Seeing AI vs Audio2Ear
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
- 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
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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.
Audio2Ear
Stream audio directly to your compatible hearing processor via Bluetooth. Connect your device through your myMED-EL account for seamless integration. This app is designed for specific MED-EL audio processors.
- Bluetooth audio streaming
- myMED-EL account integration
- SONNET and SONNET 2 compatibility
- Smartphone pairing
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Using Bluetooth on your audio device you can start streaming music straight to your audio processor. Simply sign in to your myMED-EL account and follow the instructions for pairing AudioLink to your smartphone. The Audio2Ear app works with MED-EL’s SONNET and SONNET 2 audio processors and a valid myMED-EL ID only.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Seeing AI at 69% against Audio2Ear's 21%. Seeing AI also leads on rating (4.3 vs 2.5) and update cadence (every 2 months vs every 11 months). Audio2Ear's advantage is iOS requirement (9.2 vs 15.0). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Seeing AI holds the better App Store score, 4.3 against 2.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Seeing AI has 626 ratings behind it against 20, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 69% of Seeing AI's written reviews are positive against 21% of Audio2Ear's.
Seeing AI ships an update every 2 months, Audio2Ear every 11 months. The most recent releases landed on October 17, 2026 and October 6, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Seeing AI | Audio2Ear |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.3 (626 ratings) — better | 2.5 (20 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 68.6% of reviews — better | 21.4% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 626 — better | 20 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months — better | Every 11 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 | 9.2 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 309 MB | 65 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Microsoft Corporation | MED-EL |
Customer experience
Seeing AI
Audio2Ear
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
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- Provide more customization options for voice settings
Audio2Ear
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Seeing AI
No in-app purchases
Audio2Ear
No in-app purchases
