Ross WintleJan 11, 2023

I’m a frickin genius.

Context: my kid is mildly allergic to citric acid and citric fruit. Brings out eczema. And citric acid is in SO many things. And it’s painful checking ingredients lists for it.

This morning I wondered: can my phone OCR the ingredients list and check it?

My first thought was to make a little web app. But there doesn’t seem to be a OCR in web browsers yet.

But I KNOW my phone can get text from images.

Then…

Apple Shortcuts!!!

CHECK THIS OUT!!!

Show threadKimJan 11, 2023
@ross This is amazing. My disabled daughter is severely allergic to “Natural Flavors” (AKA Autolyzed Yeast Extract, a lab grown fungal umami flavor here in the US) It makes her incredibly ill, usually puts her in ER.
But she is also visually impaired and can’t read fine print on food labels. She has missed it in the list many times. She hates that she’s lost her ability to be independant in food shopping because of it.
I’m going to help her try this. Thank you. 🙏🏼
Show threadRoss Wintle

@kimlango I’d be VERY careful with anything severe. This isn’t 100% accurate and it struggles if photo isn’t good.

Use at your own risk!!

Jan 11, 2023 at 5:41pmWeb