Vision Framework Computer Vision

Guides you through implementing computer vision: subject segmentation, hand/body pose detection, person detection, text recognition, barcode detection, document scanning, and combining Vision APIs to solve complex problems.

When to Use This Skill

Use when you need to:

• ☑ Isolate subjects from backgrounds (subject lifting)

• ☑ Detect and track hand poses for gestures

• ☑ Detect and track body poses for fitness/action classification

• ☑ Segment multiple people separately

• ☑ Exclude hands from object bounding boxes (combining APIs)

• ☑ Choose between VisionKit and Vision framework

• ☑ Combine Vision with CoreImage for compositing

• ☑ Decide which Vision API solves your problem

• ☑ Recognize text in images (OCR)

• ☑ Detect barcodes and QR codes

• ☑ Scan documents with perspective correction

• ☑ Extract structured data from documents (iOS 26+)

• ☑ Build live scanning experiences (DataScannerViewController)

Example Prompts

"How do I isolate a subject from the background?" "I need to detect hand gestures like pinch" "How can I get a bounding box around an object without including the hand holding it?" "Should I use VisionKit or Vision framework for subject lifting?" "How do I segment multiple people separately?" "I need to detect body poses for a fitness app" "How do I preserve HDR when compositing subjects on new backgrounds?" "How do I recognize text in an image?" "I need to scan QR codes from camera" "How do I extract data from a receipt?" "Should I use DataScannerViewController or Vision directly?" "How do I scan documents and correct perspective?" "I need to extract table data from a document"

Red Flags

Signs you're making this harder than it needs to be:

• ❌ Manually implementing subject segmentation with CoreML models

• ❌ Using ARKit just for body pose (Vision works offline)

• ❌ Writing gesture recognition from scratch (use hand pose + simple distance checks)

• ❌ Processing on main thread (blocks UI - Vision is resource intensive)

• ❌ Training custom models when Vision APIs already exist

• ❌ Not checking confidence scores (low confidence = unreliable landmarks)

• ❌ Forgetting to convert coordinates (lower-left origin vs UIKit top-left)

• ❌ Building custom text recognizer when VNRecognizeTextRequest exists

• ❌ Using AVFoundation + Vision when DataScannerViewController suffices

• ❌ Processing every camera frame for scanning (skip frames, use region of interest)

• ❌ Enabling all barcode symbologies when you only need one (performance hit)

• ❌ Ignoring RecognizeDocumentsRequest when you need table/list structure (iOS 26+)

Mandatory First Steps

Before implementing any Vision feature:

1. Choose the Right API (Decision Tree)

What do you need to do?

┌─ Isolate subject(s) from background? │ ├─ Need system UI + out-of-process → VisionKit │ │ └─ ImageAnalysisInteraction (iOS/iPadOS) │ │ └─ ImageAnalysisOverlayView (macOS) │ ├─ Need custom pipeline / HDR / large images → Vision │ │ └─ VNGenerateForegroundInstanceMaskRequest │ └─ Need to EXCLUDE hands from object → Combine APIs │ └─ Subject mask + Hand pose + custom masking (see Pattern 1) │ ├─ Segment people? │ ├─ All people in one mask → VNGeneratePersonSegmentationRequest │ └─ Separate mask per person (up to 4) → VNGeneratePersonInstanceMaskRequest │ ├─ Detect hand pose/gestures? │ ├─ Just hand location → VNDetectHumanRectanglesRequest │ └─ 21 hand landmarks → VNDetectHumanHandPoseRequest │ └─ Gesture recognition → Hand pose + distance checks │ ├─ Detect body pose? │ ├─ 2D normalized landmarks → VNDetectHumanBodyPoseRequest │ ├─ 3D real-world coordinates → VNDetectHumanBodyPose3DRequest │ └─ Action classification → Body pose + CreateML model │ ├─ Face detection? │ ├─ Just bounding boxes → VNDetectFaceRectanglesRequest │ └─ Detailed landmarks → VNDetectFaceLandmarksRequest │ ├─ Person detection (location only)? │ └─ VNDetectHumanRectanglesRequest │ ├─ Recognize text in images? │ ├─ Real-time from camera + need UI → DataScannerViewController (iOS 16+) │ ├─ Processing captured image → VNRecognizeTextRequest │ │ ├─ Need speed (real-time camera) → recognitionLevel = .fast │ │ └─ Need accuracy (documents) → recognitionLevel = .accurate │ └─ Need structured documents (iOS 26+) → RecognizeDocumentsRequest │ ├─ Detect barcodes/QR codes? │ ├─ Real-time camera + need UI → DataScannerViewController (iOS 16+) │ └─ Processing image → VNDetectBarcodesRequest │ └─ Scan documents? ├─ Need built-in UI + perspective correction → VNDocumentCameraViewController ├─ Need structured data (tables, lists) → RecognizeDocumentsRequest (iOS 26+) └─ Custom pipeline → VNDetectDocumentSegmentationRequest + perspective correction

