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13 best apps that allow to take a picture of homework and get answers online.

• June 8, 2023

Are you feeling stuck with homework ?

Whether you’re struggling with a particularly difficult math problem or have an essay you don’t know how to complete, there are apps that can help.

Using these apps is as simple as snapping a picture of your homework and uploading it to the app. You can get an answer to that question you were struggling with instantly, along with step-wise explanations on finishing it!

Many of these apps focus on math problems, because it’s often a lot easier to develop an app that can recognize number problems and solve them than create an app that can understand complex questions on economics, physics, or other topics.

However, there are apps that focus on other subjects as well – as AI becomes more powerful, more will likely be developed.

Usually, these apps fall into one of two categories. Some apps use artificial intelligence and machine learning to process the question and provide an immediate answer, while other apps show your picture to human experts who provide the help you require.

Either way, these apps are incredibly helpful, regardless of what grade you are in. Let’s get into it.

1. Socratic by Google

2. microsoft math solver, 4. photomath, 5. cameramath.

• 6. AI ANSWER App Math and Homework (Android/iOS)

7. Answer.AI

8. quizard ai, 9. math scanner – math solutions, 10. gauthmath.

• 11. Mathway (Android/iOS)

12. Maple Calculator

13. symbolab, wrapping it up, best apps that allow to take a picture of homework and get answers online.

Socratic is Google’s own homework and learning assistance app, powered by AI. It works for a wide range of subjects:

• Math (algebra, geometry, calculus, and trigonometry)
• Earth and environmental science
• US and world history

It’s pretty cool. Once you download the app, all you have to do is scan your homework with the app.

Then, use the cropping tool to select the exact question you are having difficulty with. Google will analyze the question and bring results from top websites, including from university and educational websites.

The results include answers, explainers with graphs and illustrations (when applicable), YouTube videos exploring the subject, practice questions, and more!

When it comes to math, things get really cool. Just scan a math question and Google’s AI will analyze it.

It will determine the type of question it is and give you an explanation. For example, if you are solving a quadratic equation, it will give you a brief overview of the quadratic formula and then show you step-by-step workings on how to apply the quadratic formula to solve the equation.

The workings are color-coded to help you keep track of what is going on and broken down into steps, with working displayed for each step.

Sometimes, there will be multiple ways to solve an equation. For example, in the case of quadratic equations, Google will show you how to apply the quadratic formula and how to factor it.

In addition to solving the specific question you inputted, it will also provide you with resources – videos, articles, and other explainers to help you learn more about quadratic equations or any other question.

Socratic by Google is available for both iOS and Android .

Microsoft also has a helpful tool, called Microsoft Math Solver. While it doesn’t focus on any subjects other than math, it will be extremely helpful if you need help with math problems .

It doesn’t matter which area of math you are studying – it could be calculus, algebra, statistics, or any other topic. It uses an advanced AI tool that can recognize any question type and provide steps on solving it..

You can either type the question in manually or scan it with your camera, and the app will do the rest. Another really cool feature is the ability to draw the problems on the screen using your finger.

In addition to explanations, you will get graphs (when applicable) that help you understand the problem graphically.

The built-in graphing calculator is very helpful as well. Graphing calculators can be pretty expensive, so why not use a free one on your phone?

In addition to all that, the app can show you additional results from the web. From video lectures by expert mathematicians to articles exploring similar problems, you can deepen your understanding of any math topic.

Besides, the app works in multiple languages, including Hindi, German, Spanish, French, Chinese, Portuguese, Russian, and many others.

It’s not just for elementary-level math. It supports algebra, basic calculus, statistics, and more. You can even use it to solve word problems.

You can download Microsoft Math Solver on iOS and Android .

Also Read : How To See Chegg Answers For Free ?

Brainly is a fantastic homework helper app that connects you with human helpers.

What makes Brainly unique is its large community of students, teachers, tutors, and professors who are readily available to answer your questions.

When you ask a question, other students or teachers will answer it. You can post a question not just on math but on many other subjects – AP exams, computers, engineering, world languages, chemistry, physics, social studies, and many more!

