TapTapSee

TapTapSee is an assistive app designed to help those with visual impairments identify objects they encounter in the physical world. Start by double-tapping the screen to take a photo. TapTapSee then records any two- or three-dimensional object at any angle and speaks the description back to the user. For this to work, VoiceOver accessibility needs to be enabled on the user's device; this can be accessed through Settings.

TapTapSee features picture recognition that is processed and analyzed in approximately 10 seconds or less. Users can either take a photo or upload existing images from their camera roll. After identifying an image, users can share these results via text, email, or social media, or save it to other available apps on their phone. To speed things up, multiple pictures can be taken at once, and each photo will be analyzed and read aloud in sequence. There's also an ability to repeat an identification (but this just applies to last image recognized). Past versions of TapTapSee also analyzed up to 10 seconds of video. At the time of this review, however, this feature has been removed for improvements. 

TapTapSee is a useful, if basic, tool for supporting students with visual impairments. It's surprisingly accurate, although a tad slow, and seems to employ multiple cues before describing the object. Results can be mixed, but they're more often than not surprisingly accurate, down to things like text and brand names (e.g., "Mac keyboard"). Students will likely find it handy to improve their mobility in and around school and beyond. While the app offers little in terms of learning or extensions, it does promote independence and therefore learning opportunities. Still, it'd be interesting to see this tool grow and offer the recently removed video analysis, more repeatable identifications, and faster -- or even real-time -- performance.