Comparison

Seeing AI vs Gridwork

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

Gridwork

Visualize your progress and build lasting habits with a beautiful, interactive grid. Track daily routines, monitor streaks, and gain insights into your consistency without any accounts or cloud tracking. Enjoy a private, offline experience with customizable themes and Apple Health integration.

Highlights
  • Interactive heatmap grids for progress visualization
  • Versatile tracking modes (one-tap, step counters, numerical values)
  • Build or quit habit architecture
  • Apple Health auto-sync (read-only)
  • Deep stats and historical calendars
  • Customizable themes and editorial design
  • 100% private, offline, and on-device
Features
Read full description

Build lasting consistency, one tile at a time. Gridwork transforms habit tracking into a visual work of art. Inspired by classic contribution heatmaps and "Year in Pixels" journals, Gridwork lets you visualize your consistency across days, weeks, and months at a single glance. No clutter, no complicated setups, and absolutely no accounts or cloud tracking—just your routines, beautifully presented. INTERACTIVE HEATMAP GRIDS • See your progress come alive as each completed day fills a tile on your personal grid. • Rich color scaling reflects your daily completion depth—from subtle embers to glowing vibrant fills. • Zoom out to view your entire Year in Pixels or inspect month-by-month calendar views. • Fluid, tactile micro-animations make logging habits deeply satisfying. VERSATILE TRACKING MODES FOR EVERY ROUTINE • One Tap: Mark simple daily habits done with a single touch. • Step Counters: Multi-step daily targets (e.g., drink 8 glasses of water, do 50 pushups). • Numerical Values: Track custom measurements (e.g., pages read, distance run, focus minutes). • Routine Stacks: Bundle multi-step morning or bedtime checklists into a single card—the tile fills proportionally as you check each step off. BUILD OR QUIT ARCHITECTURE • Build Habits: Watch your streak and visual momentum grow every day you stick to your goal. • Quit Habits: Track sober or clean days automatically—every day stays pristine until you mark a slip, keeping you accountable without punishment. • Deliberate Rest Days: Skip days intentionally without breaking your hard-earned streak. APPLE HEALTH AUTO-SYNC (READ-ONLY) • Seamlessly link habits to Apple Health metrics—tiles fill in automatically in the background. • Supported HealthKit metrics: - Step Count (daily walking targets) - Active Energy Burned (daily calorie burn) - Exercise Ring Minutes - Logged Workouts (running, lifting, cycling, swimming) - Sleep Analysis (sleep duration targets) - Mindful Minutes (meditation & breathwork) • 100% read-only access—Gridwork never alters your Apple Health data. DEEP STATS & HISTORICAL CALENDARS • Comprehensive streak metrics: Current streak, all-time best streak, and 30-day consistency percentage. • Detailed Day Editor: Long-press or tap any date on the calendar to log retroactive completions, write daily journal notes, or mark slips. • Flexible goal frequencies: Set daily, times-per-week, or times-per-month targets. EDITORIAL DESIGN & BESPOKE THEMES • Tailored color palettes for habits with custom SF Symbols and emoji picker. • Hand-crafted app themes including Obsidian, Parchment, Pure Black OLED, Midnight, Ocean, Forest, Dusk, and Natural Linen. • Dynamic accent colors to match your personal aesthetic. 100% PRIVATE, OFFLINE & ON-DEVICE • No sign-up, no email, and no passwords required. • Your data stays strictly on your device using Apple SwiftData. • Zero third-party trackers, zero ads, zero data harvesting. • Full Data Portability: Export your entire history anytime via JSON backup to iCloud Drive or Files, and import onto new devices with zero data loss. -------------------------------------------------- SUBSCRIPTION & LIFETIME PURCHASE DETAILS: Gridwork offers an optional Pro upgrade available as an auto-renewable subscription (Monthly or Yearly) or a single one-time Lifetime purchase: • Payment is charged to your Apple ID account at confirmation of purchase. • Subscriptions automatically renew unless canceled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. • Manage or cancel your subscription anytime in your App Store Account Settings. • Terms of Use: https://vedsapp.com/gridwork/terms • Privacy Policy: https://vedsapp.com/gridwork/privacy

Screenshots

Seeing AI4 screens
Gridwork3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Gridwork at 5.0 against Seeing AI's 4.3. Seeing AI's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 3) and ratings volume (633 vs 1). On price, ads, monetization model 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. Gridwork sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. Seeing AI asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Gridwork holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Seeing AI has 633 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Seeing AI versus Gridwork: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSeeing AIGridwork
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.3 (633 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews68.6% of reviews—
Number of ratings633 — better1
Update frequencyEvery 2 months—
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.0 — better18.0
Further details — not scored
Size309 MB4 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperMicrosoft CorporationSonali Hole

Customer experience

Seeing AI

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

Gridwork

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

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

Gridwork

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Seeing AI

No in-app purchases

3 purchases

Gridwork

Subscriptions2
  • Premium Access Monthly$0.991 Month
  • Premium Access Yearly$9.991 Year
One-time1
  • Premium Access for Lifetime$19.99

Questions

Is Seeing AI free?
Seeing AI is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Gridwork free?
Gridwork is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Seeing AI or Gridwork?
Gridwork is rated higher. Seeing AI averages 4.3 out of 5 from 633 ratings, while Gridwork averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do Seeing AI or Gridwork have ads?
Neither Seeing AI nor Gridwork shows ads.

Other comparisons