Identify text

Amplify Android v1 is now in Maintenance Mode until May 31st, 2024. This means that we will continue to include updates to ensure compatibility with backend services and security. No new features will be introduced in v1.

Please use the latest version (v2) of Amplify Library for Android to get started.

If you are currently using v1, follow these instructions to upgrade to v2.

Amplify libraries should be used for all new cloud connected applications. If you are currently using the AWS Mobile SDK for Android, you can access the documentation here.

The following APIs will allow you to identify text (words, tables, pages from a book) from an image.

Set up your backend

Run amplify add predictions, then use the following answers:

? Please select from one of the categories below (Use arrow keys)
  `Identify`
? What would you like to identify? (Use arrow keys)
  `Identify Text`
? Provide a friendly name for your resource
  `identifyText`
? Would you also like to identify documents? (y/N)
? Who should have access? (Use arrow keys)
  `Auth and Guest users`

Run amplify push to create the resources in the cloud.

Working with the API

Detect text in an image

Amplify will make calls to both Amazon Textract and Amazon Rekognition depending on the type of text you are looking to identify (i.e. image or document).

Passing in TextFormatType.PLAIN as the identify action will yield IdentifyResult, which must be cast into IdentifyTextResult. See below for an example of plain text detection from an image.

public void detectText(Bitmap image) {
    Amplify.Predictions.identify(
            TextFormatType.PLAIN,
            image,
            result -> {
                IdentifyTextResult identifyResult = (IdentifyTextResult) result;
                Log.i("MyAmplifyApp", identifyResult.getFullText());
            error -> Log.e("MyAmplifyApp", "Identify text failed", error)

fun detectText(image: Bitmap) {
    Amplify.Predictions.identify(TextFormatType.PLAIN, image,
        { result ->
            val identifyResult = result as IdentifyTextResult
            Log.i("MyAmplifyApp", identifyResult.fullText)
        { Log.e("MyAmplifyApp", "Identify text failed", it) }

suspend fun detectText(image: Bitmap) {
        val result = Amplify.Predictions.identify(PLAIN, image)
        val identifyResult = result as IdentifyTextResult
        Log.i("MyAmplifyApp", identifyResult.fullText)
    } catch (error: PredictionsResult) {
        Log.e("MyAmplifyApp", "Identify text failed", error)

public void detectText(Bitmap image) {
    RxAmplify.Predictions.identify(TextFormatType.PLAIN, image)
            .subscribe(
                result -> {
                    IdentifyTextResult identifyResult = (IdentifyTextResult) result;
                    Log.i("MyAmplifyApp", identifyResult.getFullText());
                error -> Log.e("MyAmplifyApp", "Identify text failed", error)

Detect text in a document

Passing in any other format of TextFormatType (i.e. FORM, TABLE or ALL) will yield IdentifyResult, which must be cast into IdentifyDocumentTextResult. See below for an example with TextFormatType.FORM for detecting forms from a document.

public void detectText(Bitmap image) {
    Amplify.Predictions.identify(
            TextFormatType.FORM,
            image,
            result -> {
                IdentifyDocumentTextResult identifyResult = (IdentifyDocumentTextResult) result;
                Log.i("MyAmplifyApp", identifyResult.getFullText());
            error -> Log.e("MyAmplifyApp", "Identify failed", error)

fun detectText(image: Bitmap) {
    Amplify.Predictions.identify(TextFormatType.FORM, image,
        { result ->
            val identifyResult = result as IdentifyDocumentTextResult
            Log.i("MyAmplifyApp", identifyResult.fullText)
        { Log.e("MyAmplifyApp", "Identify failed", it) }

suspend fun detectText(image: Bitmap) {
        val result = Amplify.Predictions.identify(FORM, image)
        val identifyResult = result as IdentifyDocumentTextResult
        Log.i("MyAmplifyApp", identifyResult.fullText)
    } catch (error: PredictionsException) {
        Log.e("MyAmplifyApp", "Identify failed", error)

public void detectText(Bitmap image) {
    RxAmplify.Predictions.identify(TextFormatType.FORM, image)
            .subscribe(
                result -> {
                    IdentifyDocumentTextResult identifyResult = (IdentifyDocumentTextResult) result;
                    Log.i("MyAmplifyApp", identifyResult.getFullText());
                error -> Log.e("MyAmplifyApp", "Identify failed", error)