If you are looking for a powerful and accessible tool to help you with everyday tasks, you might want to check out the free Seeing AI app from Microsoft. This app uses artificial intelligence and computer vision to describe the world around you, whether it’s reading text, recognizing faces, identifying colors, scanning barcodes, or more. You can use the app with your smartphone’s camera or a connected device like the Pivothead smart glasses. The app also supports multiple languages and voice options and works offline for some features.
In this blog post, I will show you how to download and use the free Seeing AI app and share some tips and tricks to make the most of it. Whether you are blind, low vision, or just curious about the app, you will find it useful and fun to explore.
How to download the free Seeing AI app
The free Seeing AI app is available for iOS devices running iOS 12 or later. You can download it from the App Store by searching for “Seeing AI” or by following this link: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/seeing-ai/id999062298
The app is about 200 MB in size, so make sure you have enough space on your device and a stable internet connection before downloading. The app will ask for permission to access your camera and microphone, which are necessary for its functionality. You can also enable notifications to get updates and tips from the app.
How to use the free Seeing AI app
The free Seeing AI app has several channels that you can switch between by swiping left or right on the screen. Each channel has a different purpose and functionality. You can also customize the order of the channels in the settings menu. Here are the channels and what they do:
Short Text: This channel reads any text that appears in front of the camera, such as signs, labels, menus, etc. It reads the text aloud as soon as it detects it, without needing to take a picture. You can also pause or resume the reading by tapping on the screen.
Document: This channel helps you scan and read documents, such as letters, bills, forms, etc. It guides you to align the document in the camera view, and then takes a picture and analyzes it. You can then hear the text read aloud, or explore it by swiping on the screen. You can also save or share the document as an image or a PDF file.
Product: This channel helps you identify products by scanning their barcodes or QR codes. It beeps when it finds a code, and then reads the product name and information aloud. You can also access more details about the product online, or save it to a favorites list.
Person: This channel helps you recognize people’s faces and emotions. It tells you how many people are in the camera view, and their approximate age, gender, and emotion. You can also teach the app to recognize specific people by entering their names and taking their pictures. The next time the app sees them, it will say their names aloud.
Currency: This channel helps you identify currency bills of different countries. It tells you the denomination and value of the bill that is in front of the camera. You can also change the currency type in the settings menu.
Color: This channel helps you identify the colors of objects or clothes. It tells you the name and shade of the color that is in the center of the camera view. You can also use a flashlight button to illuminate dark areas.
Scene: This channel helps you describe scenes or environments around you. It takes a picture and analyzes it using artificial intelligence. It then tells you a brief description of what it sees, such as “a living room with a couch and a TV” or “a street with cars and pedestrians”.
Handwriting: This channel helps you read handwritten text, such as notes, cards, signatures, etc. It works similarly to the document channel, but it is optimized for handwriting recognition. You can also save or share the handwritten text as an image or a text file.
Light: This channel helps you detect light sources around you. It uses a tone that varies in pitch depending on the brightness of the light. The higher the pitch, the brighter the light. You can use this channel to find windows, lamps, switches, etc.
Tips and tricks for using the free Seeing AI app
Here are some tips and tricks to help you use the free Seeing AI app more effectively:
Use headphones or earphones when using the app, especially in noisy environments. This will help you hear the app’s voice more clearly, and also protect your privacy.
Adjust the voice speed and volume in the settings menu according to your preference. You can also choose from different voice options and languages.
Use voice commands to control some functions of the app without touching the screen. For example, you can say “switch” to change channels, “help” to get instructions, or “pause” to stop the reading.
Explore the app’s features and settings by tapping on the menu button at the top left corner of the screen. You can find more options and information there, such as tutorials, feedback, updates, etc.
Have fun and experiment with the app. You might discover new things or ways to use it that suit your needs and interests.
I hope you enjoyed this blog post and learned something new about the free Seeing AI app. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them below. And if you liked this post, please share it with your friends and family who might benefit from this app. Thank you for reading!
In this review i talk about the Vodafone Ghana Fixed Broadband service that solves my 4 years old need. Better late than never as it is a money saver.
UPDATE: There’ve been changes to the service after I first published this post. Kindly scroll down to read about it.
As someone who is always on the go and mobile, i tend to spend a lot on mobile data. I am a heavy user of data. Mobile data isn’t cheap, not in Ghana and any African country. I remember some years back when it was so obvious this was going to be my routine i decided to find a solution. My pocket was feeling the drain by telecommunication companies.
