Android & iOS Apps
Apps for the Blind
Accessible mobile apps are applications, or specialized programs, downloaded onto mobile devices for smartphones and tablets, that have accessibility built in or may be built to be compatible with screen reading or screen magnification software that are built into or installed on the device. Many of the apps listed here include optical character recognition (OCR), object recognition, GPS and route finding, or text-to-speech features.
People with visual impairment may need to practice using their devices to add convenience to their daily activities.
Types of apps listed here
Built-in Accessibility of Devices
iOS
Android
Accessibility Apps
Scanner, Reader and Writer Apps
Reader, Scanner and OCR Apps
Audiobook / eBook Reading Apps
Writer, Notetaker, Brailler and Dictation Apps
Magnifier Apps
Navigation, Mobility and Orientation Apps
Office and School Apps
Meeting Apps
Talking Calculator Apps
Education Apps
Job Apps
Lifestyle Apps
Health Apps
Social Network Apps
Object Exploration and Recognition Apps
Daily Chores Apps
News Apps
Music, Games, and Entertainment Apps
Shopping Apps
Currency Reader Apps
Built-in Accessibility of Devices
iOS
If you are blind, you can communicate in a variety of ways with iOS features. For vision loss, you can use VoiceOver, an advanced screen reader, to get the most from your iOS device. And Siri® and Dictation help you type, launch apps, and read your calendar. Last but not least is Zoom, a built-in magnifier that works wherever you are in iOS, from Mail and Safari® to the Home and Lock Screens; Large Text, where you can increase the font size in your iOS apps up to 56 points; and Invert Colors, where a higher contrast can help you better see what’s on your display. Learn more about the built-in accessibility of iOS from:
Accessibility for iPhone and iPad
Accessibility — also referred to as inclusivity — is all about making the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad work for as wide a range of people as possible. That can include the very young, the very old, people brand new to computers and mobile devices, and also people with disabilities and special needs.
With iOS, Apple has added features to specifically help those with:
Visual impairments, including blindness, color blindness, and low vision;
Auditory impairments including deafness in one or both ears;
Physical or motor skill impairments, including limited coordination or range of motion
Learning challenges, including autism and dyslexia.
It also includes general features, like Siri and FaceTime which can provide significant value for the blind or the deaf. Many of these features can be found in Settings, all of them can be found on the iPhone and iPad. Here are links to instructions on various settings:
Source: Accessibility for iPhone and iPad: The ultimate guide
Built-in Apps / Features
The following Apps and / or Features are built into an iOS to help accessibility. These are briefed on right:
Siri
VoiceOver
Speak Selection
FaceTime
Dictation
Zoom
Font Adjustment
Invert Colors and Grayscale
Braille Display
Further Reading:
Siri®, an intelligent assistant by Apple®, helps you do the things you do every day. All you have to do is ask.
Say something like “Tell Jay I’m running late” or “Remind me to make reservations for Saturday.”
Siri® can send messages, place phone calls, schedule meetings, and even turn on and off VoiceOver, Guided Access® and Invert Colors.
If you have a hard time reading the text on your iOS device, use Speak Selection to read your email, iMessages®, web pages, and books to you. Highlight text in any application, tap Speak, and Speak Selection reads the selected text aloud.
Connect with family and friends around the world with FaceTime. Make audio and video calls from your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch to other iOS devices or even a Mac.
Features
Reach contacts using their phone number or Apple ID.
Make both video and audio calls.
Enjoy Group FaceTime with up to 32 people at once.
Use effects to become an Animoji, place stickers, and much more right in your FaceTime call.
Use the front-facing FaceTime camera to show your face, or switch to the back camera to show your friends what you see.
Create Favorites for quick access to key people in the Phone app.
FaceTime calls are integrated into your recent calls list in the Phone app.
FaceTime works over Wi-Fi (iPhone 4 or later) and cellular (iPhone 4s or later).