It is free to post a question, and you’ll usually get an answer quickly. You will get up to two answers with explanations from verified experts and star students.

There are also hundreds of questions already answered. Simply search the database on any topic – there’s a good chance the question has already been answered.

You don’t have to do any typing. Just scan your question – on any subject – with the app’s built-in camera.

It will then extract the text from the question and scan the database for similar questions and answers. If none of the Q&As from the database satisfy you, you can post the question to the question board, and someone from the community will answer it before you know it.

Another amazing feature is the ability to ask a question using your microphone. The app will use voice recognition to search for an answer.

Brainly Tutor is a premium service that allows you to get answers and one-on-one help from verified tutors in math, biology, chemistry, or physics. When you ask a question, you will get detailed explanations.

You will then be able to ask followup questions – ask as many questions as you like! With Brainly Tutor, there is no limit to how many questions you can ask.

Note that you can still ask questions with the free version. However, you will have to wait until someone volunteers to answer, while Brainly Tutor subscribers get priority support.

Brainly also has a free service called Textbook Detective . Type in the textbook title or ISBN and you can get solutions to textbook problems on any level.

Right now, the only textbooks in the Textbook Detective database are only math textbooks, but they range from elementary-level math to college math.

The main reason I like Brainly so much is that you can get help from real people, both from instructors and from students who are doing the same course as you or who already completed it and got good marks, unlike other apps that rely entirely on AI.

The app is available on Android and iOS .

Explore : Ways To Unblur Chegg Answers Without Homeworkify

Photomath is another popular math solving app. It supports elementary math, calculus, trig, stats, algebra, word problems, and more.

To solve a homework question quickly, simply scan it with your phone camera. You can also manually input it.

Photomath was created by Damir Sabol, a dad who was struggling to help his kids with their math homework. He wanted to create an app that would help other parents in his position, and thus Photomath was born.

The app has been featured in major publications such as Forbes and USA Today.

When you scan a math problem, Photomath will analyze it and solve it, breaking down the solution into multiple steps that are easy to follow. When applicable, it will provide multiple ways to solve the equation – for quadratic equations, for example, it might show you how to factor, use the quadratic formula, use the PQ formula, and complete the square.

While Photomath is free to use, there is a premium version called Photomath Plus if you want to get even more detailed breakdowns of math problems and how to solve them.

Photomath Plus will provide you with in-depth explanations of mathematical terms used in the step-by-step solutions, with additional examples that will help you understand the context.

Animated tutorials that combine visual and auditory learning is another useful feature of Photomath Plus. Plus users also get ready-made instructions for hundreds of math textbooks.

You can download the app on iOS and Android .

CameraMath is a great app that will solve math questions you scan instantly, breaking them down into step-by-step solutions and providing graphs when applicable. I liked how you can click on “More Steps” to break a step down into additional steps.

While CameraMath is free, there is a premium version as well. The premium version gives you full access to the app and 24/7 access to live human tutors to answer your questions when the provided automatic explanations aren’t sufficient for you to understand the subject.

Download it on iOS or Android .

6. AI ANSWER App Math and Homework ( Android / iOS )

AI ANSWER is a great app that I’ve used myself, with satisfactory results. It can be a bit slow sometimes, especially with math questions, but the results are good.

You can scan any question on any topic. Crop the specific question you want an answer for, and the AI will generate an answer.

For math questions, you will get an AI-generated answer as well, which will break down the question into several steps.

The app is free to use, but it does push the premium version (which removes ads and allows unlimited questions) a lot, which I found a bit annoying. It asks you to sign up for a free trial every time you open the app, and you have to click the back button to continue.

Other than that, though, it’s a decent app.

Answer.AI is another powerful homework helper app powered by artificial intelligence. It works for numerous subjects, including math, history, English, biology, computers, SAT, and many others.

I like that it has different scan modes for general questions, math questions, and translation tasks.

I also loved how the answer is generated in a ChatGPT style format. You can maintain a dialogue with the chatbot answering your questions.

