Booktionary — a camera dictionary for paper books
Booktionary is an iPhone app that turns the camera into a dictionary for paper books. You hold the phone over the page and rest a small ring on a word; a highlight sweeps across it and the definition slides up. The camera stays open, so looking up five words in a row costs no more than looking up one.
Both dictionaries live on the device — 156 MB of English and 189 MB of French, together 94% of the download. It works in airplane mode, underground, and anywhere with no signal. There is no account, no history, no sync and no analytics; the App Store privacy label reads Data Not Collected.
The part that matters on real prose is that the printed word is rarely the dictionary's headword. Booktionary reduces inflected forms before it searches, so mangeaient finds manger and were finds be. Language is detected automatically and English and French work in the same session.
iPhone, iOS 17 and later. $1.99 once — no subscription and no in-app purchases.
Tips
- Good light helps more than anything else.
- If nothing is recognised, move the phone nearer the page. About 15 cm works well.
- A slight tilt is fine. The app reads text at a natural reading angle.
- The ring never moves and never changes colour. It marks where the app is looking; the highlight sweeping across the word is what tells you it has been read.
- Tap outside the definition, swipe it away, or use the close button to return to the camera.
Support
Questions, bugs, or a word it read wrong: fredddv@hotmail.com