First Run

The first time you open eyeHear, it will request permission to use speech recognition and to access the microphone. Both are required for eyeHear to operate properly. Don't worry, if you don't give eyeHear permission during this step, you can fix that later in the settings app.

First Time Experience - First Screen - eyeHear asks for permission to access your iOS devices microphone and speech recognition capabilities.

Once you've give permission, eyeHear will show a brief explainer, and then you are ready to start captioning!

First Time User Experience - Get Started Screen - Lightly explains how to use the app and includes "Get Started" button.

eyeHears captioning interface directly after launch, before anything has been captioned. Contains instructions to press and hold to start captioning.

Captioning a Conversation

To begin captioning a conversation, tap and hold the anywhere on the screen except for the 3 icons. eyeHear will begin listening to what is said and print on screen in the largest possible letters what it thinks it hears. As you hold and eyeHear captions, it will continue to adjust the size of the text to fit on screen. The screen will remain slightly dimmed while eyeHear is captioning. Tap and hold the screen again to begin captioning again.

The screen is slightly darkened while listening, and the what a user is saying is beginning to appear

The screen is still darkened while listening, and more of what the user has said has appeared on screen.

The screen is no longer darkened, as the user is no longer actively captioning.

Keyboard

You can also type responses, or use the keyboard to edit responses for accuracy. Tapping the keyboard icon in the bottom right of the screen will invoke the keyboard mode. Tapping "done" on the keyboard will dismiss the keyboard mode. On iPad and with hardware keyboards, the "done" button may not appear, instead use the return or enter key on the keyboard.

A user has pressed the keyboard button, and the keyboard has appeared. The text has shrunk to a more editable size.

The user has fixed the incorrect word using the keyboard.

An example of using the keyboard for input instead of speech.

The same text as in the previous picture, but shown in large type out of the keyboard interface.

Privacy

eyeHear never collects any recordings or transcriptions of any conversation. You can always find our entire Privacy Policy at http://privacy.eyehear.app. Recordings are handled by Apple's SFSpeechRecognition framework, and all audio is encrypted in transit and processed by Apple. Apple may use your recordings for product improvement purposes if you have opted into sharing analytics with Apple. Go to https://www.apple.com/privacy/manage-your-privacy/ to learn more about how to manage your Apple privacy settings. To opt out of Apple's app analytics directly on your iPod, iPhone, or iPad, open the Settings app, select Privacy, Analytics, and use that screen to opt out.

The iOS Settings app's Privacy Screen, scrolled to the bottom to show Analytics.

The iOS Settings app's Privacy > Analytics screen with both analytics options unchecked.

History

When you begin captioning again, you will notice the previously captioned text disappears. Don't worry! eyeHear remembers that text until the app is quit. Tap the history icon, the clock winding backwards next to the theme button, to see a history of everything that has been said. This history is kept locally until the app is quit. You can send the entire history to another text application by tapping the share icon in the menu bar, or by swiping on a single entry and tapping share. Tapping the trash can icon will erase your entire conversation history.