2. Set Up Background Processing

NEVER run Vision on main thread:

let processingQueue = DispatchQueue(label: "com.yourapp.vision", qos: .userInitiated)

processingQueue.async { do { let request = VNGenerateForegroundInstanceMaskRequest() let handler = VNImageRequestHandler(cgImage: image) try handler.perform([request])

    // Process observations...

    DispatchQueue.main.async {
        // Update UI
    }
} catch {
    // Handle error
}

}

3. Choose the Right Request Handler

Processing video frames? Use VNSequenceRequestHandler (maintains inter-frame state for temporal smoothing). For single images, use VNImageRequestHandler . Creating a new VNImageRequestHandler per frame discards temporal context and causes jittery results. See axiom-vision-ref for full comparison and code examples.

4. Verify Platform Availability

API Minimum Version

Subject segmentation (instance masks) iOS 17+

VisionKit subject lifting iOS 16+

Hand pose iOS 14+

Body pose (2D) iOS 14+

Body pose (3D) iOS 17+

Person instance segmentation iOS 17+

VNRecognizeTextRequest (basic) iOS 13+

VNRecognizeTextRequest (accurate, multi-lang) iOS 14+

VNDetectBarcodesRequest iOS 11+

VNDetectBarcodesRequest (revision 2: Codabar, MicroQR) iOS 15+

VNDetectBarcodesRequest (revision 3: ML-based) iOS 16+

DataScannerViewController iOS 16+

VNDocumentCameraViewController iOS 13+

VNDetectDocumentSegmentationRequest iOS 15+

RecognizeDocumentsRequest iOS 26+

Common Patterns

Pattern 1: Isolate Object While Excluding Hand

User's original problem: Getting a bounding box around an object held in hand, without including the hand.

Root cause: VNGenerateForegroundInstanceMaskRequest is class-agnostic and treats hand+object as one subject.

Solution: Combine subject mask with hand pose to create exclusion mask.

// 1. Get subject instance mask let subjectRequest = VNGenerateForegroundInstanceMaskRequest() let handler = VNImageRequestHandler(cgImage: sourceImage) try handler.perform([subjectRequest])

guard let subjectObservation = subjectRequest.results?.first as? VNInstanceMaskObservation else { fatalError("No subject detected") }

// 2. Get hand pose landmarks let handRequest = VNDetectHumanHandPoseRequest() handRequest.maximumHandCount = 2 try handler.perform([handRequest])

guard let handObservation = handRequest.results?.first as? VNHumanHandPoseObservation else { // No hand detected - use full subject mask let mask = try subjectObservation.createScaledMask( for: subjectObservation.allInstances, croppedToInstancesContent: false ) return mask }

// 3. Create hand exclusion region from landmarks let handPoints = try handObservation.recognizedPoints(.all) let handBounds = calculateConvexHull(from: handPoints) // Your implementation

