The app that helps blind people ‘see’: Be My Eyes

Checking the expiry date on a tin of food, or navigating through a train station is easy for people with full vision. But, for the blind, these everyday tasks can prove difficult. To solve this problem, a visually impaired developer from Denmark has launched the Be My Eyes app. It connects blind people to a sighted volunteer using a live video chat. The volunteer can then answer questions and see the blind person’s surroundings using a phone’s camera.

Be My Eyes takes advantage of an iPhone feature called VoiceOver. This lets people who are completely blind use the device using synthetic speech and a touch-based interface.

To ask for help, a blind person opens the Be My Eyes app and requests assistance from a sighted user. This can be anything from knowing the expiry date on the milk, to navigating new surroundings.

The volunteer helper gets a notification for help, and once it accepts the request, a live video connection opens.

Using the live video, the volunteer can see whatever is in front of the blind person using the phone’s built-in camera.

They can then help the blind person answer their question. At the end of each session, the app lets both users rate the call, or report misuse. Be My Eyes said that anyone who misuses the system will be banned from the network.

The app is currently only available for people using an iPhone 4S or above, running iOS 7. An Android app is in development.  Be My Eye’s founder Hans Jørgen Wiberg is visually impaired.

He came up with the idea and presented it at a Startup Weekend event in Denmark April 2012. He said: ‘Be My Eyes makes life easier for the blind, by connecting them with sighted helpers through a smartphone app. ‘This allows the blind to handle big and small tasks, while sighted get the joy of helping someone else in an easy and informal way.

‘It only takes a minute to choose the right tin can from the shelf, look at the expiration date on the milk or find the right thing to eat in the fridge – if you have full vision that is.

‘For visual impaired individuals smaller tasks in their home can often become bigger challenges.

‘Be My Eyes hopes to change that.’

The app is currently free, but as the firm explained, when its initial funding comes to an end in September 2015, they may consider subscription model or donations.