are interested in trying it out. Here is my website link with a 20 second video demo: http://www.bluevinesolutions.com/texie-ai-reader.html
Here is the AppStore link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/texie/id1282120044?ls=1&mt=8
(If you are using a promo code, you can download it while redeeming the code)
Thank you!
-bvsdev
#1 Texie
Submitted by Chris Smart on
Nice! It will be interesting seeing how this compares to Seeing AI's similar function.
When you say handwritten notes, I assume you mean printed, not cursive?
#2 Hi Chris,
Submitted by bvs on
Hi Chris,
Handwriting - I actually haven't tried cursive print, let me investigate further!
It can only read good handwriting as shown on the App Store screenshots.
Thank you for taking the time to test! I'll send you an app code shortly.
#3 Cannot get it
Submitted by Pizza on
I would like to try this but it is not available in Sweden. It sounds really great though.
#4 Hi Sabrina,
Submitted by bvs on
Hi Sabrina,
I apologize for not releasing it in Sweden just yet. I wanted to test this in US and Canada first, and hopefully bring it to more countries at a later date. I have another user in Sweden that's asked for this app, so I won't forget :-)
Currently, only English is supported for text recognition. However, many other languages are available but I need to test them one at a time. Thank you for your interest and feedback!
#5 UK
Submitted by David Taylor on
Hi, yes, pity this isn't coming to the UK too. We speak the same language as the US and Canada, but we don't get Seeing AI either. We actually could do with this more, but as usual, we get left out, and I'm sure all other English speaking countries feel the same. There are more English speaking people, particularly blind people, outside the US than in.
#6 Hi David,
Submitted by bvs on
Hi David,
I am currently testing it in US and Canada and hope to bring Texie to the UK and other countries in the near future.
#7 Looks like Texie is crashing
Submitted by bvs on
Looks like Texie is crashing for some users, so I would like to hold off on giving out promo codes unless you are able to successfully download the free app and run it after allowing camera permissions. In the mean time let me track down the problem and issue an app update. Thank you Chris and Paul for bringing it to my attention!
#8 can I try?
Submitted by Queenofeagles07 on
hi, can I try if it is free?
#9 UK
Submitted by alex wallis on
Hi, can you explain why you only want to test it in the US and Canada? I mean you have obviously tested this privately before publishing to the appstore, and UK is also a native English speaking country like the US and Canada, your actually cutting yourself off from potential feedback and testing there. its great to see another potential tool that we can use, but you have managed to irritate non US users before we even get a chance to try it, I can understand maybe wanting to test with native English speakers first, but don't understand why the very limited release to start with, or is it that this app uses online processing for results that would run costs up for you as a developer? and so that's why you are rolling out in a limited way to start with.
#10 The app is free, but the
Submitted by bvs on
The app is free, but the recognition service is paid which is the reason for the promo codes I'm offering. Thank you for your interest!
#11 Hi Alex,
Submitted by bvs on
Hi Alex,
You bring up valid points. The main reason it's only released to US and Canada is because I'm a one person developer team, and need to restrict my user base while I do some early testing. I've also disabled the recognition of other languages in this version because I don't have the capacity to test each language at this time. I hope you understand.
#12 Seeing ai is free
Submitted by George on
You can look on google how to access another countries App Store best wishes from the UK If you live in the UK you can still get seeing ai
#13 Seeing ai
Submitted by George on
I use the quick text channel on this app and it is amazing and completely free. Though i live in the uk i am still using this app. Look on google to find out how this is done. Best wishes from the uk
#14 I'm from turkey
Submitted by Queenofeagles07 on
I'm from Turkey, I have at least 20 blind friends and we all want to use this app. But it isn't usable in turkey :(
#15 Thank you George, I have
Submitted by bvs on
Thank you George, I have other apps that I've made available world wide. I hope to bring it to the UK soon.