// 4. Subtract hand region from subject mask using CoreImage let subjectMask = try subjectObservation.createScaledMask( for: subjectObservation.allInstances, croppedToInstancesContent: false )

let subjectCIMask = CIImage(cvPixelBuffer: subjectMask) let handMask = createMaskFromRegion(handBounds, size: sourceImage.size) let finalMask = subtractMasks(handMask: handMask, from: subjectCIMask)

// 5. Calculate bounding box from final mask let objectBounds = calculateBoundingBox(from: finalMask)

Helper: Convex Hull

func calculateConvexHull(from points: [VNRecognizedPointKey: VNRecognizedPoint]) -> CGRect { // Get high-confidence points let validPoints = points.values.filter { $0.confidence > 0.5 }

guard !validPoints.isEmpty else { return .zero }

// Simple bounding rect (for more accuracy, use actual convex hull algorithm)
let xs = validPoints.map { $0.location.x }
let ys = validPoints.map { $0.location.y }

let minX = xs.min()!
let maxX = xs.max()!
let minY = ys.min()!
let maxY = ys.max()!

return CGRect(
    x: minX,
    y: minY,
    width: maxX - minX,
    height: maxY - minY
)

}

Cost: 2-5 hours initial implementation, 30 min ongoing maintenance

Pattern 2: VisionKit Simple Subject Lifting

Use case: Add system-like subject lifting UI with minimal code.

// iOS let interaction = ImageAnalysisInteraction() interaction.preferredInteractionTypes = .imageSubject imageView.addInteraction(interaction)

// macOS let overlayView = ImageAnalysisOverlayView() overlayView.preferredInteractionTypes = .imageSubject nsView.addSubview(overlayView)

When to use:

• ✓ Want system behavior (long-press to select, drag to share)

• ✓ Don't need custom processing pipeline

• ✓ Image size within VisionKit limits (out-of-process)

Cost: 15 min implementation, 5 min ongoing

Pattern 3: Programmatic Subject Access (VisionKit)

Use case: Need subject images/bounds without UI interaction.

let analyzer = ImageAnalyzer() let configuration = ImageAnalyzer.Configuration([.text, .visualLookUp])

let analysis = try await analyzer.analyze(sourceImage, configuration: configuration)

// Get all subjects for subject in analysis.subjects { let subjectImage = subject.image let subjectBounds = subject.bounds

// Process subject...

}

// Tap-based lookup if let subject = try await analysis.subject(at: tapPoint) { let compositeImage = try await analysis.image(for: [subject]) }

Cost: 30 min implementation, 10 min ongoing

Pattern 4: Vision Instance Mask for Custom Pipeline

Use case: HDR preservation, large images, custom compositing.

let request = VNGenerateForegroundInstanceMaskRequest() let handler = VNImageRequestHandler(cgImage: sourceImage) try handler.perform([request])

guard let observation = request.results?.first as? VNInstanceMaskObservation else { return }

// Get soft segmentation mask let mask = try observation.createScaledMask( for: observation.allInstances, croppedToInstancesContent: false // Full resolution for compositing )

// Use with CoreImage for HDR preservation let filter = CIFilter(name: "CIBlendWithMask")! filter.setValue(CIImage(cgImage: sourceImage), forKey: kCIInputImageKey) filter.setValue(CIImage(cvPixelBuffer: mask), forKey: kCIInputMaskImageKey) filter.setValue(newBackground, forKey: kCIInputBackgroundImageKey)

let compositedImage = filter.outputImage

Cost: 1 hour implementation, 15 min ongoing

Pattern 5: Tap-to-Select Instance

Use case: User taps to select which subject/person to lift.