For example, you can ask the bot to explain the question a bit further or ask followup questions. That is impossible with a lot of other apps.

This is a great example of how AI chatbots can be used for education.

You can even tell the chatbot to write an essay about any topic, and it will do so.

When you scan a math question, the AI will explain what the question is and provide an explanation of the steps you need to solve it. For math questions, though, I prefer one of the tools focused entirely on math, as AI chatbots can sometimes be a bit repetitive, which can make understanding the solutions a bit more difficult.

One thing I didn’t like about Answer.AI is that you need to use points to ask questions. You can get free points by signing up, inviting friends, watching ads, and checking in every day. However, those free points will only get you so far.

For unlimited questions, you will have to upgrade to the premium version.

You can download the app on Android and iOS .

Quizard AI is an AI-powered Android app that you can use to answer homework questions . It is powered by ChatGPT 3.5.

According to Quizard, it is best for fact-based questions and not for math questions , as it is not that good at math.

I like how upfront Quizard is about the limitations of ChatGPT and AI in general. For example, ChatGPT is limited to a database that goes up to 2021 but not further and may occasionally provide incorrect information, as it is not capable of differentiating between what is true and what is false.

You can scan open-ended questions or even multiple choice questions and get answers immediately.

Simply scan a question, and you will get an answer powered by ChatGPT.

Quizard is free to use, but there is a Pro version as well. The Pro version will give you related resources every time you ask a question – you don’t get that with the free version.

Subscribing to Pro will also remove ads and speed up the response time.

Math Scanner is an app that you can use to scan math problems and get solutions. The app will display step-by-step solutions to the question, although I didn’t find it as useful as some of the other apps – it didn’t go into as much depth as I liked.

Alongside the answer, you can see related results from Google and YouTube, but they aren’t always relevant.

There is also a built-in math solver. It’s like a calculator, but better.

Start by selecting the type of math you need help with – finite math, linear algebra, statistics, etc. Then, use the provided calculator to input the question.

You will get an answer, and you can click on “Show Step” to display the steps required to solve it.

In the Learn Math section, you will find plenty of helpful resources and flashcards to help you expand your math knowledge.

Another good advantage of Math Scanner is that it has a community forum, where you can ask questions and receive answers from other students and mathematicians. Simply go to the Community tab and sign in to ask a question; you can also browse previously answered questions.

Gauthmath is an AI calculator and tutor that can help you solve complex math problems in just a few seconds. Snap a picture of the question and the app will provide you with a solution, along with step-by-step instructions for solving it.

I found Gauthmath pretty unique. Like other AI math solvers, it will give you an AI-powered solution, complete with steps.

However, it also has a feature in which it will match you with a similar question that was already solved by a student. The question might be exactly the same or slightly different.

For example, when I searched for the solution for 2x^2 = x – 4 = 0, this is the matching equation I got: 2x^2 = x – 1 > 0. Pretty similar, right?

When I searched for another question, I actually got the same exact question. Both times, I was provided with pictures of handwritten results, including the steps the student took to solve the equation.

Gauthmath also has a one-on-one tutoring service, with pricing starting at just $0.50 per question.

Gauth Plus is the app’s premium service. It gives you access to unlimited solutions and a professional tutoring team ready to provide tutoring services, complete with audio and whiteboards.

11. Mathway ( Android / iOS )

Mathway is an app that was created by Chegg. Chegg is a well-known study resource, Q&A, and tutoring site.

Its Mathway app provides AI-powered solutions to your math problems . Every step is broken down for you, and depending on the question, you can choose from multiple methods of solving the question.

I found that Mathway has more options for solving than other math apps. For example, when I snapped a picture of a quadratic equation I wanted it to solve, these were some of the solving methods I was asked to choose from:

• Solve using the quadratic formula
• Solve for x
• Solve by factoring
• Find the roots (zeros)
• Find all complex solutions
• Find the discriminant
• Solve by completing the square
• Find the sum and product of the roots of the quadratic equation

Sometimes, the various methods can be repetitive. At other times, they allow you to further understand different angles to a problem.

