Read handwriting

Paperwise reads the text on your pages on your iPhone, without AI. For handwriting, faint print or a tricky layout, Read handwriting asks AI to read the pages again and replaces the text with a better transcription.

What it is

Every page you add is read on your iPhone with Apple’s text recognition. That text powers search, Ask, Translate and copying. It’s private and works offline, but handwriting can come out patchy.

Read handwriting (called Read again with AI in the Text view) sends each page’s image to our AI provider, which transcribes it exactly: same reading order, line breaks kept, unreadable parts marked [illegible]. The new text replaces the page’s old text, and search is updated to match.

It only happens when you tap it. There is no automatic AI reading: a page that came out poorly keeps its on-device text until you choose to send it.

When to use it

Handwritten notes, letters or forms.
A receipt with faded thermal print.
A page where the Text view shows missing or jumbled words.
Before using Ask, Extract or Translate on a hard-to-read page, since they all work from the text.

Step by step

Open the document and tap Ask in the toolbar.
Tap Read handwriting.
The Text view opens. Once the pages are ready, a notice appears: “AI is on for this document. Its pages are sent to our AI provider to read the text and handwriting.” followed by what our provider may keep.
Tap Continue to send the pages, or Cancel to send nothing.
Paperwise reads each page in turn, then shows “Text updated”.

From the Text view

Open the document and tap Text at the top (next to Pages).
Scroll below the text and tap Read again with AI (handwriting).
Answer the notice as above.

Check the result

The Text view shows the new text, page by page. Use Copy all or Share .txt to take it elsewhere.

Free and Pro

Read handwriting is part of Pro. On Free, the menu shows Read handwriting (Pro) and the button in the Text view (shown only while the AI helper is on) carries a Pro tag; both open the plan screen.

Each page counts as one AI action, so a five-page letter uses five. See AI limits and usage.

Privacy

Privacy: Read handwriting uploads each stored page image (up to about 3000 pixels on its long side) to our server. Our server reduces it to at most 2000 pixels and passes it to our AI provider (OpenAI), with storage turned off and no user or install identifier. Nothing is stored on our server. OpenAI doesn’t train on API data but may keep requests for up to 30 days for abuse monitoring.

This is the one AI action that sends your page images rather than their text, so the provider sees everything on the page, including photos, signatures and stamps.

Hidden items and documents marked Never send to AI never show this option. Text inside Hidden is always read on your iPhone. See What AI sees and keeps.

Tips

Check the Text view first. If the on-device text is good enough, you save an action and nothing leaves your iPhone.
For a long document where only one page is handwritten, split that page into its own document (Edit → Split) and read just that one.
Good light and a flat page help both the on-device reading and AI. See Scanning and text problems.

What if…

What if I don’t see Read again with AI in the Text view?

It appears once every page has been read on the iPhone, while the AI helper is on, and only for documents that aren’t marked Never send to AI. Turn on the AI helper in Account → AI helper.

What if it stopped partway?

If you hit your AI limit or the connection dropped, the pages read so far keep their new text and the rest keep their on-device text. Try again later; pages that were already read will be sent again, so consider splitting off the remaining pages.

What if the AI text is worse than before?

The new text replaces the on-device text; the old version isn’t kept alongside it. If you want an on-device reading back, scan the page again.

What if it says I’ve used today’s AI actions?

Nothing more is sent. The limits reset at midnight (UTC) for the day and at the start of the next month for the month.