Microsoft's Seeing AI is an app that lets blind and limited-vision folks convert visual data into audio feedback, and it just got a useful new feature. Users can now use touch to explore the objects and people in photos. It's powered by machine learning, of course, specifically object and scene recognition. All you need to do is take a photo or open one up in the viewer and tap anywhere on it. "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," wrote Seeing AI lead Saqib Shaikh in a blog post. "The app can even describe the physical appearance of people and predict their mood."

Microsoft's computer vision app for the blind and poor-sighted, Seeing AI, just became more useful for those moments when you're less interested in navigating the world than learning about what's on your phone. The company has updated the iOS app with an option to explore photos by touching them. Tap your finger on an image and you'll hear a description of both the objects in that scene as well as their spatial relationship. You can get descriptions for photos taken through Seeing AI's Scene channel, but they'll also be available for pictures in your camera roll as well as other apps (through options menus). The upgrade also brings native iPad support.