While Mathway is free to use, it will only provide the answer for free – if you want to see the step-by-step solutions, you will need to upgrade. That is why I still prefer other math apps, as most of them will provide the various steps for free.

Maple is a powerful calculator and math solver. It was created by Maplesoft, and the app will provide you with guided solutions to problems, along with 2D and 3D graphs.

The graphing calculator is a nice addition – it is available offline as well, although most of the app’s features require an internet connection to work.

If you have Maple Learn, you can also send pictures of your handwritten notes to Maple Learn if your answer was wrong but you don’t understand which steps you got incorrect. Maple Learn is a unique kind of open learning canvas that incorporates all steps of your learning into one canvas.

You can drag and drop everything you’re working on to rearrange the canvas and browse the gallery of existing study documents. Maple Learn also makes it easy to share your work and notes with others.

However, you don’t need Maple Learn to use the Maple Calculator. Both are powered by the Maple Math engine.

You can download the app on Android or iOS .

Symbolab is the last app we’ll be looking at. It’s a powerful app with hundreds of built-in math calculators – you can solve vectors, matrices, derivatives, and any other math problem .

Just scan a problem with the built-in camera, and you will get instant solutions, along with the steps needed to reach that solution.

Symbolab was created by an Israeli startup called EqsQuest. In 2020, it was purchased by Course Hero.

You can download it on Android and Maple Calculator .

All of these apps are incredible. However, I’d advise a word of caution for the AI-driven and ChatGPT-powered apps – AI isn’t always reliable.

It can’t determine what is true and what is not; it simply regurgitates information from the internet. Therefore, if possible, use an app that provides sources or references when searching for the answer to a question.

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Take a picture of any homework problem, and get the answer right away.

This app doesn't just do your homework for you, it shows you how

By Paul Miller

Share this story

A little confession from me. I was homeschooled (that's not the confession part), and in 8th grade my algebra textbook had the answers to half the problems in the back. And when I was stumped, I would cheat.

Sorry, mom!

Of course, cheating at math is a terrible way to learn, because the whole point isn't to know the answer to 2x + 2 = 7x - 5, it's to understand the methodology that can solve any like problem.

But what if you could cheat at your homework and learn? That seems to be the premise behind app called Socratic . Or at least that's my takeaway. The app lets you take a picture of a problem (you can also type it in, but that's a little laborious), and it'll not only give you an answer, but the steps necessary to to arrive at that answer — and even detailed explanations of the steps and concepts if you need them.

The app is actually designed to answer any kind of school question — science, history, etc. — but the math thing is the slickest part. For other kinds of questions, Socratic kind of does a bit of Googling, and in my experience can typically find similar word problems on the wide internet, or from its own database of answers. On about half the middle school science problems I tried, the app was able to identify the topic at question and show me additional resources about the concepts involved, but for others it was no more powerful than a simple web search.

But for algebra this thing is sick. I pointed it at 2x + 2 = 7x - 5, which I wrote down at random, and it gave me a 10 step process that results in x = 7/5. It has trouble with word problems, but if you can write down a word problem in math notation it shouldn't be an issue. I also tried it on a weird fraction from an AP algebra exam, which it kind of failed at, but then I swiped over and it was showing me this graph, which included the correct answer:

I love this app, not just because it would've helped 8th grade Paul out of a jam, but because it's such a computery use of computers. You use the tiny computer in your pocket to be basically smarter than you already are. It's technology that augments a human brain, not just a distraction.

The creator of Socratic just open sourced its step-by-step solver , called mathsteps. There are a lot of computer-based algebra solvers out there, but for Socratic they had to do some extra engineering to get at the steps a human would need to solve the same problem.

Also, I'd be remiss not to mention Photomath , which has been doing this since 2014, and actually has step-by-step explanations in the recently released Photomath+ paid version (there's a free trial). I like the Socratic interface and explanations a bit better, but I'm glad to see this is a vibrant market.

