Microsoft Corp. said today it has taken another step toward making the days a little easier to navigate for visually impaired people by introducing some new features for its Seeing AI app.

Prior to the updates, the app focused mainly on using the camera of a smartphone to identify objects and text. Using artificial intelligence and machine learning technology, visually impaired people could point the camera at text, products, currency and even people, and the phone would then attempt to reveal what was in front of the user.

The company announced Tuesday that it has taken this a step further, introducing a feature that allows people to explore photos by touch. That could mean photos that have been taken of scenes, photos in a phone’s albums or images that appear on social media.

“Leveraging the Custom Vision Service in tandem with the Computer Vision API, this new feature enables users to tap their finger to an image on a touch-screen to hear a description of objects within an image and the spatial relationship between them,” Saqib Shaikh, software engineering manager and project lead for Seeing AI, wrote in a blog post.

The app will also now have native iPad support, which Microsoft said will give the user a better experience when browsing images mainly because of the larger screen. That could be particularly useful for professionals and academics.

The company added that it has made some improvements to the channels on the free app, making it easier to navigate in the app, such as moving something features to the main screen. The app will also now give audio cues so users know an image is being processed.

“Since the app’s launch in 2017, Seeing AI has leveraged AI technology and inclusive design to help people with more than 10 million tasks,” said Microsoft.

Google LLC has a similar app called Lookout, which was announced but not released last year. It uses machine learning technology to identify objects like Microsoft’s app. The company today said it’s now available for people in the U.S. using Pixel phones running Android 8.0. But the company said it’s working on making it available to more countries and users later this year.

Photo: Microsoft