#16 Thank you for bringing this
Submitted by bvs on
Thank you for bringing this app to my attention! I haven't heard of seeing ai before, and just downloaded it to give it a try. I'm surprised to find that my user interface is very similar to theirs. Microsoft has done a very nice job with this app overall, and I hope it's available worldwide for most of you at least.
However, I noticed that the OCR service that I'm using is superior to the AI in Microsoft's seeing ai app. I'm not that surprised knowing who my OCR provider is. I tried reading some handwritten text and some food labels and Texie wins! So if when when Seeing AI fails to produce the result you like, you may still want to use Texie. Thank you!
#17 Would you be reading in
Submitted by bvs on
Would you be reading in Persian? I'll add it to my list of interested countries. Thank you for your feedback!
#18 You've borrowed our language!
Submitted by Oliver Kennett on
Technically everything in English should be released in England first because, well, we invented the language...
But on a more serious note, such useful apps as this and Seeing AI need to be available world wide. One of the issues we already have to deal with is discrimination... For an already marginalised demographic to also be discriminated against by so called 'assistive technology' due to location, it's ridiculous. Accessibility is accessibility, which means it is available to all, no matter who one is. This isn't inclusive, Microsoft and other developers should be held to account for such marginalisation.
The end.
*Puts soap box away*
#19 Hope Spanish is one of the languages added soon
Submitted by DrummerGuy on
I would love it if The app could read in Spanish also. Hope it can be added soon.
#20 Feel free to email me at
Submitted by bvs on
Feel free to email me at bvsmailuser@gmail.com and I'll explain why some of these apps launch in the USA and Canada before it goes to the UK.
#21 Yes, Spanish is high on my
Submitted by bvs on
Yes, Spanish is high on my list of languages to add. Thank you for asking.
#22 Hindi
Submitted by Amar Jain on
There is no app currently which recognises text produced in Hindi. Would it be possible for you to offer that in this app? Further, how does the recognition happen, on server or offline? I am concerned about that due to client confidentiality issues being a corporate lawyer.
#23 Yet another Swede
Submitted by Krister Ekstrom on
Hi i would alsoo like to see this app become available in Sweden, especially since seeing AI probably never will get here. One question though, can you use the app to read displays on stoves, microwaves, washing machines, digital recorders and the like?
/Krister
#24 Norway here
Submitted by Cliff on
This app sounds pretty neat, and especially if the OCR is superior to Seeing AI's OCR!
One vote for Norway! Both availability and text recognition for norwegian! Looking forward to trying this :)
#25 CAN EVERYONE JUST TAKE A DEEP BREATH?
Submitted by Chris Smart on
The developer explained why he/she is limiting the release so far. and, since it's a single person doing all the work, the more whinging this person has to deal with and answer, the less time they can put towards development of the app.
#26 Yes, Hindi is supported but
Submitted by bvs on
Yes, Hindi is supported but currently not enabled. The image is sent for ORC and received via a secure https connection so your data is encrypted. However, I don't know at this time if and when those images are destroyed on their server, so Texie may not be suitable for sensitive data. Please feel free to send me an email to be a test user for Hindi. bvsmailuser@gmail.com
#27 Please feel free to send me
Submitted by bvs on
Please feel free to send me an email to be a test user for the swedish language. bvsmailuser@gmail.com
#28 It seems to work on LCD
Submitted by bvs on
It seems to work on LCD displays. I've tried the stove and microwave but it also read all surrounding labels so it can sound a bit confusing. Please email me to to be a Swedish tester: bvsmailuser@gmail.com
#29 I can't take credit for the
Submitted by bvs on
I can't take credit for the OCR, I'm just glad I found it! Norwegian is available, please email me bvsmailuser@gmail.com
Please note that I cannot promise all these languages at this time. Thank you!
#30 Thank you for the support
Submitted by bvs on
Thank you for the support Chris! I've been working overtime trying to resolve this issue and will sign off for the rest of the day. I will post here as soon as I have an update.