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• 05 November 2024

AI-generated images threaten science — here’s how researchers hope to spot them

• Diana Kwon 0

Diana Kwon is a freelance science journalist based in Berlin.

You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

All of these images were generated by AI. Credit: Proofig AI, 2024

From scientists manipulating figures to the mass production of fake papers by paper mills , problematic manuscripts have long plagued the scholarly literature. Science sleuths work tirelessly to uncover this misconduct to correct the scientific record. But their job is becoming harder, owing to the introduction of a powerful new tool for fraudsters: generative artificial intelligence (AI).

“Generative AI is evolving very fast,” says Jana Christopher , an image-integrity analyst at FEBS Press in Heidelberg, Germany. “The people that work in my field — image integrity and publication ethics — are getting increasingly worried about the possibilities that it offers.”

AI-generated images and video are here: how could they shape research?

The ease with which generative-AI tools can create text , images and data raises fears of an increasingly untrustworthy scientific literature awash with fake figures, manuscripts and conclusions that are difficult for humans to spot. Already, an arms race is emerging as integrity specialists, publishers and technology companies race to develop AI tools that can assist in rapidly detecting deceptive, AI-generated elements of papers.

“It’s a scary development,” Christopher says. “But there are also clever people and good structural changes that are being suggested.”

Research-integrity specialists say that, although AI-generated text is already permitted by many journals under some circumstances, the use of such tools for creating images or other data is less likely to be viewed as acceptable. “In the near future, we may be okay with AI-generated text,” says Elisabeth Bik , an image-forensics specialist and consultant in San Francisco, California. “But I draw the line at generating data.”

What ChatGPT and generative AI mean for science

Bik, Christopher and others suspect that data, including images, fabricated using generative AI are already widespread in the literature, and that paper mills are taking advantage of AI tools to produce manuscripts en masse (see ‘Quiz: can you spot AI fakes?’).

Under the radar

Pinpointing AI-produced images poses a huge challenge: they are often almost impossible to distinguish from real ones, at least with the naked eye. “We get the feeling that we encounter AI-generated images every day,” Christopher says. “But as long as you can’t prove it, there’s really very little you can do.”

There are some clear instances of generative-AI use in scientific images, such as the now-infamous figure of a rat with absurdly large genitalia and nonsensical labels, created using the image tool Midjourney. The graphic, published by a journal in February, sparked a social-media storm and was retracted days later.

Credit: Proofig (generated images)

Most cases aren’t so obvious. Figures fabricated with Adobe Photoshop or similar tools before the rise of generative-AI — especially in molecular and cell biology — often contain telltale signs that sleuths can spot, such as identical backgrounds or an unusual absence of smears or stains. AI-made figures often lack such signs. “I see tonnes of papers where I think, these Western blots do not look real — but there’s no smoking gun,” Bik says. “You can only say they just look weird, and that of course isn’t enough evidence to write to an editor.”

But signs suggest that AI-made figures are appearing in published manuscripts. Text written using tools such as ChatGPT is on the rise in papers, given away by standard chatbot phrases that authors forget to remove and telltale words that AI models tend to use. “So we have to assume that it’s also happening for data and for images,” says Bik.

Another clue that fraudsters are using sophisticated image tools is that most of the issues that sleuths are currently detecting are in papers that are several years old. “In the past couple of years, we’ve seen fewer and fewer image problems,” Bik says. “I think most folks who have gotten caught doing image manipulation have moved on to creating cleaner images.”

How to create images

Creating clean images using generative AI is not difficult. Kevin Patrick, a scientific-image sleuth known as Cheshire on social media, has demonstrated just how easy it can be and posted his results on X. Using Photoshop’s AI tool Generative Fill, Patrick created realistic images — that could feasibly appear in scientific papers — of tumours, cell cultures, Western blots and more. Most of the images took less than a minute to produce (see ‘Generating bogus science’).

“If I can do this, certainly the people who are getting paid to generate fake data are going to be doing this,” Patrick says. “There’s probably a whole bunch of other data that could be generated with tools like this.”