// Get instance at tap point let instance = observation.instanceAtPoint(tapPoint)

if instance == 0 { // Background tapped - select all instances let mask = try observation.createScaledMask( for: observation.allInstances, croppedToInstancesContent: false ) } else { // Specific instance tapped let mask = try observation.createScaledMask( for: IndexSet(integer: instance), croppedToInstancesContent: true ) }

Alternative: Raw pixel buffer access

let instanceMask = observation.instanceMask

CVPixelBufferLockBaseAddress(instanceMask, .readOnly) defer { CVPixelBufferUnlockBaseAddress(instanceMask, .readOnly) }

let baseAddress = CVPixelBufferGetBaseAddress(instanceMask) let bytesPerRow = CVPixelBufferGetBytesPerRow(instanceMask)

// Convert normalized tap to pixel coordinates let pixelPoint = VNImagePointForNormalizedPoint( tapPoint, width: imageWidth, height: imageHeight )

let offset = Int(pixelPoint.y) * bytesPerRow + Int(pixelPoint.x) let label = UnsafeRawPointer(baseAddress!).load( fromByteOffset: offset, as: UInt8.self )

Cost: 45 min implementation, 10 min ongoing

Pattern 6: Hand Gesture Recognition (Pinch)

Use case: Detect pinch gesture for custom camera trigger or UI control.

let request = VNDetectHumanHandPoseRequest() request.maximumHandCount = 1

try handler.perform([request])

guard let observation = request.results?.first as? VNHumanHandPoseObservation else { return }

let thumbTip = try observation.recognizedPoint(.thumbTip) let indexTip = try observation.recognizedPoint(.indexTip)

// Check confidence guard thumbTip.confidence > 0.5, indexTip.confidence > 0.5 else { return }

// Calculate distance (normalized coordinates) let dx = thumbTip.location.x - indexTip.location.x let dy = thumbTip.location.y - indexTip.location.y let distance = sqrt(dx * dx + dy * dy)

let isPinching = distance < 0.05 // Adjust threshold

// State machine for evidence accumulation if isPinching { pinchFrameCount += 1 if pinchFrameCount >= 3 { state = .pinched } } else { pinchFrameCount = max(0, pinchFrameCount - 1) if pinchFrameCount == 0 { state = .apart } }

Cost: 2 hours implementation, 20 min ongoing

Pattern 7: Separate Multiple People

Use case: Apply different effects to each person or count people.

let request = VNGeneratePersonInstanceMaskRequest() try handler.perform([request])

guard let observation = request.results?.first as? VNInstanceMaskObservation else { return }

let peopleCount = observation.allInstances.count // Up to 4

for personIndex in observation.allInstances { let personMask = try observation.createScaledMask( for: IndexSet(integer: personIndex), croppedToInstancesContent: false )

// Apply effect to this person only
applyEffect(to: personMask, personIndex: personIndex)

}

Crowded scenes (>4 people):

// Count faces to detect crowding let faceRequest = VNDetectFaceRectanglesRequest() try handler.perform([faceRequest])

let faceCount = faceRequest.results?.count ?? 0

if faceCount > 4 { // Fallback: Use single mask for all people let singleMaskRequest = VNGeneratePersonSegmentationRequest() try handler.perform([singleMaskRequest]) }

Cost: 1.5 hours implementation, 15 min ongoing

Pattern 8: Body Pose for Action Classification

Use case: Fitness app that recognizes exercises (jumping jacks, squats, etc.)

// 1. Collect body pose observations var poseObservations: [VNHumanBodyPoseObservation] = []

let request = VNDetectHumanBodyPoseRequest() try handler.perform([request])

if let observation = request.results?.first as? VNHumanBodyPoseObservation { poseObservations.append(observation) }

// 2. When you have 60 frames of poses, prepare for CreateML model if poseObservations.count == 60 { var multiArray = try MLMultiArray( shape: [60, 18, 3], // 60 frames, 18 joints, (x, y, confidence) dataType: .double )

for (frameIndex, observation) in poseObservations.enumerated() {
    let allPoints = try observation.recognizedPoints(.all)

    for (jointIndex, (_, point)) in allPoints.enumerated() {
        multiArray[[frameIndex, jointIndex, 0] as [NSNumber]] = NSNumber(value: point.location.x)
        multiArray[[frameIndex, jointIndex, 1] as [NSNumber]] = NSNumber(value: point.location.y)
        multiArray[[frameIndex, jointIndex, 2] as [NSNumber]] = NSNumber(value: point.confidence)
    }
}

// 3. Run inference with CreateML model
let input = YourActionClassifierInput(poses: multiArray)
let output = try actionClassifier.prediction(input: input)

let action = output.label  // "jumping_jacks", "squats", etc.