My quest was to find that network that will offer me good internet speed, more data and a reasonable price. I searched, researched, spoke to telecom business managers on their various mobile data options but there was no hope. No one had it all. The closest i came to was super expensive. I was being offered a dedicated line et all but seriously out of my budget.
So i stuck with using Vodafone Ghana Fixed Broadband at home and a mash up of other mobile data packages on the go.
Not the Saviour
I remember when a friend suggested GLO was the saviour i needed. He wasn’t far from right. The pricing was great and they gave lots of mobile data. Maybe as a way to wow in more clients. There was a slight problem though. In the locations i frequent and have to use it, there is either poor or no signal. I would have to use about 30 minutes to 1 hour finding the right spot to place phone or mifi. Oh and this was in Accra and also around the airport so GLO really where does your network work, lol?
Fast forward to June last year when Vodafone Ghana announced it was introducing a new service. Where any suscriber of its fixed broadband service can enjoy their fixed broadband data on their mobile phone. I was like wow God has finally answered my cry.
To put it in context, it means i can walk around with over a 100 GB of data on my mobile phone for less than how much it will actually cost to buy that as mobile data. Let me help you get a clearer idea.
Vodafone currently sells 20GB mobile data at GHS 199, 200GB at GHS 399. Whereas Vodafone Ghana Fixed Broadband packages range from 20GB at GHS 85, 40GB at GHS 125, 80GB at GHS 180, 200GB at GHS 265 and 500GB at GHS 400. (these prices might have been changed as at the time of reading). This means if i buy the 200GB for FBB and transfer it to mobile i have saved about 134 GHS.
Vodafone Ghana Fixed Broadband Delight
Now this is why i’m delighted and like this service offer. It offers me lots of data at a very good price. Compared to buying the mobile data at a very expensive amount for even less data. Vodafone 3G’s service – (see i’m not even mentioning 4G, that’s for another post) – is everywhere and offers good speeds to do most of my work. Streaming isn’t the best with light buffering on HD content, so i won’t stream HD away from the fiber broadband router (which offers great speeds up to 100Mbps on default routers). But it does however offer everything i had wanted some 4 years ago.
From the terms and conditions of the service, i can buy a data package and as long as i don’t move all of the data – to render the account inactive (you can leave only 1MB, lol) – from the broadband i can keep moving it back and forth till it is either exhausted or package expires. Rendering your FBB inactive after moving all the data to your mobile sim means you can’t reverse it.
Does it work?
Does it work? Yes it does work. I have suscribed to the 200 GB FBB package and moved plus or minus 100 GB to my phone. I spend only nights and weekends at home so balance i guess. Also don’t judge me, lol, i stream everything on HD with the broadband, i mean why not. When i’ve watched various premier league matches, movies, documentaries and run the FFB data down i just use the USSD or the myVodafone portal to send more data to the FBB to top it up. The app can be used as well.
So far i’ve linked two different mobile numbers to the FBB account. Oh one mobile number at a time. Vodafone says “the linked number can only be changed after 30 days of linking“. Well i was able to do that in less days so not so sure about the real limits. The data on the SIM has a three months validity which is good.
I have been able to find more hacks around this to enjoy the service to it’s max. More of that in another post. Subscribe to be updated on new posts.
Have you used this service offer? Did it work for your needs? Got more questions? Share and leave them in the comments or ask me on twitter.
UPDATE
Vodafone has reduced the validity of the shared mobile data from 3 months to align with that of your broadband. You can only link 1 mobile number in all the FBB packages except the office package. (Vodafone really! At least let the 200GB and 400 GB packages link to 2 numbers) Notice anything else? kindly share.
I’m poised to spend the next three months in Nairobi, as my executive editor will say, as the East African correspondent. Previous visits in Kenya have been brief or short. Maybe a few days, weeks or at most a month. So to be here for that long means I had to find a good workstation. Primarily for me this will be mostly getting a good, reliable and fast internet. Electricity too, but I think electricity is more stable in Kenya. As I’ve experienced few disruptions which last for hours or minutes.
Be Curious, ask questions
I always will encourage anyone looking to use a service to ask questions, listen to other users concerns before deciding. It might or mightn’t influence your final decision but you would have been thoroughly informed. Also bearing in mind several factors might make your situation different from theirs.
So i reached out to my techy, thoughtful friends and inquired of their opinions. What is the best internet service around? I asked around, talked to some internet service provider vendors and looked at my budget. First and foremost i wasn’t trying to break the bank. So i believed a fixed broadband service will be way cheaper than mobile broadband.
