Comparison

Seeing AI vs Creative Preview

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

Head to head
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.

About

Creative Preview

Test mobile ads directly on your smartphone or tablet before they go live. Scan QR codes or enter creative URLs to preview display and video ads. Review reporting metrics within the app's console.

Highlights
  • Preview display and video creatives
  • Test ads on smartphone or tablet
  • Scan QR codes for preview
  • Manually add creative URLs
  • Review reporting metrics
Read full description

Make sure you know how consumers will experience your ad when it goes live. Creative Preview helps you test mobile ads directly on a smartphone or tablet. Scan a QR code from a Google Marketing Platform product to preview an ad on your device, or manually add a creative URL. Test on your device using the supported mobile ad SDKs or in any mobile browser, and review reporting metrics in the app's console. Use Creative Preview to: * Preview and test display and video creatives directly on your mobile device. Supported mobile ad SDKs: * Google Mobile Ads * Interactive Media Ads (IMA) Permissions Notice: * Camera: Needed to scan QR codes. * Microphone: Needed to preview creatives using mobile ads SDKs that support audio recording. * Storage: Needed to attach photos, videos, and local files for submitting app feedback. It's also needed to save your preview list and app settings.

Screenshots

Seeing AI4 screens
Creative Preview4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: Seeing AI at none against Creative Preview's shown. Seeing AI also leads on review sentiment (69% vs 40%) and ratings volume (626 vs 24). On price, rating, in-app purchases and device support 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

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.3 for Seeing AI against 4.3 for Creative Preview. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Seeing AI has 626 ratings behind it against 24, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 69% of Seeing AI's written reviews are positive against 40% of Creative Preview's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Seeing AI ships an update every 2 months, Creative Preview every 4 months. The most recent releases landed on October 14, 2026 and September 26, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 4 level
Seeing AI versus Creative Preview: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSeeing AICreative Preview
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.3 (626 ratings)4.3 (24 ratings)
Positive reviews68.6% of reviews — better40.0% of reviews
Number of ratings626 — better24
Update frequencyEvery 2 months — betterEvery 4 months
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree — betterAd-supported
Best chart rank#205 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.0 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size309 MB30 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperMicrosoft CorporationGoogle

Customer experience

Seeing AI

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

Creative Preview

All ratings24 ratings
Positive79.2%
Neutral12.5%
Negative8.3%
Written reviews5 reviews
Positive40.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative60.0%

Bugs and 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

Creative Preview

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Seeing AI

No in-app purchases

None

Creative Preview

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Seeing AI free?
Seeing AI is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Creative Preview free?
Creative Preview is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Seeing AI or Creative Preview?
Seeing AI and Creative Preview are both rated 4.3 out of 5 on the App Store, from 626 and 24 ratings respectively.
Do Seeing AI or Creative Preview have ads?
Creative Preview shows ads; Seeing AI does not.
Which is updated more often, Seeing AI or Creative Preview?
Seeing AI ships an update every 2 months, and Creative Preview every 4 months. Most recently, Seeing AI was updated on October 14, 2026 and Creative Preview on September 26, 2026.

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