Vhista App Review

Note: This app was reviewed in tandem with two other scanner apps TapTapSee, and Seeing AI.

Vhista is a scanner app for the blind and visually impaired developed by Juan David Cruz Serrano for the IOS app store , and Google Play store.

The first major issue I had was that a lot of times the camera doesn’t detect that there’s an object in front of it. This issue seems to be caused primarily by tabbing out of the app and then tabbing back in without restarting the app. While restarting the app seemed to help a little bit the detection was still pretty hit or miss.

Vhista’s biggest flaw is easily the detailed image scan which you activate by tapping the screen. Instead of actually telling you what the object is the app just spouts a bunch of guesses and hopes something lands. For example I scanned my dog (the Bulldog from previous reviews) and the app just gave me a list of dog breeds. While the first breed it guessed was the correct one, this method of object detection is more likely to cause confusion for those who are blind.

The active camera mode doesn’t fare much better. Almost every object the app managed to detect was incorrect. For example the app thought a trash can was a toilet, and that a light switch was a paper towel. While the app got both right upon scanning again, it’s probably enough for most to find a different app.

Pros:

• Voice over support
• Subscription is only 50 cents a month

Cons:

• Does not show text for detailed scans
• Most objects were incorrectly narrated
• Does not do well with large print enabled
• Requires a subscription

Conclusion: Vhista is a below average scanner app. Almost every object I scanned was incorrect and worse yet is the fact that the app didn’t detect a lot of the objects I tried to scan. If you’re looking for a proper scanner app you’re better off looking elsewhere.

4/10