From my collated data, Safaricom will be the go-to service provider. A lot of consumers trust Safaricom to be reliable and fast. But it had a hurdle. Firstly, Safaricom home fiber service isn’t available around the neighbourhood i stay in. My only option was to get the Safaricom GIGA box; a 4G tv digital box with hotspot. Secondly, its GIGA box is expensive. You don’t get a bundled service. You pay for the box and then buy data as well.
So that wasn’t my way to go and somehow that seemed to be the issue with other providers like Faiba and Airtel. You buy the 4G router and then buy data. As a consolation, these others have lower data prices for much more data sizes than Safaricom. For reliability, I opted to get a Safaricom 4G sim card and hotspot from my phone. I didn’t see it worthwhile to get a 6,000 KSH or 9,999 KSH router. The only issue is I’m a big data user. Safaricom’s 10Gb weekly data bundle of 999 KSH finished before mid-week. My going for their free unlimited WhatsApp bundle proved a scam, lol, literally.
Why not Zuku?
I hadn’t looked into Zuku because I hadn’t seen any customer care shop in my hood. There was this one time i was returning from Naivas when I was approached by a Zuku sales agent. She gave me a brochure with Zuku data packages and pricing. My only question was, is Zuku fiber service available in this area and reliable? To which she replied yes. oh, I had a second question, how soon can this be done? As soon as you pay. Perfect! I then remembered that guest houses, Airbnb apartments and hotels I had stayed in during previous visits had Zuku and it worked very well for me. Zuku also had my attention with FREE INSTALLATION and Unlimited data. These sounded like music to the ears of a heavy data consumer. Technically most fiber internet services come with free installation. I was like bring it on.
So i called Doreen the sales agent i had met and spoken to and asked for the service to be installed in my apartment. I was ready to give it a try but not commit whole heartedly. Here’s why. A day to when it will be installed, i saw a tweet from another friend wishing Zuku good bye. I reached out and it was more like run away whilst you still can.
For me at that moment it was the better option; unlimited data for a month and i was ready to try an alternative. So i went in for the internet only (Zuku has internet, TV and phone call) service. I didn’t need the others. I have a digital smart tv and will only loose out on a few Zuku channels. The Zuku phone, calls other zuku lines for free but pays more to other networks per-second. I’ll pass, thank you.
The thing with African internet service providers is when they give you unlimited data they can’t give you a higher internet speed as well and vice versa. In testing the service I decided to go in for the Zuku fiber 5 Mbps internet speed package which costs 2,499 KSH.
Review using Zuku Fiber Home Internet
According to Zuku “the performance of Internet component of the Services depends on the number of concurrent users. And customer may experience degraded performance the more the number of concurrent users“. The internet speed has been what I paid for. Never exceeding 5MBps and never lower than 3MBps. I really don’t have to worry about this and even with heavy usage and a lot of devices connected it works great with a few buffering’s. I have concurrently streamed HD videos from YouTube on the smart Tv and streamed live sport on my laptop. Skype and WhatsApp video and audio calls have been excellent.
I have had moments during the night when the internet had blanked out on me but its returned shortly. I’ved had to restart the router if it takes more than 5 minutes. But i am yet to have to call support service for assistance.
I was suprised to recieve a Zuku customer care support call checking up on me after 4 days of usage. Wanting to know if service quality was great and if i had queries or needed any help. Good customer care relationship is always good isn’t it?
All in all, i think I made a great call and I’m saving. Hopefully, this rosy relationship doesn’t turn sour. If it does I will come and tell you in a post update.
Visit the Zuku website for more details on their packages, locations etc. If you want to confirm some other details or have the service set up for you call Doreen[0710 305 250].
Some take away. *Make sure the internet service is available in your hood. *Find out from neighbours if it works. If it sounds like it is half and half, see if the benefits are more to you and you won’t lose much. Then make up your mind about it. You can give it a month’s trial and if it works, good. If they become shitty and you begin to hate them, eeerrrr just move on, lol.
Update 2021: Included “Update: Two years on from when I posted this it is still going great.” to the post.
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Check out other stories making the news in the technology ecosystem in Africa and the Middle East.
Who doesn’t like free things? Tell me and I’ll ask for an explanation. We all like and enjoy offers that are money-saving and give more goodies, not so? Also, some factions have said free things aren’t all good or are shady in a way. More like be wary or suspicious of free offerings as there might be a catch or clause. You can imagine the delight and brim on my face when I heard Safaricom has a free WhatsApp data package.
Technically you’ll need to get the requisite Safaricom data package but when your initial data runs out, you enjoy free WhatsApp till its validity runs out. Also, Safaricom claims it is an unlimited use of WhatsApp. This kind of means you should be able to use the full features of the WhatsApp application without hindrances.