}

Cost: 3-4 hours implementation, 1 hour ongoing

Pattern 9: Text Recognition (OCR)

Use case: Extract text from images, receipts, signs, documents.

let request = VNRecognizeTextRequest() request.recognitionLevel = .accurate // Or .fast for real-time request.recognitionLanguages = ["en-US"] // Specify known languages request.usesLanguageCorrection = true // Helps accuracy

let handler = VNImageRequestHandler(cgImage: image) try handler.perform([request])

guard let observations = request.results as? [VNRecognizedTextObservation] else { return }

for observation in observations { // Get top candidate (most likely) guard let candidate = observation.topCandidates(1).first else { continue }

let text = candidate.string
let confidence = candidate.confidence

// Get bounding box for specific substring
if let range = text.range(of: searchTerm) {
    if let boundingBox = try? candidate.boundingBox(for: range) {
        // Use for highlighting
    }
}

}

Fast vs Accurate:

• Fast: Real-time camera, large legible text (signs, billboards), character-by-character

• Accurate: Documents, receipts, small text, handwriting, ML-based word/line recognition

Language tips:

• Order matters: first language determines ML model for accurate path

• Use automaticallyDetectsLanguage = true only when language unknown

• Query supportedRecognitionLanguages for current revision

Cost: 30 min basic implementation, 2 hours with language handling

Pattern 10: Barcode/QR Code Detection

Use case: Scan product barcodes, QR codes, healthcare codes.

let request = VNDetectBarcodesRequest() request.revision = VNDetectBarcodesRequestRevision3 // ML-based, iOS 16+ request.symbologies = [.qr, .ean13] // Specify only what you need!

let handler = VNImageRequestHandler(cgImage: image) try handler.perform([request])

guard let observations = request.results as? [VNBarcodeObservation] else { return }

for barcode in observations { let payload = barcode.payloadStringValue // Decoded content let symbology = barcode.symbology // Type of barcode let bounds = barcode.boundingBox // Location (normalized)

print("Found \(symbology): \(payload ?? "no string")")

}

Performance tip: Specifying fewer symbologies = faster scanning

Revision differences:

• Revision 1: One code at a time, 1D codes return lines

• Revision 2: Codabar, GS1Databar, MicroPDF, MicroQR, better with ROI

• Revision 3: ML-based, multiple codes at once, better bounding boxes, fewer duplicates

Cost: 15 min implementation

Pattern 11: DataScannerViewController (Live Scanning)

Use case: Camera-based text/barcode scanning with built-in UI (iOS 16+).

import VisionKit

// Check support guard DataScannerViewController.isSupported, DataScannerViewController.isAvailable else { // Not supported or camera access denied return }

// Configure what to scan let recognizedDataTypes: Set<DataScannerViewController.RecognizedDataType> = [ .barcode(symbologies: [.qr]), .text(textContentType: .URL) // Or nil for all text ]

// Create and present let scanner = DataScannerViewController( recognizedDataTypes: recognizedDataTypes, qualityLevel: .balanced, // Or .fast, .accurate recognizesMultipleItems: false, // Center-most if false isHighFrameRateTrackingEnabled: true, // For smooth highlights isPinchToZoomEnabled: true, isGuidanceEnabled: true, isHighlightingEnabled: true )

scanner.delegate = self present(scanner, animated: true) { try? scanner.startScanning() }

