Reading check.
A calibrated comfort check you can do right here. Match a bank card to set the scale, hold the page at one forearm — about 40 cm — and read down the lines. It suggests a starting strength that may work for comfortable reading: not a prescription, not a medical exam. To check how far you can see, astigmatism, the centre of your vision and contrast, use Check your eyes.
Before we start
- This is a comfort check, not a medical exam. It suggests a starting range of reading strength that may work for comfortable reading — it cannot measure eye health, and it is not a prescription.
- For adults, and for children only with a parent or guardian alongside.
- Not for driving. This checks near (reading) vision only — how you see at distance, including for driving, needs a full eye exam.
- Have a bank or credit card ready. Every card is the same size, and matching one to the screen sets the scale for the reading lines.
Safety check — mark anything that's true right now or was very recent
Step 1 · Calibrate the screen with a bank card
Hold any bank or credit card flat against the screen, over the rectangle below, and drag the slider until the rectangle's edges sit exactly under the card's edges. Every card is the same size — 85.60 × 53.98 mm — so matching one sets the scale everything else is measured at.
Step 2 · The reading check
Hold the page about 40 cm from your eyes — one forearm, elbow to fingertips. Read down the lines and tick every one you can read comfortably, all the way across, without straining. The lines get smaller; we use the smallest one you tick.
Reading lines — with glasses on if you have them
The sun rises slowly over a quiet street.
She counts the small change twice before paying the fare.
A newspaper's finest print is where tired eyes give up first.
Small print on a receipt can blur before the day is done.
Fine print asks the most of eyes that have already read all day.
Mark everything that's true for you
Your starting range
This is a comfort check, not a medical exam — it can't measure eye health or prescription strength. If anything worries you, a full eye exam is the real answer, and we can help you get one.