Accept the privacy policy
On first launch the app asks you to accept its privacy policy. One screen, one confirmation.
How it works
How to use Ariadne Sense
No complicated setup. Two permissions, four buttons and a phone pointed ahead of you. Below you'll find the first launch, the controls and answers to the questions that come up at the start.
Before you start
Allow camera and microphone
The camera is the assistant's eye; the microphone lets you ask questions out loud. Without both, there is nothing for the app to describe.
Point the phone ahead of you
Hold it roughly at chest height, lens facing the way you're walking. That is the whole setup.
The four buttons
The screen splits into four large areas, one in each corner. The layout never changes, so you quickly learn where everything is.
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Top left
Vibration
Turns obstacle vibration on and off. The closer the object, the stronger the signal.
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Top right
Automatic AI mode
Starts the assistant, which describes your surroundings on its own whenever the scene ahead changes.
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Bottom left
Extended description
Takes a photo and describes the scene in detail, including reading text aloud.
Hold: records a voice question. Keep talking for as long as you hold, and let go to hear the answer.
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Bottom right
Skip
Stops the current message once you've heard what you needed.
Get to know each button
The screen guide walks through the four buttons one at a time: what a tap does, what a hold does and when each one genuinely helps.
Open the screen guideAutomatic or manual?
Automatic works best on the move: when you're walking, looking around or trying to find your way. The assistant speaks up on its own as things appear ahead of you.
Manual gives you a better image and a longer description. It captures a high-quality photo and lets the AI talk for longer, so reach for it when you're looking for a small detail, a small object, or want an unhurried description of a whole room.
What you can ask
Hold the extended-description button and talk for as long as you hold it. Your question can be about almost anything:
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What time is it?
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Is the remote control anywhere here?
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What am I holding?
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How do I get to the door from here?
There is no list of allowed commands. Just speak normally, in your own words.
Accessibility
- Full VoiceOver support
- Large, high-contrast buttons
- Haptics and audio cues
- Voice control
Offline and battery
Spoken descriptions need an internet connection, but obstacle vibration keeps working offline. The distance sensor runs locally on the phone.
Active use drains the battery faster than ordinary phone use. In practice you switch the assistant on when you need it, so it rarely matters over a day.
What you pay for
You only pay for actually using the AI assistant. When you're not talking, you pay nothing. There is no subscription: you buy a token package, and unused tokens stay in your account with no expiry date.
Tiers and example talk times are on the pricing page.
Requirements
Ariadne Sense runs on iPhone with iOS 17.6 or later. Distance-based vibration features require an iPhone with a LiDAR sensor.
Want to look under the hood?
The LiDAR point grid, OpenAI models, message prioritization. We show both sides of every second the app runs.
See how the technology worksReady to start?
Download Ariadne Sense and keep an assistant with you at all times.
Requires iOS 17.6 or later. Vibration features require an iPhone with a LiDAR sensor.