Perspective Intelligence 1.5: The Craziest Week and a Half I Have Had at Techopolis
This has been the craziest week and a half I have had working at Techopolis.
Perspective Intelligence 1.5 just shipped. And I am still processing everything that happened to get us here.
What Just Happened
After we released 1.4, something we did not fully expect happened. People started using the app. A lot of people. New users flooded in from everywhere. The feedback came fast. VoiceOver users told us exactly where the interface broke down. People with older devices asked why they were locked out. Model downloads failed more than they should have. And people who loved the app told us what would make it even better.
It was overwhelming in the best possible way. And also the most exhausting way.
And on top of all that, this Substack got a lot of new subscribers in the last two weeks. If you are new here, welcome. This is my personal newsletter where I write about AI, app development, and what it is like building software as a low vision developer who uses a screen reader. I am glad you are here.
What I Do and Who We Are
I work for a small company called Techopolis LLC. It is just two of us. Michael Doise is the CEO and I am the COO. We build apps for Apple platforms with on-device AI that work for everyone. Apps that are visually appealing and fully accessible. We do not treat those as trade-offs. We build for both.
We are both low vision. Michael uses screen magnification and I use a screen reader. So our apps work well with assistive technology because we use it ourselves every day. But we also care about design, polish, and making apps that feel good to use no matter how you interact with them.
Michael and I built Perspective Intelligence together from the ground up. We each handle things equally. Everything we make is privacy-first and runs entirely on your device.
We are a small indie team. We do not have venture capital. We do not have a big marketing budget. We have feedback from real users and a belief that private on-device AI should exist for everyone.
We spent the last week and a half reading every message, testing every bug report, and building what people actually asked for. We barely came up for air. But we got it done.
What Changed in 1.5
The chat experience is better now. Responses flow more naturally and include richer content. I use a screen reader every day, so making sure screen reader users can interact with each element of a response, including tables, was important to get right.
Vision features are more reliable. We refined how the app detects and reads text. Model selection works the way it should have from the start. And we added more models for older devices so people do not need the newest iPhone to use on-device AI.
All Access subscribers now get audio transcription from files using Whisper and email composition that opens directly in the mail app.
All vision features stay completely free. That will never change.
If You Are New Here
A lot of you just started using the app in the last couple weeks. So let me tell you what Perspective Intelligence actually is.
Perspective Intelligence is an AI assistant that runs entirely on your device. No cloud. No servers. No internet needed. Your phone does all the work.
Version 1.4 added on-device live vision features including a scene describer that tells you what is around you, short text recognition that reads signs, labels, and menus in real time, and document OCR that pulls text from full pages and documents. Point your camera at something and the app tells you what it sees.
I want to be transparent about how the app works. Perspective Intelligence does have a paid subscription called All Access that unlocks features like voice mode, transcription, web search, RSS feeds, and chat memories. But every single vision feature is completely free. Not a free trial. Not freemium. Fully free. No subscription. No paywall. We made that choice on purpose because we want to help people and we believe these tools should be available to everyone. That will never change.
The Community We Are Building
We just launched a Facebook group and we have a WhatsApp group too. These are places where you can ask questions, share how you use the app, report bugs, and tell us what you need. Michael and I are in both groups regularly. When you post, we see it and we respond.
Your feedback is what shapes every update. The improvements in 1.5 came directly from what people told us after 1.4. That feedback loop stays open.
If you have an older device, please tell us how 1.5 runs for you. We do not have those to test on ourselves, so your real-world experience is what helps us build better.
From The Beginning
A year ago I started learning how to build apps. I never imagined I would be releasing updates to an AI assistant that hundreds of people are using. But here we are.
Michael and I built Perspective Intelligence because we believe on-device AI should be private and available to everyone. Not just people with the newest hardware. Not just people who can afford subscriptions. Everyone.
This is just the beginning. Eventually we want to bring these features to Meta smart glasses so you do not even need to pull out your phone. But right now we are focused on making the app work better for the people already using it.
What Comes Next
This week and a half reminded me why I do this work. We are not building for metrics or investors. We are building tools that actually work for real people. Right now. Not theoretically. Not eventually.
Thank you to everyone who tried the app, left feedback, reported bugs, and told us what you needed. You made this update possible.
And thank you to everyone who subscribed to this newsletter. Your support means everything.
Learn more and download here: https://perspectiveintelligence.app/
Join the Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1Av1vzJPho/
Send feedback anytime: feedback@perspectiveintelligence.app
Thank you for being part of this. It means more than you know.