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Top 10 Apps That Every Person With Vision Problems Must Have

People with visual disabilities find it hard to access some of necessary, fundamental information. They need a tool to enjoy the standard technological pleasures such as listening to music, texting friends, typing, etc. There are many applications out there that can help people with visual impairments achieve this and more.

Smart phone

Smart phone

Applications like these help make the person’s day simpler by supporting standard tasks such as helping identify faces, run errands, prepare food, and generally perform home chores with ease. There are plenty of applications to help people with vision problems live better. That’s quite encouraging as it means that someone is looking out for persons with visual impairments and doing something about it.

The most preferred phone for blind people is the iPhone because it has the best text-to-speech functionality, and it was the first company to consider blind clientele. We have compiled a list of the apps most essential to the visually impaired.

1. VoiceOver

This was the initial app for visually challenged people. Developed by iPhone, this screen reader app announces email and other messages out loud for the owner to hear. The user gets to choose the timbre of the voice, the rate, and the volume.

The Voiceover app also helps people with visual impairment easily access applications on the screen through a verbal description of the elements displayed. They can know when the battery is low, when alarms will go off and what they were for, etc. With the help of such technology, everything the user wants is easily accessible.

For people who have a braille keyboard, it is also an excellent option. They can connect the keyboards to their smartphones and write directly to the phone screen in braille.

2. Siri

This is yet another app that is integrated into iPhones. It uses a vocal assistant that is generally easy to use. Siri helps the visually impaired who are unable to click on the right applications on the screen. Through the use of a voice control device enables visually impaired people to save time and effort.

Siri talks back and answers even the most mundane of questions acting as a friend more than an app. It can be requested to call a person, text them, send an email, play music, etc. The app has the same functionality as Google Assistant, which controls the smartphone according to its needs.

3. Google Maps

Google Maps is a navigation app that is currently very popular with motorists and even pedestrians. It is essential for blind and visually impaired people. It is estimated that blind people use this application 30% more than others.

When someone uses google maps, they acquire access to real-time information on the area’s traffic. By obtaining the data, visually impaired people can easily choose their right means of transportation.

4. NavCog

The app is brand new, and it is purposed to allow visually impaired people to navigate through the world surrounding them. It is incorporated with turn-by-turn guidance, making it different from GPS. The app offers real-time information concerning the location of the individual.  Bluetooth signals help NavCog to navigate both outdoors and indoors.

5. TapTapSee

Using the camera of an I-phone or an Android device, the app was specifically designed to suit the usually impaired needs. The application identifies everyday objects eliminating the need for sighted assistance. TapTapSee works simply by tapping on the screen so that the phone would take a photo and correctly name the item.

6. Voice Dream Reader

Like other apps made for people with visual disabilities, this app is voice-based and allows the visually impaired to easily read any written text. The written text that can be read by Voice Dream Reader can include emails, messages, websites, local files on your phone, and book share, among others.

The user can customize their text and reading options. They can change the font sizes and the colors to easily view the contents of the application and offer a wide variety of text-to-speech services.

7. Facing Emotions

This app, developed by Android, translates the seven primary human emotions: disgust, fear, happiness, anger, contempt, surprise, and sadness. The application does this by following corresponding sound patterns allowing visually impaired people to connect with the person they are talking to deeply.

8. Talking Calculator

Today, everyone makes their calculations, especially those involving finances. Visually impaired people also need to make their calculations, and the talking calculator app supports audible additions, subtraction, multiplication, and division. The talking calculator app is essential since anyone of any age can use it.

Talking calculators are also installed with features that can alter the numbers, making them bigger and more colorful. With a phone that supports Android iOS, anybody with a visual impairment can easily download the app and comfortably and accurately create their calculations.

9. Moovit

Moovit is an app that is very important to visually impaired people who intend to move through public transportation. The application works by listing some of the available means of transportation. Also, the app records the mode’s timetables and other real-time information that might be relevant.

The app, additionally, lists and announces all the stops as the bus goes through them. It works, not only on the buses but also on the subway and the tram. The app is crucial for people with visual impairments, especially if their voice announcements are not activated.

10. Lookout

The application is the equivalent of an android’s seeing AI. The seeing AI, to begin with, is an application made by I-phone for reading and describing the many types of documents when they are placed under the phones’ camera. The app even scans barcodes and banknotes, making it efficient for many tasks.

With the lookout app, the user is only required to activate their android smartphone’s camera to read the barcodes and banknotes, just like the Seeing AI. The app reads anything the user intends to hear and even skims through mail and text when sorting out the rest’s important ones. The app helps save time.


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