Tag: apple app

Tech Tuesday: App Spotlight – Be My Eyes

Have you heard about all the smartphone and tablet apps but think you have to be a ‘computer geek’ to learn how to use them?  I’ve got the app for you!  It’s called Be My Eyes.

The article Be My Eyes: Get This App And Help The Blind explains it well and has photos to show you what you should see on the screen when you use it. The article says, “Many iPhone users with visual impairments use a video FaceTime or Skype call with a friend for a brief session of sighted help—to find a hotel room door, for instance, or to help set the controls on a washer or dryer. But what if your friends or family members are not available when you need assistance? Or maybe you call the same person again and again, and you worry you might be overstaying your welcome?”

Be My Eyes pairs sighted volunteers with visually impaired people who could use another pair of eyes.  The app is free both to download and to use.  It’s available both for Apple (App Store) and Android (Google Play) devices – smartphones AND tablets.

After you download the app, you basically click on it and follow the instructions:

  • You’ll be asked to choose from:
    • I am sighted
    • I am blind
  • If this is your first time using it, you’ll be asked to create an account and be asked to allow the microphone and the camera to work with the app.
  • If you’re calling for help, you’ll be told that you are waiting for the first available helper.
  • You will hear the helper’s voice. They’ll hear yours and will see what your forward-facing camera is pointed at. The helper may ask you to move the phone or tablet a bit so they can see what you want. They may tell you to turn on the light on your device so they can see better.
  • The uses are really unlimited!
    • Do you want to know the instructions on a can of soup?
    • Do you want to see the expire-by date of something in the fridge?
    • Shopping and can’t find something?
    • Can’t find socks that match?
    • Did you drop something
    • More ideas here–>https://www.bemyeyes.com/get-started

Here’s are some GREAT videos with demonstrations.

Do You Speak Technogeek?

Hello. Another thing I learned from the massage therapist was there are free apps out there that will identify colors. Remember that one of the things that you lose with AMD is good color perception. I downloaded one of the color identification apps for free from the Apple App Store.

Once more, free is good and I would encourage you or someone you ask for assistance to go looking in the App Store. They do have all sorts of good stuff, a lot of it for free.

The color identification app I found is called Color ID Free from GreenGar Studios [no longer available for iPhone and iPad or Android; there are others so search Apple App Store or Google Play]. The Apple App Store has at least two other color identification apps on the same page. One costs $.99 and the other one costs $4.99. You can try them out if you wish. Perhaps one might give better results than the free one. Right now, however, I am staying with free.

The Color ID app I downloaded has two settings. One of them is simple colors and the other is exotic colors. Before I realized there were two setting I was sort of perplexed. What colors are potter’s clay and mongoose?

I have to admit some of the simple colors were also a bit much. For example, a piece of yellow tablet paper was said to be grayish greenish-yellow!

You can set the Color ID Free app for simple colors or exotic colors.

Another thing I discovered in the Apple App Store was an app that took me to the AccessWorld web pages. According to the description, AccessWorld is an online magazine from the American Foundation for the Blind dedicated to technology for people with low vision. It looks to be a Consumer Report for people searching for low vision aids. They also provide independent evaluations of products.

AccessWorld webpages, provided by the American Foundation for the Blind, are dedicated to technology for people with low vision.

Initially, as I was looking at some of the articles, I got the impression the site is good for technogeeks with deep pockets. However, as I continued to browse I discovered this impression was not accurate. There is an article on how to use the features already in the Mac Yosemite OS (operating system) to assist the visually impaired [this operating system has been replaced since Sue wrote the article]. The article was a little heavy on the tech for me. OK, I admit it; most anything tech is dense for me or perhaps I am the one who is dense. The point is I already own a Mac with the Yosemite OS so all I need to do is bother a technogeek and I can get VoiceOver and other options activated. The ‘machinery’ is already in the system and AccessWorld tells me how to access it…..if I speak geek. After all, AccessWorld does advertise as a technology site.

There’s an article for those with a Mac to help get VoiceOver and other options that came with the Mac.

I also found an AFB’s AccessWorld review of Be My Eyes. That is also a free app in the Apple App Store. This app uses a video link to a live volunteer to help you read stuff and find stuff.

At first, I was a little nervous about downloading it, but the AccessWorld review was promising. The product reviewer had used the system and after a few initial glitches, it had worked well. The reviewer had, for example, had some poor soul in California helping him grid search the backyard for something that had blown off the deck.

This post is getting a little long, but I want to add one more paragraph. The Be My Eyes software was developed in Denmark (great country but really expensive. If it wasn’t for the cost, it would be a place to look if I ever ran away from home…but I digress). The developer thought he had a great idea but thought he might not be able to get enough sighted volunteers.

How wrong he was! There were over 40,000 (maybe 60,000. I just had a memory lapse on the number) and they were complaining they were not getting enough opportunities to help!

You’re right. That was two paragraphs and this is the third. I lied. Cannot vouch for Be My Eyes because I have never tried it but AccessWorld liked it.

Try the Be My Eyes app and let me know. It might be sort of cool having 40, or was it 60, thousand people waiting to serve you?

Written April 2016.  Reviewed 2018.

Continue reading “Do You Speak Technogeek?”

News: The App That Helps Blind People See

3/21/2016 A video & article about an app called Aipoly Vision which has been tested for object identification.  That means the person points their iPhone or iPad at an object and they will hear the name of it if it’s in the database of 1,000 objects (they’re working to expand that to 5,000 objects).  It uses the iPhone’s built-in accessibility functions.

Click here to learn more about this.  It also talks about another app to read text such as restaurant menus.

The Aipoly Vision app is free from the App Store or iTunes.

What a Person with Macular Degeneration Sees

If you don’t have a mobile device, you can check out these webpages & videos that show simulations of vision at various stages:

This webpage shows what people with AMD see as reported by people who have the disease.

This webpage shows in photo form what the various stages of MD vision loss are not only when looking at people but also looking at text. It would be handy to print this and have it with you to show others what you see.

Vision loss with AMD

Video:

What a person with AMD sees

If you have a mobile device, you can download and install apps that will simulate the vision after various stages of MD:

Apple:

RNIB AMD (free; not available for Android) from the UK uses the camera in your device to simulate the various stages of MD (normal, early, medium, late). It also has these information pages: How Your Eye Works, About AMD, Causes, Symptoms, Diagnosis, Treatment, Support.

VisionSim by the Braille Institute (free; not available for Android) Instead of settings for the various stages, there is a slider so you can move smoothly through the symptoms. Not available for Android. It also gives information about the various aspects of vision loss due to MD.

Android

Have not found any Android apps for this-yet.

Click here if you want to see more apps for vision loss

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