With VoiceOver—a gesture-based screen reader—you can use iPhone even if you can’t see the screen. VoiceOver gives audible descriptions of what’s on your screen—from battery level, to who’s calling, to which app your finger is on.
When you touch the screen or drag your finger over it, VoiceOver speaks the name of the item your finger is on, including icons and text. To interact with the item, such as a button or link, or to navigate to another item, use VoiceOver gestures.
Turn VoiceOver on or off
VoiceOver changes the gestures you use to control iPhone. When VoiceOver is on, you must use VoiceOver gestures to operate iPhone.
To turn VoiceOver on or off, use any of the following methods:
Summon Siri and say “Turn on VoiceOver” or “Turn off VoiceOver”
Triple-click the side button (on an iPhone with Face ID)
Triple-click the Home button (on an iPhone with a Home button)
Go to Settings > Accessibility > VoiceOver, then turn the setting on or off
Learn and practice VoiceOver gestures
Go to Settings > Accessibility > VoiceOver.
Turn on VoiceOver, tap VoiceOver Practice, then double-tap to start.
Practice the following gestures with 1, 2, 3, and 4 fingers:
Tap
Double-tap
Triple-tap
Swipe left, right, up, or down
When you finish practicing, tap Done, then double-tap to exit.
Further reading
Teaching VoiceOver Gestures: 1-Finger Tricks and Tips, Teaching VoiceOver Gestures: 2-Finger Tricks and Tips, Teaching VoiceOver Gestures: 3-Finger Tricks and Tips, Path to Technology, Perkins School for the Blind eLearning
Dictation - Speech to text allows to dictate, record, translate and transcribe text instead of typing. It uses latest speech to text voice recognition technology and its main purpose is speech to text and translation for text messaging.
Zoom - Apple's Built-In Screen Magnifier
Zoom is a built-in magnifier that works wherever you are in iOS, from Mail and Safari® to the Home and Lock screens. And it works with all apps from the App Store®. A simple double-tap with three fingers instantly zooms in 200 percent, and you can adjust the magnification between 100 and 500 percent. While you’re zoomed in, you can still use all of the familiar gestures to navigate your device. And Zoom works with VoiceOver, so you can better see — and hear — what’s happening on your screen.
When you activate Larger Dynamic Type, the text inside Calendar, Contacts, Mail, Messages, Notes, and even some third party apps, is converted to a larger, easier-to-read size. And you can choose bold text to make the text heavier across a range of built-in applications.
If a higher contrast helps you better see what’s on your display, iOS lets you invert the colors onscreen. Once you set your colors, the settings apply systemwide, even to video, so you get the same view no matter what you’re seeing.
iPad®, iPhone® (3GS or later), and iPod touch® (3rd generation or later) support more than 40 Bluetooth wireless braille displays right out of the box. Simply pair one and start using it to navigate your iOS device with VoiceOver — no additional software needed. In addition, iPad®, iPhone®, and iPod touch® include braille tables for more than 25 languages. For more information on Braille Displays, please click here.
Android
From the start, we build with accessibility in mind. We work together to learn how we use devices, what obstacles we might face and what our days look like when we have disabilities. The end result isn’t just a new app or device. It’s a more inclusive way for everyone to experience the world. Learn more about the built-in accessibility of iOS from:
Accessibility: Made for the way you want to use it, Android.com
Android accessibility overview, Google
Customize an Android device using accessibility settings and apps.
Use a screen reader
TalkBack: To interact with your device using touch and spoken feedback, you can turn on the TalkBack screen reader. TalkBack describes your actions and tells you about alerts and notifications.
TalkBack braille keyboard: You can use the TalkBack braille keyboard to enter 6-dot braille on your screen. Only Unified English Braille is currently supported.
Select to Speak: If you want spoken feedback only at certain times, you can turn on Select to Speak. Select items on your screen to hear them read or described aloud, or point the camera at something in the real world.
