Comparison

Absolute Board vs Seeing AI

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Absolute Board

This free drawing and handwriting app allows users to sketch and take notes with unlimited board size and color options. Save and share your ideas easily, with features like a traceable eraser, photo import, and printing capabilities.

Highlights
  • Unlimited board size
  • Unlimited color choice
  • Path traceable eraser
  • Email snapshot of drawing
  • Zooming and panning
  • Undo/Redo functions
  • Import photos
  • Print snapshot
Features
Read full description

* April 2011 - "New & Noteworthy" (Productivity) application on the American App Store * * April 2011 - "What's Hot" (Productivity) application on the American App Store * * April 2011 - "Staff Favorites" (All) application on the Korean App Store * * April 2011 - "No. 1 Free App" (Productivity) application on the Korean App Store * Best quality FREE drawing & handwriting app for iPad It's so simple & convenient - just sketch & take notes about anything in your mind. Save and share your novel ideas in the school, cafeteria, office or even on the bed. ▶ Unlimited board size ▶ Unlimited color choice for pen & background ▶ Path traceable eraser ▶ Ability to email snapshot of your drawing ▶ Zooming in/out & moving with two fingers ▶ Undo/Redo functions ▶ Import a Photo ▶ Print Snapshot (Air Print)

About

Seeing AI

This free app uses AI to narrate the visual world for individuals who are blind or have low vision. It describes people, text, and objects, assisting with daily tasks like reading documents, identifying products, and recognizing faces.

Highlights
  • Read text and documents
  • Describe photos and objects
  • Scan product barcodes
  • Recognize people and currency
  • Identify personal objects
  • Augmented reality environment exploration
  • Identify colors and light levels
Read full description

Seeing AI is a free app that narrates the world around you. Designed with and for the blind and low vision community, this ongoing research project harnesses the power of AI to open up the visual world by describing nearby people, text and objects. Seeing AI provides tools to assist with a variety of daily tasks: • Read - Hear text as soon as it appears in front of the camera. Document alignment provides audio cues to capture a printed page and recognize the text along with its original formatting. Ask Seeing AI about the contents to easily find the information you need. • Describe - Take photos to hear a rich description. Ask questions to focus on the information you care about. Explore photos by moving your finger over the screen to hear the location of different objects. • Products - Scan barcodes and Accessible QR codes using audio beeps to guide you; hear the product name and package information when available. • People - Save photos of friends and coworkers so you can recognize them later. Get an estimate of their age, gender, and expression. • Currency - Recognize currency notes. • Find My Things - Teach Seeing AI to recognize your personal objects and follow the audio cues to find them later. • World - An Audio Augmented Reality experience to explore an unfamiliar environment, including hearing objects announced around you with Spatial Audio (requires a device with a LiDAR, and iOS 14+). • Colors - Identify colors. • Light - Hear an audible tone corresponding to the brightness of your surroundings. • Photos and Videos in other apps - Just tap “Share” and “Recognize with Seeing AI” to describe media from Mail, Photos, WhatsApp, and more. • Browse Photos - Hear descriptions of photos and videos saved on your device. Seeing AI continues to evolve as we hear from the community, and AI research advances. Visit http://SeeingAI.com for more details. Questions, feedback or feature requests? Email us at SeeingAI@Microsoft.com.

Screenshots

Seeing AI4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Seeing AI at 4.3 against Absolute Board's 3.6. Seeing AI also leads on ratings volume (632 vs 12) and device support (3 vs 1). Absolute Board's advantage is review sentiment (90% vs 69%) and iOS requirement (8.0 vs 15.0). On price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Seeing AI holds the better App Store score, 4.3 against 3.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Seeing AI has 632 ratings behind it against 12, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 90% of Absolute Board's written reviews are positive against 69% of Seeing AI's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on November 6, 2026 and November 11, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Absolute Board versus Seeing AI: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterAbsolute BoardSeeing AI
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.6 (12 ratings)4.3 (632 ratings) — better
Positive reviews89.7% of reviews — better68.6% of reviews
Number of ratings12632 — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsEvery 2 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS8.0 — better15.0
Further details — not scored
Size9 MB309 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperHyeoseong HwangMicrosoft Corporation

Customer experience

Absolute Board

All ratings12 ratings
Positive66.7%
Neutral0.0%
Negative33.3%
Written reviews78 reviews
Positive89.7%
Neutral5.1%
Negative5.1%

Seeing AI

All ratings626 ratings
Positive78.3%
Neutral10.9%
Negative10.9%
Written reviews204 reviews
Positive68.6%
Neutral11.3%
Negative20.1%

Bugs and requests

Absolute Board

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

Seeing AI

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Barcode scanning not working consistently
  • Document reader sometimes fails to load or process documents
  • Frequent crashes or app becoming unresponsive

Requested features

6 requests
  • Add support for more languages, including Arabic and Chinese
  • Improve accuracy of color and facial recognition
  • Allow users to read digital displays like clocks and appliances
  • Integrate with screen readers like VoiceOver for better accessibility
  • Add an offline mode for using the app without an internet connection
Show 1 more
  • Provide more customization options for voice settings

In-app purchases

None

Absolute Board

No in-app purchases

None

Seeing AI

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Absolute Board free?
Absolute Board is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Seeing AI free?
Seeing AI is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Absolute Board or Seeing AI?
Seeing AI is rated higher. Absolute Board averages 3.6 out of 5 from 12 ratings, while Seeing AI averages 4.3 from 632 ratings.
Do Absolute Board or Seeing AI have ads?
Neither Absolute Board nor Seeing AI shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Absolute Board or Seeing AI?
Absolute Board ships an update every 2 months, and Seeing AI every 2 months. Most recently, Absolute Board was updated on November 6, 2026 and Seeing AI on November 11, 2026.

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