Delegate methods:

func dataScanner(_ scanner: DataScannerViewController, didTapOn item: RecognizedItem) { switch item { case .text(let text): print("Tapped text: (text.transcript)") case .barcode(let barcode): print("Tapped barcode: (barcode.payloadStringValue ?? "")") @unknown default: break } }

// For custom highlights func dataScanner(_ scanner: DataScannerViewController, didAdd addedItems: [RecognizedItem], allItems: [RecognizedItem]) { for item in addedItems { let highlight = createHighlight(for: item) scanner.overlayContainerView.addSubview(highlight) } }

Async stream alternative:

for await items in scanner.recognizedItems { // Process current items }

Cost: 45 min implementation with custom highlights

Pattern 12: Document Scanning with VNDocumentCameraViewController

Use case: Scan paper documents with automatic edge detection and perspective correction.

import VisionKit

let documentCamera = VNDocumentCameraViewController() documentCamera.delegate = self present(documentCamera, animated: true)

// In delegate func documentCameraViewController(_ controller: VNDocumentCameraViewController, didFinishWith scan: VNDocumentCameraScan) { controller.dismiss(animated: true)

// Process each page
for pageIndex in 0..<scan.pageCount {
    let image = scan.imageOfPage(at: pageIndex)

    // Now run text recognition on the corrected image
    let handler = VNImageRequestHandler(cgImage: image.cgImage!)
    let textRequest = VNRecognizeTextRequest()
    try? handler.perform([textRequest])
}

}

Cost: 30 min implementation

Pattern 13: Document Segmentation (Custom Pipeline)

Use case: Detect document edges programmatically for custom camera UI.

let request = VNDetectDocumentSegmentationRequest() let handler = VNImageRequestHandler(ciImage: inputImage) try handler.perform([request])

guard let observation = request.results?.first, let document = observation as? VNRectangleObservation else { return }

// Get corner points (normalized coordinates) let topLeft = document.topLeft let topRight = document.topRight let bottomLeft = document.bottomLeft let bottomRight = document.bottomRight

// Apply perspective correction with CoreImage let correctedImage = inputImage .cropped(to: document.boundingBox.scaled(to: imageSize)) .applyingFilter("CIPerspectiveCorrection", parameters: [ "inputTopLeft": CIVector(cgPoint: topLeft.scaled(to: imageSize)), "inputTopRight": CIVector(cgPoint: topRight.scaled(to: imageSize)), "inputBottomLeft": CIVector(cgPoint: bottomLeft.scaled(to: imageSize)), "inputBottomRight": CIVector(cgPoint: bottomRight.scaled(to: imageSize)) ])

VNDetectDocumentSegmentationRequest vs VNDetectRectanglesRequest:

• Document: ML-based, trained on documents, handles non-rectangles, returns one document

• Rectangle: Edge-based, finds any quadrilateral, returns multiple, CPU-only

Cost: 1-2 hours implementation

Pattern 14: Structured Document Extraction (iOS 26+)

Use case: Extract tables, lists, paragraphs with semantic understanding.

// iOS 26+ let request = RecognizeDocumentsRequest() let observations = try await request.perform(on: imageData)

guard let document = observations.first?.document else { return }

// Extract tables for table in document.tables { for row in table.rows { for cell in row { let text = cell.content.text.transcript print("Cell: (text)") } } }

// Get detected data (emails, phones, URLs, dates) let allDetectedData = document.text.detectedData for data in allDetectedData { switch data.match.details { case .emailAddress(let email): print("Email: (email.emailAddress)") case .phoneNumber(let phone): print("Phone: (phone.phoneNumber)") case .link(let url): print("URL: (url)") default: break } }

Document hierarchy:

• Document → containers (text, tables, lists, barcodes)

• Table → rows → cells → content

• Content → text (transcript, lines, paragraphs, words, detectedData)

Cost: 1 hour implementation

Pattern 15: Real-time Phone Number Scanner

Use case: Scan phone numbers from camera like barcode scanner (from WWDC 2019).

