Fathom vs GuideDog Nav
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Fathom
This navigation app provides real-time spatial awareness for blind and low-vision users indoors. It speaks only when necessary, indicating doors, people, and hazards, and offers features for room exploration, object identification, and guided navigation to specific locations.
- Indoor spatial awareness
- Object and hazard detection
- Turn-by-turn indoor navigation
- Step-by-step task guidance
- Real-time conversational assistance
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Visual assistance you can talk to. Ask fathom what's in front of you, what a letter says, or where you left your keys. It remembers what you tell it, and you decide what it keeps. Most of the day asks you to look. The label on the can. The dial on the washer. The sign on the door. The kiosk that's only a screen. So you ask someone, or guess, or wait. Or you ask fathom. I'm a legally blind product designer. I built the tool I kept wishing I had, instead of waiting for a sighted team to guess what I needed. Just ask One screen. Speak, type, or pick a suggestion, and fathom does it right there. The mic is always in the same place, and Magic Tap opens it. Look Now Six ways to look: describe the whole scene, read text word for word, identify what you're holding, read a kiosk or appliance screen, name what you're pointing at, or take a closer look. Read at your pace A long letter becomes a document you move through. Go back, skip ahead, repeat a part, or pause. With VoiceOver, it's real text, with headings on the rotor. Lookout and Point to Ask Lookout keeps describing what's around you while you walk. You choose how much it says: Hazards Only, Balanced, or Full Awareness. Point at anything for about a second, and fathom tells you what it is. Memory Tell fathom where things are, then ask later. It says back what it saved. Everything it keeps is in Settings, where you can correct it or delete it. Obstacle alerts are always on, and always free When fathom notices a hazard, it buzzes first. Obstacle alerts run on your phone in Lookout, Go, and tasks, with Cloud AI on or off. They keep working when this month's Cloud AI allowance runs out. fathom plus Go guides you to places you've named, like the laundry room, from what the camera sees. When it thinks you're there, it asks. Step-by-step plans: tell fathom the whole job. It reads you the steps before anything starts. Accept the plan, change it, or dismiss it. Task coaches you through one hands-on job in front of the camera. Turn on Live mode and it becomes a conversation while you work. Skills: teach fathom a job once, then run it by name, from the app or from Siri. fathom plus is a monthly subscription. New subscribers get the first week free. Cloud or on-device, your choice With Cloud AI, fathom sends camera pictures, the text of what you say, and what it remembers about you to Google's Gemini AI. In Live mode, your voice is sent too, while the microphone is on. fathom asks before anything goes to Google. With On-device AI, nothing is sent to Google, and obstacle alerts and reading text work on every iPhone. Built for VoiceOver Built for VoiceOver from the first screen. Eight Siri shortcuts, and the Action Button can open Look Now. Light, dark, and Contrast Boost. fathom answers in your iPhone's language when it can; buttons and alerts are in English. No account. Every setup question is optional. fathom uses AI, and it can make mistakes. Keep your cane or your dog. Privacy Policy: https://fathomvision.app/privacy Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Made by Unruly Vision, LLC.
GuideDog Nav
This navigation assistant uses your iPhone's sensors and AI to detect obstacles, stairs, and hazards in real-time. It provides voice and haptic feedback to help blind and visually impaired individuals navigate safely. All processing is done on-device for enhanced privacy.
- Real-time obstacle detection
- LiDAR distance sensing
- AI object identification
- Voice and haptic alerts
- On-device processing
- Voice command controls
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GuideDog Vision is a navigation assistant designed for blind and visually impaired individuals. Built as a student project, it uses your iPhone's LiDAR sensor, camera, and AI to detect obstacles, walls, stairs, and hazards in real time. How it works: - Automatic protection: constantly scans and warns about obstacles - LiDAR distance sensing: real-time measurements in feet - AI object detection: identifies people, chairs, vehicles, and more - Cloud AI: detects stairs, wet floors, doors, and hazards on scan - Voice alerts with haptic feedback Controls: - Hold screen: speak a voice command - Double tap: scan surroundings - Swipe left/right: check sides - Voice: "What's around", "Is it safe", "Left", "Right", "Scan", "Help" Privacy: - All detection runs on-device - Cloud AI optional, only on scan - No images stored, no account needed Works best on LiDAR-equipped iPhones (12 Pro and later). Camera and microphone access required. Built as a student project to make navigation safer for the visually impaired community.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: GuideDog Nav at none against Fathom's 1. GuideDog Nav also leads on iOS requirement (15.0 vs 17.0). On price, rating, ratings volume and update cadence 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
Both are free to download. Fathom sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $12.99 per month. GuideDog Nav asks for nothing beyond the download.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Fathom against 5.0 for GuideDog Nav. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 8 and 3 respectively.
Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 5, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Fathom | GuideDog Nav |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (8 ratings) | 5.0 (3 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 8 — better | 3 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks | Every 3 weeks |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Freemium | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone | iPhone, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 15.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 25 MB | 93 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Unruly Vision, LLC | Premkumar Krishnamurthy |
In-app purchases
Fathom
- Fathom Plus7 Days trial$12.991 Month
GuideDog Nav
No in-app purchases