So here I was enjoying WhatsApp chats after I had run out of data and believed all was well and rosy as promised. I became dumbfounded when I had to send images from our day out at the Nairobi Arboretum to a friend and it didn’t upload. Huh! What? Is something wrong with the network? Okay, I’ll give it a while maybe the file size is big. Seconds turned to minutes and minutes turned to hours. I can clearly see text chats coming and my responses going out, so something might be happening here.
I checked with other friends on the Safaricom network to make sure it was a general problem, nope it wasn’t. Turns out, I was in this alone. Do you have mobile data I was asked? Ummm nope, I run out of it but Safaricom said I should enjoy free WhatsApp usage afterwards till the bundle duration is over. So I decided to see what else didn’t work. I tried checking stories of friends and nope that didn’t load up as well.
So no WhatsApp Stories, no images, audio and video messages? Wow. The only thing that works or goes through are text chats? Phew, I didn’t see that coming. It felt like going to a restaurant and getting extra free nyama choma. That’s nice right? Well until you eat it and it feels half-cooked in your mouth, yup. That’s how I felt upon my realization of Safaricom’s free WhatsApp offer.
Speaking to a Safaricom customer care agent, I was told the terms and conditions (T&C’s) – [which isn’t available on the Safaricom website, or readily available for consumers to access] – of the offer apply. So let’s take a look at the T&C’s.
The Safaricom free unlimited WhatsApp starts only after you use up the initial data bundle you buy. Users will not be able to do video and audio calls. Safaricom says picture and video messages should go through or work. As well as the ability to watch stories.
If you are having issues as I am, I’m made to believe it is a systems issue. Of what essence will it be if we all are having systems issues with a good offer? Well, I leave you to decide that. As much as Safaricom calls it unlimited, I believe it has a fair usage policy and cap on the data usage. This was confirmed to me. A daily unlimited WhatsApp bundle subscriber has a cap of 500MB. A weekly subscriber has a cap of 3.5GB and a monthly subscriber has a 10GB cap on the usage.
So it isn’t unlimited after all. I have heard some say the speed drops as well. Surely unless there’s a way to do a bandwidth speed test to measure a WhatsApp app speed? I haven’t been able to confirm this. It might appear I’m not the only one baffled by this half-baked free offer.
It’s good and an okay offer if you are a text chat person or if it works as Safaricom says it should. But when you like sharing, checking and commenting on stories, well. Also if you are a video or audio person or your friends are, then sorry this isn’t for you. Except it works as mentioned. kindly share your experience with me or tell me if it works for you. Asante sana.
Safaricom recently launched a new app giving users features that include more security and control.
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Using Microsoft Kaizala App, Mawingu Networks boosts productivity and cut costs
Mawingu Networks Limited are one of the early testers of Microsoft’s Kaizala app in Kenya before its official launch.
Based in Kenya, Mawingu Networks focuses on connecting rural and unconnected communities in Africa to the internet. By using TV Whitespaces; a high performance low cost wireless technology, it is able to offer internet access using hotspots and broadband services to individuals and SMEs in rural areas.
Microsoft’s Kaizala app is a mobile application that enhance business agility, collaboration and organizational productivity. Built for emerging markets it helps with large group communication and work management.
“Using Microsoft Kaizala app has greatly enhanced our internal communications and enhanced our operations. – Tim Hobbs, Mawingu Networks Ltd. CEO“
Speaking about how transformative Kaizala has been to Mawingu, Director and CEO Tim Hobbs said; Our main goal was to improve communication between the field and office teams. Simplify the data collection process and save time in reporting. Kaizala ensures clean lines of communication, customer and partner feedback within the organization.
With Microsoft Kaizala, Mawingu Network Ltd. can easily track and assign work to field teams. Mawingu is also now able to better monitor its over 1000 hotspots in outlying areas.
Other uses are collecting customer information and feedback in real-time during sales activations. Monitor installations and effectively manage field teams remotely. This saves time through automated reporting.
“Right now we are able to develop a survey form on Kaizala and broadcast to our field team. We can then access and analyse the feedback using analytic tools like Power BI. This saves us time and money. We are also able to tweak and customise Kaizala app with the help of Microsoft(developers) to meet our unique needs”. –
Organizations such as Unilever and M-KOPA Solar have already tried and tested Kaizala in their daily operations. Download Microsoft Kaizala app through your device app store. You can alternatively email KaizalaDev@microsoft.com to get a preview (after NDA and Terms & Conditions) of the developer SDK to build your own extensions to meet your unique needs.