Change your display
Display size and font size: To change the size of items on your screen, adjust the display size or font size.
Magnification: To temporarily zoom or magnify your screen, use magnification.
Contrast and color options: To adjust contrast or colors, use high-contrast text, dark theme, color inversion, or color correction.
Interaction controls
Lookout: Lookout uses computer vision to assist people who are blind or have low vision in gaining information about their surroundings.
Voice Access: Voice Access lets you control your device with spoken commands. Use your voice to open apps, navigate, and edit text hands-free.
Switch Access: Switch Access lets you interact with your Android device using one or more switches instead of the touchscreen. You can use a switch or keyboard to control your device.
Action Blocks: Action Blocks makes routine actions easier with customizable buttons on your Android home screen.
Time to take action (Accessibility timeout): You can choose how long to show messages that ask you to take action, but are visible only temporarily.
Use a braille display
BrailleBack: You can connect a refreshable braille display to your device via Bluetooth. BrailleBack works with TalkBack for a combined speech and braille experience, allowing you to edit text and interact with your device.
Audio & on-screen text
Captions: You can choose caption preferences (language, text, and style) for your device.
Live Caption: Live Caption automatically captions speech on your device.
Live Transcribe & Sound Notifications: You can use Live Transcribe to capture speech and sound and see them as text on your screen. Sound Notifications help you know what's happening in your home, like when a smoke alarm beeps or a doorbell rings.
Sound Amplifier: You can use Sound Amplifier with wired or Bluetooth headphones to filter, augment, and amplify the sounds in your environment or on your Android device.
Hearing aid support: You can pair hearing aids with your Android device to hear more clearly.
Real-time text (RTT) during calls: You can use text to communicate during a phone call with RTT.
Explore Android accessibility apps and services
You can explore Android accessibility apps and services in several ways:
Download Android Accessibility Suite, including the Accessibility Menu, Select to Speak, Switch Access, and TalkBack. Android Accessibility Suite is built in to many Android devices.
Review Android device settings for ways to customize your device. Open your device's Settings app, then choose Accessibility.
Explore Google Play for other accessibility apps and services for Android.
Design and develop more accessible apps
For anyone designing or developing an app, Accessibility Scanner can help you identify opportunities to improve your app for users. You can also refer to Android Accessibility developer resources.
Source: Android accessibility overview
Built-in Apps / Features
The following Apps and / or Features are built into an Android to help accessibility. These are briefed on right:
Google Assistant
TalkBack
Speak Selection
Google Assistant - Get things done, hands-free
Google Assistant is for hands-free help - bulit-in Android
Just start with
"Hey Google"
Play music and videos with your voice
"Play workout music"
"Play my Discover Weekly on Spotify"
"Set volume to 5"
Stay in touch with hands-free calls, texts, and emails
"Read my unread texts"
"Call Carly"
"Text Sam 'On my way'"
Get quick directions and local info
"How's the traffic to work?"
"Where's the nearest coffee shop?"
"Give me directions to the airport"
Get convenient help throughout the day
"Remind me to drink water every morning"
"Add eggs and bread to my shopping list"
"Set an alarm for 7 AM"
Search the web and get quick answers
"What’s the weather this weekend?"
"How much is $50 in euros?"
"Tell me the latest news"
RAY Vision for the visually impaired
Ray replaces the traditional click interaction with simple touch and directional swipe gestures to access most of the functions available in the Android device
Detailed in Lifestyle below.
Android Accessibility Suite is a collection of accessibility apps that help you use your Android device eyes-free or with a switch device.
Android Accessibility Suite
Accessibility Menu: Use this large on-screen menu to lock your phone, control volume and brightness, take screenshots, and more.
Select to Speak: Select items on your screen and hear them read aloud.
Switch Access: Interact with your Android device using one or more switches or a keyboard instead of the touch screen.
