App to Connect You with the Blind

A Danish team has developed a new iPhone app that lets sighted people help the blind on occasions they need it.

Called Be My Eyes, the app connects the sighted with the blind users using video chat.

The new app takes advantage of an iPhone feature called VoiceOver, which lets blind people use the device using synthetic speech.

The blind person may get help from the sighted ones for tasks like checking the expiry date on a carton of milk or cross a street

For this, they simply need to tap their screen to find the first available sighted helper.

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Once a helper accepts the request, the blind person points his rear camera at the problem and can get assistance by video chat.

Over 13,000 helpers have signed up in just over a day to help around 1,145 blind people so far, with around 2,000 instances of aid given already, informs the app's website.

This lets people who are completely blind use the device using synthetic speech and a touch-based interface.

The free to download app is currently available for iPhone 4S or above, running iOS 7.

Source: IANS