How to use photo recognition in Fraidy: cloud AI vs on-device

Where to find photo recognition

• Home screen — the “Take Photo” and “Upload” buttons below Quick Add open the camera or your photo library straight away.
• “Add Item” screen — the “Photo Autofill” card at the top has the same “Take Photo” and “Upload” buttons.

“Take Photo” uses the camera now; “Upload” picks a photo you have already taken. The first time, your phone asks for camera or photo access — choose Allow.

Photo recognition is available when adding inventory items. The shopping list and the “Add to Inventory” panel do not have it.

Step by step

1. Tap “Take Photo” or “Upload”.
2. Photograph the package, or choose a photo.
3. “Recognizing…” appears for a few seconds.
4. The fields it could read are filled in:
   • Item name
   • Expiry date
   • Quantity and unit (cloud AI recognition only)
5. When you see “Autofilled from photo, please confirm”, check each field, correct anything that is off, and choose a category. Pay particular attention to quantity and unit: the unit list has no “ml”, so a pack labelled “930ml” may come through as 930 pieces — change it to the real amount, such as 1 bottle.
6. Tap “Save” at the top right.

Recognition never saves on its own — nothing is added until you check it and tap Save.

Cloud AI vs on-device recognition

Switch between them in “Settings” → “Preferences” → “Cloud AI Recognition”. The setting is per phone.

	On-device (default)	Cloud AI
Switch	Off	On
Internet needed	No	Yes
Your photo	Processed on the phone, never uploaded	Reduced in size, uploaded for recognition, not stored
Fields filled in	Name, expiry date	Name, quantity, unit, expiry date
Product name	The largest, most prominent text on the package	The full name, including the brand
Expiry date	Looks first for a date next to labels such as “EXP”, “BEST BEFORE” or “USE BY”; works it out from a manufacture date plus shelf life only when those are printed in Chinese or Japanese	Reads the expiry date; works it out from a manufacture date plus shelf life when that is all there is
Accuracy	Fine when the print is clear	Better, and steadier on busy packaging

With cloud AI switched on, if there is no connection or the service is briefly unavailable, the app falls back to on-device recognition automatically, so you are never stuck.

Taking photos that read well

• Get the name and the date in one shot so both fields are filled in at once.
• Use good light and avoid glare — plastic bottles and foil packs reflect, so tilt them a little.
• Move closer and focus — dates are usually printed small, so make sure they are sharp in the photo.
• Date on the lid or the bottom? Photograph the name, then pick the expiry date by hand. Do not take a second photo just for the date — the second recognition may replace the name you already have.
• Month-only dates such as “2027.03” mean the product is good until 31 March. Check the date after recognition.

To work out which date on a package matters, see expiry date, shelf life and best before explained. For the other fields, see how to add items.