The iPhone has many wonderful apps that use the iPhone’s camera and turns the phone into assistive technology for visually impaired or blind users. In the past, visually impaired or blind people have had to rely on clunky single-use devices that are now iPhone apps. Many accessibility features were expensive ad on expenses. Now the iPhone has revolutionized accessibility. There are so many things that Apple has included free with the phone to make it accessible. Both the screen reader and VoiceOver are free. That paired with the iPhone camera gives it the potential to give blind and visually impaired users incomparable accessibility.
Here we take a look at 5 apps that use the iPhones camera and turn the phone into a wonderful piece of assistive technology.
1. LookTel Monday Reader is an app that uses the camera to instantly identify currency and speak the denomination. This allows a user to quickly identify and count money. When a user is in the app they simply point the iPhone’s camera at the bill and the application will verbally identify the bill in real time. LookTel recognizes several different countries currency. This app can be purchase for $9.99 in iTunes.
2. oMoby is an object recognition app to assist visually-impaired or blind users in identifying an object. You take a picture of the product or you can also scan a barcode and it will identify the item for you. It does require internet access to be able to submit the picture and to receive the response. This app is FREE in the iTunes store.
3. TextDetective– is an app that uses the camera to take a picture of the document image and it turns it into plain text that can be used with the speech output built on an iPhone. It can then read, edit, copy and paste this text into e-mails or other apps. This app works best on iPhone 4S and above and is only available for iPhone 4 and above. This app is $9.99 in the iTunes store.
4. Digit-Eyes QR/Barcode Reader and Labeler is an app that allows you to make your own QR code labels. You can make the barcode QR labels and they can have text that the iPhone’s VoiceOver can then read. It can also be used to record audio on your iPhone and can be played back whenever the bar code is scanned. This is such a great way for someone with a visual impairment to label cans, clothing or track appointments. It is also able to identify a manufacturer’s product code to identify grocers and other consumer goods. This app is $19.99 in the iTunes store.
5. Viz-Wiz-Even though technology is advancing every day you still at times need the help of another person. This is where the app Viz-Wiz steps in to assist. If you need assistance identifying an item: you take a picture, ask a question and send the request. A sighted worker will receive this request on the other end and return a spoken answer identifying the item or answering the users question. The responses are in nearly real-time. This app is FREE in the iTunes store.
The built-in accessibility features of the iPhone and the development of specialized apps have changed the world of accessibility. It has become a device that can do what used to only be done by many different single-use devices. It is also redefining the cost of assistive technology. These specialized apps paired with the iPhone’s camera have changed assistive technology dramatically for people who are visually impaired or blind. Above are just some of the apps that use the iPhone’s camera to create accessible apps. There are many more out there and many more being created that will continue to change the way we perceive assistive technology.