TalkBack screen reader: Get spoken feedback, control your device with gestures, and type with the on-screen braille keyboard.
Android Accessibility Suite requires Android 6 (Android M) or later.
Android offers the TalkBack feature which helps navigate the mobile device and reads out options. It’s not as smooth or as seamlessly integrated with other apps as VoiceOver, and does not read out Web pages, emails, or books. It does, however, at times assist with using the keyboard.
Accessibility Comparison: Android and iOS
Apple or Google, Android or iOS, is an debate that is unlikely to be settled either way in near future. Here is a comparative based on their accessibility strengths:
Which inbuilt accessibility features are better: iPhone or Android?, London Vision, 2021
A smartphone accessibility primer; or, how I learned to stop worrying and master mobile accessibility, 2017 [Compares TalkBack and VoiceOver point by point]
Does iOS or Android have better accessibility features for people with disabilities?, Quora, 2017
iOS v. Android: Mobile Accessibility Features, Accessibility.com
Accessibility Apps
In addition to the built-in accessibility support in Android and iOS, there are a number of Apps that enhance the accessibility of the mobile phone for a blind as well as visually impaired user. Some of these use the Large Print principle to make icons bigger for easy splotting and navigation or provide a novel simple non-QWERTY keyboard and easy, fast and reliable typing.
Audible Vision App is an effort towards making a meaningful impact towards the blind and VI community. App will leverage artificial intelligence to help them be independent by helping them perform some of the daily chores on their own and help stay safe through mask and crowd detection.
App has a very simple and intuitive voice driven UI interface for ease of operation. It is a one shop stop for the users to handle many activities like:
Smart Text: Identify product name or nearby shop names.
Expiry Date: Detect expiry date of products. This feature is in experimental stage, kindly re-confirm the expiry date with a human agent.
Safety: In current situation, it is even more challenging for the blind people to know if their surrounding is safe.
Mask detector: Person in front is wearing mask or not.
Crowd detector: Equally important is to identify if the commute path is not crowded.
Find Text: Identify products or shops through their names. For example, if a user wants to find a specific medicine in a medical box; instead of reading all the text, user can ask for a specific medicine name to be searched and the app will alert as soon as it camera is directed towards it.
Document: Read books or text pages.
Voice commands & feedback: The app can be controlled using voice commands and output will be communicated through voice or sound.
A fast and simple Android home screen for seniors and people with vision problems.
Features
BIG Launcher makes the smartphone suitable for seniors, children, and people with eye diseases, motor problems or the legally blind.
It replaces the user interface of almost any Android phone or tablet with enlarged buttons and texts
Visually impaired and technically challenged users can use simple and easy-to-read interface with ease.
Controlled by single touches, leaving no room for errors
Easily customizable to match your needs
Put the shortcuts for apps, websites, contacts, widgets and more directly on the home screen
Add more screens and access them by swiping or pushing the buttons
There is no fear of making a mistake and losing everything with stress-free navigation
And it also features the SOS button which can save lives!
BIG Apps Suite
BIG Launcher - Your new home screen
BIG Phone - Easy to use phone and contacts
BIG SMS - Messaging editor with large fonts
BIG Alarm - Alarm as simple as possible
BIG Notifications - Make all the Android notifications really big
Supports 52 languages including Hindi and Bangla
A Review of BIG Launcher, the Android App with Seniors in Mind, AFB
MessagEase is a VERY different keyboard, unlike any keyboard you’ve seen or experienced before. It's NOT a QWERTY keyboard!
This novel keyboard designed for ease, speed and accuracy. It has 9 large keys with an ingenious letter assignment. It also uses letter frequency and di-gram data to optimize the position of letters and characters. (That’s why the letter positions are NON-QWERTY!)
The keyboard also includes word prediction. To keep the package light, the word lists required for word prediction is provided in separate modules that you download optionally.
Using MessageEase the current champion’s speed is 82 WPM! That's 82 Words Per Minute!
