Visible text
Android OCR automation
ScriptTap OCR is selected-area recognition for visible screen text. It is useful when the screen shows the important text but the app does not expose a clean UI element signal.
What it does
OCR commands can read text from a selected screen area so a script can compare, store, transform, translate, display, or react to that visible text.
How ScriptTap handles it
Current public guidance uses on-device ML Kit selected-area OCR. Treat the result as screen-read evidence, not authoritative semantic app data. Cropping the right area and waiting for stable text usually matters more than scanning a large region.
Good uses
- Visible captions or labels that change over time.
- Codes, prompts, warnings, or repeated text-driven workflows.
- Text that needs cleanup, comparison, translation, or overlay display.
Limits
OCR can misread stylized fonts, low contrast, motion, small text, or partial crops. It should not be treated as a secure parser for private app data or credentials.
Privacy and safety
OCR reads selected visible screen areas on the device. Do not build workflows that collect passwords, payment details, or unrelated private information. See Privacy for current permission disclosures.
Mini-workflow example
Select a caption area, read the visible text, clean spacing, compare it with the previous value, translate it if it changed, and show the translated result in a ScriptTap display overlay.