// 1. Use region of interest to guide user let textRequest = VNRecognizeTextRequest { request, error in guard let observations = request.results as? [VNRecognizedTextObservation] else { return }

for observation in observations {
    guard let candidate = observation.topCandidates(1).first else { continue }

    // Use domain knowledge to filter
    if let phoneNumber = self.extractPhoneNumber(from: candidate.string) {
        self.stringTracker.add(phoneNumber)
    }
}

// Build evidence over frames
if let stableNumber = self.stringTracker.getStableString(threshold: 10) {
    self.foundPhoneNumber(stableNumber)
}

}

textRequest.recognitionLevel = .fast // Real-time textRequest.usesLanguageCorrection = false // Codes, not natural text textRequest.regionOfInterest = guidanceBox // Crop to user's focus area

// 2. String tracker for stability class StringTracker { private var seenStrings: [String: Int] = [:]

func add(_ string: String) {
    seenStrings[string, default: 0] += 1
}

func getStableString(threshold: Int) -> String? {
    seenStrings.first { $0.value >= threshold }?.key
}

}

Key techniques from WWDC 2019:

• Use .fast recognition level for real-time

• Disable language correction for codes/numbers

• Use region of interest to improve speed and focus

• Build evidence over multiple frames (string tracker)

• Apply domain knowledge (phone number regex)

Cost: 2 hours implementation

Anti-Patterns

Anti-Pattern 1: Processing on Main Thread

Wrong:

let request = VNGenerateForegroundInstanceMaskRequest() let handler = VNImageRequestHandler(cgImage: image) try handler.perform([request]) // Blocks UI!

Right:

DispatchQueue.global(qos: .userInitiated).async { let request = VNGenerateForegroundInstanceMaskRequest() let handler = VNImageRequestHandler(cgImage: image) try handler.perform([request])

DispatchQueue.main.async {
    // Update UI
}

}

Why it matters: Vision is resource-intensive. Blocking main thread freezes UI.

Anti-Pattern 2: Ignoring Confidence Scores

Wrong:

let thumbTip = try observation.recognizedPoint(.thumbTip) let location = thumbTip.location // May be unreliable!

Right:

let thumbTip = try observation.recognizedPoint(.thumbTip) guard thumbTip.confidence > 0.5 else { // Low confidence - landmark unreliable return } let location = thumbTip.location

Why it matters: Low confidence points are inaccurate (occlusion, blur, edge of frame).

Anti-Pattern 3: Forgetting Coordinate Conversion

Wrong (mixing coordinate systems):

// Vision uses lower-left origin let visionPoint = recognizedPoint.location // (0, 0) = bottom-left

// UIKit uses top-left origin let uiPoint = CGPoint(x: axiom-visionPoint.x, y: axiom-visionPoint.y) // WRONG!

Right:

let visionPoint = recognizedPoint.location

// Convert to UIKit coordinates let uiPoint = CGPoint( x: axiom-visionPoint.x * imageWidth, y: (1 - visionPoint.y) * imageHeight // Flip Y axis )

Why it matters: Mismatched origins cause UI overlays to appear in wrong positions.

Anti-Pattern 4: Setting maximumHandCount Too High

Wrong:

let request = VNDetectHumanHandPoseRequest() request.maximumHandCount = 10 // "Just in case"

Right:

let request = VNDetectHumanHandPoseRequest() request.maximumHandCount = 2 // Only compute what you need

Why it matters: Performance scales with maximumHandCount . Pose computed for all detected hands ≤ max.

Anti-Pattern 5: Using ARKit When Vision Suffices

Wrong (if you don't need AR):

// Requires AR session just for body pose let arSession = ARBodyTrackingConfiguration()

Right:

// Vision works offline on still images let request = VNDetectHumanBodyPoseRequest()

Why it matters: ARKit body pose requires rear camera, AR session, supported devices. Vision works everywhere (even offline).

Pressure Scenarios

Scenario 1: "Just Ship the Feature"

Context: Product manager wants subject lifting "like in Photos app" by Friday. You're considering skipping background processing.

