Cash Reader is the perfect app for identifying currencies from all over the world. Just point your phone’s camera at the banknote you want to identify, and the app will announce the denomination, either through speech or vibration patterns. In this article, I’ll review Cash Reader and show you how to use the app to identify currency.
Cash Reader is created for the blind and the visually impaired. The app developers wanted a simple solution that could assist their blind friend in identifying the Czech Crown. Now, Cash Reader identifies more than 100 currencies from all over the world and the team has grown to include blind people who are consolidating the app with new and useful features.
How to use Cash Reader
The app is straightforward and it offers one unique feature. It is the ability to provide different vibration patterns to quickly and discretely identify different denominations.
Upon first launch, you are greeted with a tutorial that briefly describes how to use the app and requests camera access. Here you can select which currency you would like to identify. The data is downloaded, and afterwards you can use Cash Reader without an internet connection. You can also set up shortcuts right in the Getting Started Section, or later in Settings, so you can tell “Hey Siri, identify the American Dollar”.
The app is incredibly easy to use. Hold a bill under the camera, and you will hear its value. Depending on the setting, the app will also vibrate to tell you what the banknote is. The vibration pattern works like this. For $1, it vibrates once, $2, twice, $5, three times, $10, four times, etc. The vibrations can either be set to always or only when the device is in silent mode. You will not hear speech in silent mode. This is a really handy feature to get the information you need without announcing to the world what you have in your wallet.
The settings screen allows you to tweak certain aspects. You can select which types of currency you would like to identify, manage vibration settings, change colors, choose which camera to use, use the flash to identify currency in the dark or specify whether the app should periodically beep to let you know it is actively scanning. More features worth exploring are there for you.
Powered by the above mentioned features, Cash Reader provides consistent results, even in total darkness. Moreover, the unique vibration feedback is incredibly useful, created especially for someone who may be deaf and blind.
Video demonstration of Cash Reader below:
How to install Cash Reader
The app is free to download, however, the free version only allows you to identify the two lowest denominations of each currency. If you want to be able to identify all denominations, you need to upgrade to the full version – access to the full version with a yearly subscription costs just 9.99$. For iOS, family sharing is possible.
Cash Reader continues to receive updates, reassuring that newly released banknotes are always integrated. Since Cash Reader supports the identification of nearly 100 currencies, these updates are vital. You can find a complete list of the supported currencies in the app or by visiting the website.
By Moses Gitari
