Helpful Mobile Apps to Assist People With Low Vision And Blindness
Mobile apps offer a wide range of functionalities and capabilities that can assist individuals with visual impairments in various aspects of their daily lives. By leveraging the capabilities of smartphones, these apps are able to provide various functionalities that enhance accessibility and independence such as text-to-speech conversion, object recognition, navigation, wayfinding, and accessing information from the internet.
Most smartphones have various built-in features and functionalities that can assist visually impaired individuals, but the versatility of mobile apps means that users can find specific apps tailored to their needs and preferences.
We encourage you to explore the different options and assess which apps best align with your specific requirements!
See Our Top Picks:
Be My Eyes
Be My Eyes connects blind and visually impaired individuals with sighted volunteers through live video calls. Volunteers can provide visual assistance for tasks like reading labels, identifying objects, or navigating surroundings.
The app supports multiple languages, making it accessible to users globally.
Seeing AI
Developed by Microsoft, Seeing AI uses artificial intelligence and your phone’s camera to describe the world to people with visual impairments. Seeing AI combines multiple useful functionalities in a single app. The app can read text, recognize objects and people, scan documents, describe scenes, and even identify currency.
Download: Seeing AI for iOS (Free)
TapTapSee
TapTapSee enables users to take a photo of an object, and the app provides an audible description of the image. It helps users identify objects, distinguish colors, and read barcodes.
From the App Store: “Simply tap anywhere on the screen to take a picture. TapTapSee can photograph any two or three-dimensional object at any angle and speak the identification back to the user'“
Voice Dream
This app converts text from various sources, such as eBooks, PDFs, and web pages, into speech. It offers customization options for voice, speed, and formatting to suit individual preferences.
Voice Dream is available as a mobile and desktop app for iPhone and Mac users.
Download: Voice Dream for iOS | macOS (Subscription Required)
Aira
Aira is an app designed to provide remote visual assistance to individuals who are blind or have low vision. It utilizes a combination of live video streaming, GPS, and augmented reality technologies to connect users with trained human agents called "Aira agents." These agents provide real-time visual descriptions, guidance, and assistance to users through the app.
Aira is subscription based; however, Aira has many partnerships that provide “free access” service.
Check the list of partnerships HERE.
Is there an app you love that’s not on the list? Let us know in the comment section below!