Pressure: "It's working on my iPhone 15 Pro, let's ship it."

Reality: Vision blocks UI on older devices. Users on iPhone 12 will experience frozen app.

Correct action:

• Implement background queue (15 min)

• Add loading indicator (10 min)

• Test on iPhone 12 or earlier (5 min)

Push-back template: "Subject lifting works, but it freezes the UI on older devices. I need 30 minutes to add background processing and prevent 1-star reviews."

Scenario 2: "Training Our Own Model"

Context: Designer wants to exclude hands from subject bounding box. Engineer suggests training custom CoreML model for specific object detection.

Pressure: "We need perfect bounds, let's train a model."

Reality: Training requires labeled dataset (weeks), ongoing maintenance, and still won't generalize to new objects. Built-in Vision APIs + hand pose solve it in 2-5 hours.

Correct action:

• Explain Pattern 1 (combine subject mask + hand pose)

• Prototype in 1 hour to demonstrate

• Compare against training timeline (weeks vs hours)

Push-back template: "Training a model takes weeks and only works for specific objects. I can combine Vision APIs to solve this in a few hours and it'll work for any object."

Scenario 3: "We Can't Wait for iOS 17"

Context: You need instance masks but app supports iOS 15+.

Pressure: "Just use iOS 15 person segmentation and ship it."

Reality: VNGeneratePersonSegmentationRequest (iOS 15) returns single mask for all people. Doesn't solve multi-person use case.

Correct action:

• Raise minimum deployment target to iOS 17 (best UX)

• OR implement fallback: use iOS 15 API but disable multi-person features

• OR use @available to conditionally enable features

Push-back template: "Person segmentation on iOS 15 combines all people into one mask. We can either require iOS 17 for the best experience, or disable multi-person features on older OS versions. Which do you prefer?"

Checklist

Before shipping Vision features:

Performance:

• ☑ All Vision requests run on background queue

• ☑ UI shows loading indicator during processing

• ☑ Tested on iPhone 12 or earlier (not just latest devices)

• ☑ maximumHandCount set to minimum needed value

Accuracy:

• ☑ Confidence scores checked before using landmarks

• ☑ Fallback behavior for low confidence observations

• ☑ Handles case where no subjects/hands/people detected

Coordinates:

• ☑ Vision coordinates (lower-left origin) converted to UIKit (top-left)

• ☑ Normalized coordinates scaled to pixel dimensions

• ☑ UI overlays aligned correctly with image

Platform Support:

• ☑ @available checks for iOS 17+ APIs (instance masks)

• ☑ Fallback for iOS 14-16 (or raised deployment target)

• ☑ Tested on actual devices, not just simulator

Edge Cases:

• ☑ Handles images with no detectable subjects

• ☑ Handles partially occluded hands/bodies

• ☑ Handles hands/bodies near image edges

• ☑ Handles >4 people for person instance segmentation

CoreImage Integration (if applicable):

• ☑ HDR preservation verified with high dynamic range images

• ☑ Mask resolution matches source image

• ☑ croppedToInstancesContent set appropriately (false for compositing)

Text/Barcode Recognition (if applicable):

• ☑ Recognition level matches use case (fast for real-time, accurate for documents)

• ☑ Language correction disabled for codes/serial numbers

• ☑ Barcode symbologies limited to actual needs (performance)

• ☑ Region of interest used to focus scanning area

• ☑ Multiple candidates checked (not just top candidate)

• ☑ Evidence accumulated over frames for real-time (string tracker)

• ☑ DataScannerViewController availability checked before presenting

Resources

WWDC: 2019-234, 2021-10041, 2022-10024, 2022-10025, 2025-272, 2023-10176, 2023-111241, 2020-10653

Docs: /vision, /visionkit, /vision/vnrecognizetextrequest, /vision/vndetectbarcodesrequest

Skills: axiom-vision-ref, axiom-vision-diag