#31 Very interested
Submitted by Remy on
Hello ther. While there are many apps out there which do OCR now, there aren't many that do it in real-time. I would love to test this for myself if possible to compare this product with others, particularly if it can read LCD screens, which seems to be a limit of many apps. my email ddress is altharius@hotmail.com.
#32 question about realtime aspect of this app
Submitted by alex wallis on
Hi, I agree people should calm down and wait for the developer to release when he is ready in other countries. I do have a question about the realtime aspect of this app, is it that the app processes still images then gives the results back to the user, or can it work from a live video feed? so the camera is constantly transmitting a live video feed for recognition? I have several apps that do still images but nothing that does live continuous realtime recognition well.
#33 persian what?
Submitted by Queenofeagles07 on
if you said it to me, there's a language called Turkish and I don't know/ I don't care about persian. we have our own language and letters. Why so racist?
#34 there are 75 million TURKISH SPEAKERS
Submitted by Queenofeagles07 on
There are 75 million Turkish speakers, in 2009, and you call us Persian? How racist!
#35 Calm down, no one is being
Submitted by Raul on
Calm down, no one is being racist, maybe it was just a mistake.
I'll be following this app aswell
#36 App Review.
Submitted by Michael on
#37 can't get the app to work very well
Submitted by Aleeha on
Hi,
I haven't gotten this app to work all that well. It seems to not have any text on the home tab, and one must use explore by touch to find the read button. If I turn VoiceOver off, I can tap anywhere on the screen to have it read. Also, I cannot seem to adjust the speech rate.
I am not at all bashing this app and thank the developer for directly contacting the community, rather than deciding what is good for us. Calm down, folks, please. At least we have the opportunity to contribute to the features of an app that we might actually use, as opposed to some sighted developer deciding what we need or want.
#38 Why do you assume the worst?
Submitted by bvs on
Why do you assume the worst?
It was an honest mistake and I apologize if you were offended.
Now answer your question - yes, Turkish is supported but currently not enabled.
#39 Good morning everyone,
Submitted by bvs on
Good morning everyone,
I just wanted to let you know that I have an update available for Texie, version 1.1 on the App Store which fixes the crash problem mentioned earlier. I will be releasing more promo codes today so if you are interested it trying it out, please send me an email: bvsmailuser@gmail.com
If you have already sent me an email, I haven't forgotten you and will send it to you as soon as I can.
Please verify your country in the request: USA/Canada
I will respond to all your other questions in my next post. Thank you.
#40 Texie uses the live video
Submitted by bvs on
Texie uses the live video feed for text detection. When you hear it beep, it has detected some text. However, due to the cost of OCR I've coded it so that users have to tap on the screen to initiate a scan to be recognized and read aloud. I'll explain in another post why the OCR is probably the most powerful solution currently available.
#41 I've heard from other users
Submitted by bvs on
I've heard from other users that it's difficult to initiate a scan when voiceover is on. I'll have to investigate this further so in the mean time you can turn voiceover off after you have navigated to the home screen. Then all you do is tap anywhere on the screen to perform the OCR. Speech rate is next on my todo list. Thank you for your feedback.
#42 Why Texie OCR is so powerful:
Submitted by bvs on
Why Texie OCR is so powerful:
First, let me explain the difference between on device OCR models verses online cloud based OCR.
On device OCR models are great, but the recognition capabilities are limited since the trained model has to be small enough to fit within the app’s max size of 4GB. On the other hand, online cloud based OCR apps have access to the processing power of a vast network of servers that use high end machine learning algorithms, that are continuously learning to produce optimal results.
I spent a whole month searching for the best OCR technology, knowing that if I were to offer a paid solution then it better be outstanding. After testing
this OCR solution for a few weeks, I felt compelled to bring it to you because I felt that there was nothing out there that came close to the quality of this solution.
