CVI’s vision rehabilitation therapist, Abby Pledger, teaches smartphone classes every day to people adjusting to vision loss. Here are a few of her favorite apps that we hope you will find useful!
Be My Eyes is a free app available on both iPhone and Android phones that provides instant anonymous video support to the visually impaired. Users have free and unlimited calls available 24/7. Sighted volunteers and professionals lend their eyes to assist people and solve tasks like identifying clothing colors, reading mail, or finding objects that have fallen or been misplaced.
Also free is Seeing AI app for iPhone. You can select different channels to help depending on the task. For example, “Short Text” and “Document” channels read text aloud, the “Product” channel scans barcodes and identifies products and other details, plus there are object recognition channels such as “Person”, “Currency”, and “Scene” that can describe objects and even take a photo to identify most objects.
Lookout is a free app for Android users that is similar to Seeing AI. App users can hear the auditory cues as they encounter objects, people, and written text. Lookout’s four modes—Home, Work & Play, Scan or Experimental—help individuals in different situations. When you select a mode, the app will deliver relevant information to you, such as where objects are in relation to you.
Abby said, “The smartphone classes are truly a game changer. Smartphone training enables clients to feel empowered and confident to navigate life despite their vision loss as they can maintain the connection with loved ones near and far using the skills learned during training.”
To learn more about our smartphone training, visit our website cviga.org. For more information or to inquire about scheduling, email adultprograms@cviga.org or call 404-875-9011.