Some publishers say that they have found evidence of AI-generated content in published studies. These include PLoS, which has been alerted to suspicious content and found evidence of AI-generated text and data in papers and submissions through internal investigations, says Renée Hoch, managing editor of PLoS’s publication-ethics team in San Francisco, California. (Hoch notes that AI use is not forbidden in PLoS journals, and that its AI policy focuses on author accountability and transparent disclosures.)

Credit: Kevin Patrick

Other tools might also provide opportunities for people wishing to create fake content. Last month, researchers published 1 a generative-AI model for creating high-resolution microscopy images — and some integrity specialists have raised concerned about the work. “This technology can easily be used by people with bad intentions to quickly generate hundreds or thousands of fake images,” Bik says.

Yoav Shechtman at the Technion–Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa, the tool’s creator, says that the tool is helpful for producing training data for models because high-resolution microscopy images are difficult to obtain. But, he adds, it isn’t useful for generating fake because users have little control over the output. Existing imaging software such as Photoshop is more useful for manipulating figures, he suggests.

Weeding out fakes

Human eyes might not be able to catch generative AI-made images , but AI might (see ‘AI images are hard to spot’).

The makers behind tools such as Imagetwin and Proofig, which use AI to detect integrity issues in scientific figures, are expanding their software to weed out images created by generative AI. Because such images are so difficult to detect, both companies are creating their own databases of generative-AI images to train their algorithms.

AI models fed AI-generated data quickly spew nonsense

Proofig has already released a feature in its tool for detecting AI-generated microscopy images. Company co-founder Dror Kolodkin-Gal in Rehovot, Israel, says that, when tested on thousands of AI-generated and real images from papers, the algorithm identified AI images 98% of the time and had a 0.02% false-positive rate. Dror adds that the team is now working on trying to understand what, exactly, their algorithm detects.

“I have great hopes for these tools,” Christopher says. But she notes that their outputs will always need to be assessed by an expert who can verify the issues they flag. Christopher hasn’t yet seen evidence that AI image-detection software are reliable (Proofig’s internal evaluation has not been published). These tools are “limited, but certainly very useful, as it means we can scale up our effort of screening submissions,” she adds.

Source: Proofig quiz

Multiple publishers and research institutions already use Proofig and Imagetwin . The Science journals, for example, use Proofig to scan for image-integrity issues. According to Meagan Phelan, communications director for Science in Washington DC, the tool has not yet uncovered any AI-generated images.

Springer Nature, which publishes Nature , is developing its own detection tools for text and images, called Geppetto and SnapShot, which flag irregularities that are then assessed by humans. (The Nature news team is editorially independent of its publisher.)

Fraudsters, beware

Publishing groups are also taking steps to address AI-made images. A spokesperson for the International Association of Scientific, Technical and Medical (STM) Publishers in Oxford, UK, said that it is taking the problem “very seriously” and pointed to initiatives such as United2Act and the STM Integrity Hub, which are tackling paper mills and other scientific-integrity issues.

ChatGPT one year on: who is using it, how and why?

Christopher, who is chairing an STM working group on image alterations and duplications, says that there is a growing realization that developing ways to verify raw data — such as labelling images taken from microscopes with invisible watermarks akin to those being used in AI-generated text — might be the way forward. This will require new technologies and new standards for equipment manufacturers, she adds.

Patrick and others are worried that publishers will not act quickly enough to address the threat. “We’re concerned that this will just be another generation of problems in the literature that they don’t get to until it’s too late,” he says.

Still, some are optimistic that the AI-generated content that enters papers today will be discovered in the future.

“I have full confidence that technology will improve to the point that it can detect the stuff that’s getting done today — because at some point, it will be viewed as relatively crude,” Patrick says. “Fraudsters shouldn’t sleep well at night. They could fool today’s process, but I don’t think they’ll be able to fool the process forever.”

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-03542-8

Quiz answers: Images a , d and e are from real scientific papers. Images b , c and f were generated by Proofig’s artificial-intelligence software.

Saguy, A. et al. Small Meth . https://doi.org/10.1002/smtd.202400672 (2024).

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