Lookout uses computer vision and generative AI to assist people with low vision or blindness get things done faster and more easily.
Details
Using your phone’s camera, Lookout makes it easier to get more information about the world around you and do daily tasks more efficiently like reading text & documents, sorting mail, putting away groceries, and more.
Built in collaboration with the blind and low-vision community, Lookout supports Google’s mission to make the world’s information universally accessible to everyone.
Lookout offers seven modes:
- Text: Scan text and hear it read aloud while doing things like sorting mail and reading signs, using Text mode.
- Documents: Capture a whole page of text or handwriting using Documents mode. Available in over 30 languages.
- Explore: Identify objects, people, and text in surroundings using Explore mode.
- Currency: Identify banknotes quickly and reliably using Currency mode, with support for US Dollars, Euros, and Indian Rupees.
- Food labels: Identify packaged foods by their label or barcodes using Food labels mode. Available in over 20 countries.
- Find: Scan surroundings to find objects like doors, bathrooms, cups, vehicles, and more using Find mode. Find mode can also tell you the direction and distance to the object, depending on device capabilities.
- Images: Capture, describe, and ask questions about an image using Images mode. Image descriptions in English only. Image Question & Answer in US, UK, and Canada only.
Lookout is available in more than 30 languages, and runs on devices with Android 6 and above. Devices with 2GB or more RAM are recommended.
View on Google Play StoreFree or paid:
- Free
Accessibility and User Comments:
Since Google develops Lookout for the visually impaired, the app is fully accessible. Like most Google apps provided by Google, it utilizes no TalkBack actions though they are needed under most circumstances.
When launched, the Select mode button can be found at the top left corner of the screen. At the time of this writing, the Explore, Find, and Images modes are labeled as beta. The name of the current mode appears to the right of the Select mode button. The Change language button appears to the right of it. To the right of it the app also displays the following items: Help button, Signed in as ... accounts and settings, and Turn camera on/off.
The app also has two tabs which appear at the bottom of the screen, View, which displays the buttons and text related to the current mode, and Recents which displays the saved images or items.
Lookout's Images mode has recently been improved to the point that one can directly capture images here without the need to necessarily import items first. Image descriptions are also provided by Google AI although asking further questions about images is currently limited to USA and Canada. One can download captured images or share them. Google has also incorporated their special guidance prompts for taking selfies from the Pixel camera into the Images mode, meaning users can take selfies upon receiving info about the proper position of their faces if they switch to the front camera.
Finally, the Lookout Settings window, available from the Signed in as ... accounts and settings window, allows users to control several aspects of the app. For instance, sending images to Google for a better or AI-oriented experience can be limited to WiFi or Mobile, or allowed for both, or disabled altogether for an on-device, less detailed experience. Furthermore, captions can be downloaded for images from the Settings window. The use of automatic flashlight or disabling certain Lookout modes can be controlled here, too. And, last but not least, Reading tools settings and Text-to-speech output settings can be adjusted here.
Last Tested App version and Android version:
Varies with device, Android 14
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