Seeking recommendations for a free or low cost OCR app
By natevis21, 6 December, 2016
Forum
iOS and iPadOS
Hello all; i'm just writing this short post to ask if there is any free OCR programs that work with voiceover? I've been struggling to find something for quite some time. even if it's not free what would be the cheapest program?
Hi. I'll be blunt here, you'll get what you pay for. I've never had great success with things like text grabber, prizmo, and a few other things. It all depends on what you want the OCR to do. If you'll be reading mail, or curious how much that recipt really was at the store, I've had fabulous luck with KNFB reader. Yes, I know you asked for a cheap solution. You can always ask for itunes gift cards, they will work just fine in the app sotre. Te price is 100 dolars, now though I think it's seventy five. Once you get it though, you'll be glad you did. I know this wasn't what you wanted, think about it though. I'd also just do a search on the app sotre see what happens.
I like using an app called Eye of Providence and the other app is called Voice. I have tried Text Detective without much success. I also use KNFB Reader, Prizmo, and at times Text Grabber. There is also Braillego Companion app. Wishing you good luck and hope this helps!
To me, although of course it might vary with different people, knfb reader isn't cheap,in fact its as far from cheap as a app in the appstore can be.
That said, here are my recommendations
Eye of Providence. Gives you 10 free pictures,after which you need to pay $2.99? or $1.99? something along those lines.
The best OCR capability I have come across,and yes I have used KnfbReader.
voice is a free text OCR having features similar to knfb and gives results as good as knfb,although knfbreader surpasses this app in certain aspects,but for being free, its quite good.
i'll also give you my opinion about four ocr alternatives.
1) knfb reader. let's get this out of the way first, because i think it is grossly overrated. the ocr is good, but not exceptional. while it is feature rich, i.e., multi-page, pdf handling, etc, it fails miserably in one crucial task--it does not maintain proper format at all, even with properly formated pdf files. for a pricy app like knfb reader, this is not acceptable
2) prizmo. i know i didn't have nice words for prizmo. in fact, i said the ocr was mediocre. that was then, this is now, the ocr has been improved very significantly. i believe the ocr is just as good as knfb reader's, and it is also feature rich. most importantly, it retains proper format for the ocr results, and this makes prizmo a winner.
3) textgrabber. this one is controversial, some praise it, some thinkit is a POS, the reason is that it is not consistent. it is not because of your camera skill, either, a sighted person can see every word in a document, takes a picture, and textgrabber recognizes nothing; adjust the distance and it comes out perfect. featurewise, it is barebone, you can merge the ocr results, but that's all.
4) google translate. it is a translate app, so don't expect any fancy ocr app features, but the ocr capability is exceptional. so how good is it? you can easily read the authorization code on the back of your credit cards, no other apps i know of can do that.
verdict: if you just want to read mails, receipts and whatever catches your fancy, and you don't mind the format, go with google translate. the ocr engine is the best, and it's free.
if you want a decent ocr, and you also want to keep the results, and you care about the format, prizmo is for you.
if you have 99 cents and textgrabber is on sale, you might want to play with it if you are curious, but that's entirely optional.
knfb reader would be good at $10, provided they fix the format issue. $100 or even $50? forget it. i know i'll probably get 2 dozens hate mail for saying this, but that's fine.
Comments
KNFB Reader
Try KNFB Reader. Also, you can search for other OCR apps in the app store.
Some suggestions for you
Hi. I'll be blunt here, you'll get what you pay for. I've never had great success with things like text grabber, prizmo, and a few other things. It all depends on what you want the OCR to do. If you'll be reading mail, or curious how much that recipt really was at the store, I've had fabulous luck with KNFB reader. Yes, I know you asked for a cheap solution. You can always ask for itunes gift cards, they will work just fine in the app sotre. Te price is 100 dolars, now though I think it's seventy five. Once you get it though, you'll be glad you did. I know this wasn't what you wanted, think about it though. I'd also just do a search on the app sotre see what happens.
App Suggestions
I like using an app called Eye of Providence and the other app is called Voice. I have tried Text Detective without much success. I also use KNFB Reader, Prizmo, and at times Text Grabber. There is also Braillego Companion app. Wishing you good luck and hope this helps!
knfb reader,wouldn't call that cheap
To me, although of course it might vary with different people, knfb reader isn't cheap,in fact its as far from cheap as a app in the appstore can be.
That said, here are my recommendations
Eye of Providence. Gives you 10 free pictures,after which you need to pay $2.99? or $1.99? something along those lines.
The best OCR capability I have come across,and yes I have used KnfbReader.
voice is a free text OCR having features similar to knfb and gives results as good as knfb,although knfbreader surpasses this app in certain aspects,but for being free, its quite good.
hth
free and good
there is a good thread here:
http://www.applevis.com/forum/ios-ios-app-discussion/i-used-abbyys-fine-scanner-scan-my-document-now-what
i'll also give you my opinion about four ocr alternatives.
1) knfb reader. let's get this out of the way first, because i think it is grossly overrated. the ocr is good, but not exceptional. while it is feature rich, i.e., multi-page, pdf handling, etc, it fails miserably in one crucial task--it does not maintain proper format at all, even with properly formated pdf files. for a pricy app like knfb reader, this is not acceptable
2) prizmo. i know i didn't have nice words for prizmo. in fact, i said the ocr was mediocre. that was then, this is now, the ocr has been improved very significantly. i believe the ocr is just as good as knfb reader's, and it is also feature rich. most importantly, it retains proper format for the ocr results, and this makes prizmo a winner.
3) textgrabber. this one is controversial, some praise it, some thinkit is a POS, the reason is that it is not consistent. it is not because of your camera skill, either, a sighted person can see every word in a document, takes a picture, and textgrabber recognizes nothing; adjust the distance and it comes out perfect. featurewise, it is barebone, you can merge the ocr results, but that's all.
4) google translate. it is a translate app, so don't expect any fancy ocr app features, but the ocr capability is exceptional. so how good is it? you can easily read the authorization code on the back of your credit cards, no other apps i know of can do that.
verdict: if you just want to read mails, receipts and whatever catches your fancy, and you don't mind the format, go with google translate. the ocr engine is the best, and it's free.
if you want a decent ocr, and you also want to keep the results, and you care about the format, prizmo is for you.
if you have 99 cents and textgrabber is on sale, you might want to play with it if you are curious, but that's entirely optional.
knfb reader would be good at $10, provided they fix the format issue. $100 or even $50? forget it. i know i'll probably get 2 dozens hate mail for saying this, but that's fine.