VoiceDream Scanner is an iOS app that can take pictures and perform Optical Character Recognition (OCR) on those images. After doing this, the text can be read, discarded, or saved. This app comes from the same developer who made the fantastic VoiceDream Reader. While it is not necessary to own Reader to use Scanner, they work extremely well together. You can even scan directly from Reader using Scanner.

The main screen contains a preview of the image to be scanned, as well as buttons to import photos from your photo library, take a picture, turn the flash on or off, an edge detection toggle for detecting edges of a document, a toggle to enable/disable batch mode for scanning multiple pages, and an auto scan mode toggle which takes a picture automatically when text is detected. There is also a menu button which opens a screen to access settings, check out the other VoiceDream apps, rate or write a review, get help, and other helpful info such as version.

The import photo feature is a great addition. After confirming that it is okay for the app to access your photos, select a photo and the app will perform OCR on it. If any text is detected, it will be read aloud to you. It is also possible to import pictures from other places using the share extension. For example, selecting an image from another app and sharing it using the Scanner share extension opens VoiceDream Scanner and runs OCR on the picture. If you cannot find the Scanner option in the share menu, select the first "more" button and turn the switch under Scanner to on.

The settings screen contains options for language, and as of June 2021 has 16 possible languages from which to choose. (Only languages using Latin alphabets are supported. Note: The app works on all languages supported by Voice Dream Reader except for Arabic, Bulgarian, Chinese, Greek, Hebrew, Japanese, Korean and Russian) ScanTone is an option that represents the amount of recognizable text in the camera's field of view, and generally it is good to have this turned on. Other options include, a toggle to always enhance images, a toggle to read text automatically after it is captured, and a toggle to specify whether you want the results of a scan to be in plain text with no special formatting. Leaving all these settings on and setting language to auto detect is recommended.

When taking a picture, try holding the camera about a foot above the document. Remember that the camera is at the top right corner of the phone on the back when trying to orient it. If edge detection and scan tone are enabled, the app will produce a tone when it detects text in the camera’s view. This tone will become louder if more text is recognized and/or the accuracy confidence is higher. This is very helpful if you are blind as it gives a better idea of what you will capture. When you are ready, use the button to take the picture or wait for the automatic mode to activate. Auto scan mode is supposed to take a picture automatically if the device sees text and is held steady for about 3 seconds.

The recognition happens very quickly once the picture is taken. If enabled in settings, the app will begin speaking text shortly after OCR is finished. From trialing this app in a variety of environments with letters, envelope addresses, recipe instructions, pill bottles, and COVID-19 vaccination cards, it appears this app does a better job than most others available. There were only a few minor errors when text was read aloud, and this was consistent for a few scans of the same page. The app also has no difficulties recognizing text from pictures of pages that are upside down. From reading the help file and description from the App Store, it seems as though images are automatically rotated and cropped which is very helpful for a blind person who may not always get the perfect picture or someone with fine motor challenges or tremors.

The recognition screen contains the recognized text, a toggle to view the text or image, a button to control voice settings, buttons to crop and enhance the image, and buttons to keep or discard the recognized text. It should not be necessary to crop the image, as the app seems to do a very good job on its own. The voice settings screen contains options to change the speech rate, language, and select a voice. By default, the app uses the included iOS text-to-speech voices. This reviewer trialed the app on an iPhone 8 and selected Ava (enhanced female voice) and an iPad Mini 4th generation and selected Aaron (enhanced male voice). If you have VoiceDream Reader installed and purchased custom voices, it is also possible to use them here.

When choosing to save the text, you are brought back to the main screen. The scanned page is displayed here, along with buttons to save the results or clear everything. If you wish, you may continue recognizing documents. When finished, choose the save button. This allows results to be exported to VoiceDream Reader, as a pdf file, or a .txt plain text file. After choosing an option, the standard iOS share sheet opens where you select the app or service to send the information to.

VoiceDream Scanner is a fantastic tool for a variety of users who can benefit from using high quality OCR to have text read aloud. Older adults, users with visual impairments, dyslexia, intellectual disabilities, developmental disabilities, Learning Disabilities and anyone who struggles with the written word can benefit from using this app at home, at work or in the community. This app was trialed with an older adult with a visual impairment who needed to have mail, medicine labels and recipes read aloud in order to complete everyday tasks. The user appreciated the ease of use and the fact that an internet connection was not required to use the app. It was also trialed with a young adult with a developmental disability who is not a strong reader and needed help practicing basic office tasks for a pre-employment training class.

While it is not free, the price is more than reasonable and the recognition is top-notch! The developer is committed to keeping the payment structure as a one time purchase and not requiring a subscription to continue to use. If you are looking for an OCR app that does not break the bank, give this one a try. If you enjoy Scanner, consider checking out the other VoiceDream apps on iOS. The developer is making truly useful software, and Scanner is the latest offering in the excellent VoiceDream family.

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