Apple offers multiple tools for people with visual impairments, but app makers go one step further. These apps for blind and partially sighted people not only improve your smartphone experience, but also your life.
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Apps for blind and partially sighted people
In our guide How to Use Apple Devices with a Visual Impairment, we looked at what Apple is doing to help blind and partially sighted people use its devices. Both the operating systems of the iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and Mac have different means to use all the possibilities without your eyes.
However, several app makers take it a step further. We’ll look at that in this article. We choose a series of apps that both make smartphone use more enjoyable and use the technology of your smartphone to see the world better.
1. Envision AI
The Envision AI app, made in the Netherlands, uses your smartphone’s camera to tell you what can be seen in your area. The app can recognize texts, objects and people. It is an impressive app that often gives the correct answer. Yet it also sometimes goes wrong and the app regularly closes suddenly.
The app has several buttons with unfortunately very small text. At the bottom you can choose from ‘Text Recognition’ for recognizing text, ‘General Recognition’ for recognizing all kinds of objects and ‘Help and Settings’. If you tap on ‘Text Recognition’ you will get the options ‘Instant’ for normal texts, ‘handwriting’ for handwritten texts and ‘document’ to read entire documents.
If you choose ‘General recognition’, you can choose between ‘describe scene’ to describe what is in the picture. Sometimes that takes a while, but there is music until it is finished. With ‘detect color’ the app tells you which color is visible and with ‘scan barcode’ you scan a barcode to find information about a product. With the last button ‘teach envision’, new objects and faces can be taught to the app, so that the app can properly tell you who or what the camera is seeing next time.
To use the app you have to register yourself first. This can be done by linking the app with your Facebook or Google account. The app can then be used free of charge for fourteen days. After that, you have to pay for a subscription. That costs 4.99 euros for a monthly subscription and an annual subscription costs 39.99 euros.
2. VO Calendar and VA Calendar
VO Calendar is a diary specially made for blind and partially sighted people, in collaboration with the Royal Vision expertise center. The app can only be used with VoiceOver turned on. VoiceOver speaks all texts on an iPhone screen. We explain how to enable VoiceOver in our guide to Using Apple Devices with a Visual Impairment.
VO Calendar is also notable for its clear design, with large texts and large buttons. It is nice that the app maintains a fixed layout, so you always know where to place your fingers. Appointments can be placed in the agenda by recording them. The app is not cheap; the iPhone version costs EUR 10.99 in the App Store.
VA Calendar is a calendar for the iPad from the same maker. This app focuses on visually impaired people who have difficulty with small print. For example, all texts are enlarged and the contrast can be adjusted. VA Calendar costs 4.49 euros in the App Store.
3. TapTapSee
With the TapTapSee app, tap the screen twice to take a photo. Then the app thinks for a moment, and then tells you what is in the photo. This gives you the opportunity to identify or find objects. It is a surprisingly accurate application that can tell you in detail what is on view. To hear the descriptions you have to turn on VoiceOver. The app then works perfectly with this service.
Be My Eyes
Is artificial intelligence not completely cooperative? Then the Be My Eyes app offers a solution for identifying objects and texts in your environment. Both blind and sighted people can register via this app. Blind people can use their app’s camera to point at something, after which sighted people answer questions about what is on display via the app. Consider, for example, reading a letter, identifying food or helping with information while traveling. This can be done entirely in Dutch.
5. Earcatch
Earcatch gives blind and partially sighted people the opportunity to experience everything from a Dutch film or series. This app gives you audio descriptions of what is happening through your headphones. Think of changes in scene, written texts and other moments that you do not get when you only hear the audio of a film or series.
The app can be used at home, but also in the cinema. To use the app, first find the correct movie or series and download the audio description. You turn this on as soon as the film or series starts. The app listens via your iPhone so that everything automatically runs in sync. Earcatch can be downloaded for free from the App Store.
6. Prizmo Go
Difficulty reading text? Then Prizmo Go is the solution. This camera app does not say anything about objects or people in your environment, but is very good at recognizing and reading texts. Also in Dutch. To do this, tap ‘EN’ in the top right of the app and download the Dutch language package.
Then point the phone at a text and press the big blue button. If you then tap on ‘Reader’, the text will be read aloud. You can also enable the text to be read out automatically in the settings of the app. This app makes all texts accessible in this way. It is not perfect, because the reading voice can still make mistakes. However, the app is completely free to download from the App Store.
7. Seeing AI
Microsoft’s Seeing AI app is similar to the aforementioned Envision AI app, but it’s completely free. This app is easier to use because you just have to point the camera and the app will start talking. The buttons are also clearer. You can choose from short text, document and product via barcode. The last button allows you to identify how many people are around you and what facial expressions they have. The app can also learn who these people are.
The big disadvantage of Seeing AI is that the app does not speak Dutch. As a result, the app speaks Dutch texts in English, which is difficult to follow.
Read more about Accessibility
- Apple trains Siri to better understand people with speech impediments (26-2)
- Accessibility: Adjust iPhone text size and use bold text (10-1)
- People with a disability about their iPhone: “you are missing out on potential customers” (22-10-2020)
- Accessibility in iOS 14: 5 new features for people with disabilities (7/13/2020)
- Are you color blind? This way you turn on color filters on your iPhone, iPad and Mac (2/6/2020)