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Be My Eyes iPhone app allows sighted people to lend a helping hand to blind people

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The National Federation of the Blind said last year that Apple has “done more for accessibility than any other company,” and with the help of a new app, iPhone and iPad owners can take things even further. Be My Eyes is an app that allows blind people to request remote help from a sighted person when needed.

Requests for help might range from checking the expiry date on a container of milk to looking at an airport departure board for a gate number … 

Sighted people who are willing to lend a hand install the app and will then get alerts when help is requested.

As soon as the first sighted user accepts the request for help a live audio-video connection will be set up between the two and the sighted user can tell the blind person what she sees when the blind user points his phone at something using the rear-facing camera.

If you’re too busy to help, it’s no problem: the request is automatically rotated through sighted users until one of them accepts. At the time of writing, the app had already assisted blind people on almost 12,000 occasions.

Tim Cook has spoken eloquently on the priority he gives to equality and accessibility, and went as far as telling a lobbying group for investors to “get out of this stock” if it considered environmental concerns and making Apple devices accessible to disabled users to be a waste of money.

Both blind and sighted users can download the free app from iTunes.

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Comments

  1. Dan Fox (@torontodan) - 9 years ago

    I downloaded the app 3 days ago to help people, but it’s so popular that I haven’t had a request for help yet. Over 71,000 have signed up to lend a hand, and only 11,000 requests so far for assistance. I guess that’s a success?

    • heabes - 9 years ago

      I also did the same thing. I got one request to help and in the 5 seconds it took me to slide to unlock my phone and open the app someone had already helped the person. While I was a little sad I didn’t get to do my part and help I was pleasantly surprised to find that so many people like myself were willing to lend an eye (or two!) for those who need it. From what i’ve read they’ve got until the end of this year to figure out some future funding strategy for this software. I hope that someone can help pick up the torch and figure out a way to make this a freely available application for all people with vision problems.

    • Ben Lovejoy - 9 years ago

      Certainly suggests people are getting help easily and quickly

  2. ubatch - 9 years ago

    So, this is like FaceTime but on a community type level? It’s a good idea. Simple, and effective.

  3. chrisl84 - 9 years ago

    Great service that I truely hope isnt spoiled by sickos pointing the camera at things they shouldnt be

    • towamp - 9 years ago

      I’m actually afraid of the opposite, idiots giving wrong information/guidance to blind people on purpose. I hope there is way to rate those who help to know who’s the sickos that need to be kicked out of the platform.

      • chrisl84 - 9 years ago

        Oh yeah it definitely is both sides of the users that can hijack this for the wrong reasons. The Age of Trolls is alive and well, I do hope they leave this app alone.

  4. hoviesb - 9 years ago

    I think this a great idea, and something that I would definitely use. However, I would really be concerned about users – both sighted and non-sighted – absuing the service. Ben, would you highlight what, if anything, Be My Eyes has done to mitigate these risks?

    • kzuzelj - 9 years ago

      From their QA:

      How do you ensure that the system won’t get misused?

      By the end of each session there will be an opportunity to rate or report misuse, both for the helper and the user. People who misuse the system will be excluded from the network.

  5. This is such a fantastic idea. I’m happy to hear there are so many folks out there willing to lend a hand. The world is not so bad after all.

  6. D.A.H. Trump - 9 years ago

    guy 1: “I need help reading this coupon”
    guy 2: “that’s your social security number”

  7. D.A.H. Trump - 9 years ago

    Great idea.

  8. This is a very nice idea, keep it up :)

  9. Kym Primrose - 9 years ago

    Reblogged this on Finding the Future and commented:
    The intention is fantastic but as the comments section below points out, it could easily be misused by both parties.

    I am interested to see how it works (as a matter of general accessibility) after the “I am blind” selection. It also doesn’t mention its potential to be used by the less severely visually impaired community for example; colour blind, short/long sighted, even just “forgot my reading glasses”.

    I think this is perhaps something I would like to highlight to Fife Society for the Blind to get some first hand feedback from any willing volunteers they may have. Even if no-one is willing to trial the app, I would hope to find out why as that information is equally valuable. I have to say that the main roadblock could well be the issue of trusting the person at the other end to give correct information.

Author

Avatar for Ben Lovejoy Ben Lovejoy

Ben Lovejoy is a British technology writer and EU Editor for 9to5Mac. He’s known for his op-eds and diary pieces, exploring his experience of Apple products over time, for a more rounded review. He also writes fiction, with two technothriller novels, a couple of SF shorts and a rom-com!


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