Try using Texie to read signs, labels, screens, and very fine print from a distance and you will understand what I mean.
In order to pay the OCR provider and still bring you the best value, I had to convert a monthly subscription plan to a credit based pay as you go plan, hoping to make it affordable to as many people as possible. I’m not even sure if I’ll break even on the cost based on my current pricing model.
Please understand that Texie is work in progress. I’ve got a lot of features like text formatting, logo recognition and others that are available but I haven’t had time to code it yet. So before you write a review of Texie on your website or blog I would appreciate it if you would keep this in mind.
Lastly, I am still offering free promo codes to members of this group who would like to try this app so please contact me before you decide to buy.
promo@bluevinesolutions.com
As always I welcome your feedback so I can keep improving this app.
Thank you!
Texie for iOS11
bvsmailuser@gmail.com
http://www.bluevinesolutions.com/texie-ai-reader.html
https://www.facebook.com/Texie-2014276178810030/
#43 Who's the OCR provider?
Submitted by Kevan on
Who's providing the OCR for Texie? I'm on iOS 10 still, so the app won't work for me right now at least. But it definitely sounds awesome! I'll get it when I upgrade.
#44 Kevan, the OCR provider is a
Submitted by bvs on
Kevan, the OCR provider is a new leader in AI and machine learning. I'm not sure if I can mention it publicly yet, so send me an email and I'll tell you. I'm also adding a few new features and making it auto-detect 8 new languages including spanish, french, and simplified chinese, My email: bvsmailuser@gmail.com
Thank you.
#45 If your making it detect more
Submitted by alex wallis on
If your making it detect more languages does this mean we can expect a roll out to other countries soon?
also, a question, would this app be any good for following subtitles on tv programs?
it would be good if we can find out from the OCR provider what happens to images once they have been processed, if they are deleted how often etc, I would think the OCR provider should have a privacy policy though or a way you could ask them.
this is partly why I have tended to favour on device OCR in the past, though I can see cloud based OCR being particularly useful for things like food packages which have a lot of visual noise, none of the solutions I have tried have been great at reading cooking instructions, and that goes for both cloud and non cloud OCR, though both are good at letters etc.
keep up the good work.
#46 Hi Alex,
Submitted by bvs on
Hi Alex,
Other countries - I'm hoping to do just that but I need to test and fine tune it in the US/Canada first.
Subtitles - no if you are watching a whole show, and yes if you only need to read out a few screens.
OCR provider - Most likely you are you are already using some of their software products and services both online and offline. You will know their name. Feel free to message me for details. bvsmailuser@gmail.com
Like you said - on device OCR models have really improved over the years but there are limitations. Being on device doesn't always mean they are not sending those images over to the cloud for additional training of their machine learning neural networks, so be sure to read their TOS carefully.
#47 Texie update with 15 new languages, new features
Submitted by bvs on
Hello everyone,
Texie users please update to Texie 2.0
- auto detects, recognizes, and speaks in 15 new languages (Spanish, French, Simplified Chinese, Swedish, German, Dutch, Danish, Norwegian, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Finnish, Polish, Romanian, Italian.)
- variable speech rate slider in settings
- listen/stop toggle button in settings
- use of volume button to initiate OCR for VoiceOver users
- minor bug fixes
Thank you!
#48 How did you think there?
Submitted by Krister Ekstrom on
Hi, I can't see Texie in the Swedish app store, not even the latest version that's supposed to recognize and read in text in Swedish. Is this correct
/Krister
#49 Texie Swedish
Submitted by bvs on
Hi Krister,
Texie 2.0 can recognize and speak Swedish but I haven't released it to Swedish App Store at this time. (Currently only in US and Canadian App Stores)
#50 Swedish
Submitted by Pizza on
Awesome that it can now read swedish. I just have one problem and this is that this app is still not available in Sweden. I really would like to try this app but since it is not available I just cannot do this.
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