Utilities
Washread
Decode laundry tags fast
iOSfor iPhone and iPad
- $2.99 one-time purchase
- No account
- No ads or app telemetry
Screenshots
5 images · iPhone 6.7"
iPad
5 images · iPad Pro 12.9" (3rd gen)
You buy a wool blazer, check the care tag, and find six tiny shapes and not a single word. Washread turns those laundry care symbols into plain-English washing, drying, and ironing instructions, so you know how to clean something without guessing or searching the web.
The symbols come from an international standard: a washtub for machine wash, a triangle for bleaching, a square for drying, a circle for professional care, an iron for ironing. Small marks change their meaning, like dots for temperature or a bar for a gentler cycle. Open the library, tap the symbols printed on your tag, and Washread assembles a care card that reads in clear clauses such as machine wash cold, do not bleach, tumble dry low. Save it with a label like blue cashmere sweater to re-check next laundry day.
If you would rather not hunt through the library, point the camera at the tag and Washread reads any printed text, such as a temperature, as a hint to confirm, though the symbols you tap stay the source of truth. You can switch between Celsius and Fahrenheit and between regional presets.
It is a single-purpose utility that works entirely on your device, with no account, no ads, no tracking, and nothing about your tags ever leaving your phone.
About Washread
Washread turns the tiny shapes printed inside your clothes into plain-English washing, drying, and ironing instructions — fast, private, and on your device.
WHAT IT DECODES
Every garment carries a care label with international symbols defined in ISO 3758 (with ASTM D5489 equivalents in the United States). A washtub means "machine wash." A triangle is "bleaching." A square is "drying." A circle is "professional care." A small iron is "ironing." Each shape can be modified — dots inside the iron show temperature; a bar under the washtub means a gentler cycle; a line through the symbol means "do not." Washread covers more than 30 of these canonical symbols across all five sections.
HOW YOU USE IT
— Open the Library and tap the symbols you see on the tag. They stack into "Your tag" at the top of the Read screen.
— Tap "Read this tag" to generate a Care Card. Each line of the card is a plain-English clause: "Machine wash in cold water (30°C / 86°F). Do not bleach. Tumble dry on low heat. Iron on medium heat (150°C / 302°F)."
— Save the card to History with an optional label like "Blue cashmere sweater" so you can re-check it next laundry day.
CAMERA AND PHOTOS
If you'd rather scan than tap, point the camera at the tag. Washread reads any printed text on the label (like "40°C" or "DO NOT BLEACH") and brings it back as a hint so you can confirm the right symbols in the Library. You can also pick a photo of a tag from your library — same OCR pipeline, all on device. The picker remains the source of truth: the camera mode never invents a symbol classification.
PRIVATE BY DESIGN
— No account, no sign-in.
— No analytics, no tracking, no third-party SDKs.
— No ads, no in-app purchases, no subscriptions.
— No network: nothing about your tags, photos, or settings ever leaves your phone.
— Saved tags live only on your device (UserDefaults).
FRIENDLY MODE (OPTIONAL)
If your iPhone supports Apple Intelligence, turn on Friendly mode in Settings and Washread will use Apple's on-device Foundation Models to summarise the Care Card into one or two natural sentences. When Apple Intelligence isn't available, Washread uses a built-in deterministic rewriter — same friendly tone, same offline guarantee.
REGIONS AND UNITS
Switch between °C and °F. Switch between US (ASTM-leaning) and EU / ISO and JP presets so the temperatures read the way you're used to seeing them.
WHO IT'S FOR
— You bought a wool blazer and the tag has six tiny shapes and zero words. Washread tells you what they mean in 10 seconds.
— You're packing for a trip and want to know if the silk blouse can be tumble dried. (It almost certainly can't — Washread confirms.)
— You're an exchange student staring at a Japanese tag, or a US shopper holding a European one, and the wash temperatures don't look right. Washread translates them.
— You hand-wash everything and want a calmer way to confirm "yes, hand wash only" without Googling.
A SINGLE-PURPOSE UTILITY
Washread doesn't try to sell you laundry services. It doesn't track what you wash. It just decodes the tag. One job, done well, on your device.
A Shadowfetch app. Published on the App Store by Robert Corbin.