Since MessagEase is very different, you must spend a few minutes to get used to it.
You can also change the keyboard size, reshape and recolor the keyboard in various ways and change the font and can even re-assign new characters or hide and remove some of the characters.
Giganticon allows you to personalize your home screen with big huge gigantic giant icons for any app you like. Just add the Giganticon widget to your home screen and choose your app. You can resize the icon to be tiny, gigantic, or anything in between.
You can have up to two icons totally free, and then the app will ask you to upgrade.
Giganticon is great at increasing accessibility for people who have poor vision or trouble touching small icons. Giganticon supports TalkBack for those who have it enabled.
Choose notifications to appear on your device, even while locked. NoLED displays icons representing e-mail, SMS, voicemail, Google Talk, and an array of other apps. Choose the ones you want to see onscreen, and adjust their color, hue, and saturation. Though the icons themselves are small, you can pick just those that are the most important to you, choose colors that are easy for you to see, and position them to appear where you like when a notification arrives.
Braille Institute introduces ViA (Visually Impaired Apps), a fully accessible app for iPod Touch, iPhone, and iPad.
ViA has been designed to help identify apps that are useful for adults and children who are blind or have low vision, including those with additional disabilities. Users can easily sort through the 500,000+ apps in the App Store and locate those that were built specifically for, or provide functionality to, the user with a visual impairment.
Using the industry leading accessibility features native to iOS devices, ViA allows users to sort apps by category, price, and the App Store star rating. ViA has a forum to suggest and discuss apps with the ever-growing, interactive community of avid iOS users. It also links to external reviews, podcasts, and blogs that provide further insight into the use of a specific app. Users can track new apps that fall into the categories that interest them, making the process of locating appropriate apps even easier. The apps that appear in ViA are suggested by users, educators, parents, and Braille Institute partner organizations.
ViA can also be used by teachers, orientation & mobility specialists, and rehabilitation therapists to identify apps that enhance learning and support educational outcomes, while family members will find apps to assist loved ones in their daily lives.
With ViA you will spend less time shopping for apps that don’t meet your needs, allowing more time to use the ones that do.
Scanner, Reader and Writer Apps
There are varied Apps for scanning, reading and writing. They transform a content in one form (text, image, audio, or Braille) to another.
Scanner and Readers
Image to Text
Optical character recognition (OCR) systems provide persons who are blind or visually impaired with the capacity to scan printed text and then have it spoken in synthetic speech or saved to a computer file. There are three essential elements to OCR technology:
Scanning: Initially, a printed document is scanned by a camera.
Recognition: OCR software then converts the images into recognized characters and words and creates temporary files containing the text’s characters and page layout. The recognition process takes account of the logical structure of the language. An OCR system will deduce that the word “tke” at the beginning of a sentence is a mistake and should be read as the word “the.” OCR systems also use a lexicon and apply spell-checking techniques similar to those found in many word processors. Finally, the information is stored in an electronic form.
Reading text: A person who is blind or visually impaired can access the scanned text by using adaptive technology devices that magnify the computer screen or provide speech or braille output. The synthesizer in the OCR system then speaks the recognized text.
Text to Speech (Voice)
Text to speech apps are used by visually impaired people as well as by sighted people for convenience. Most of these are based on the Text To Speech app preinstalled in your smartphone. Finding the best text to speech app is not that easy as a lot of options are available on the Google Play Store or App Store.
Braille to Text
Braille codes are converted to equivalent text by apps. Often, they can further to translated to synthesized speech for read out loud.
We list a few popular scanners and readers. Some of them perform the dual task of scanning and reading together.
Writer and Notetakers
Speech to Text
This involves Speech recognition and AI. Variety of speech libraries are supported by the Apps in the notetakers
Text to Braille
Braille typing is supported in apps to key-in a text in Braille. Combined with Speech to text, some apps allow direct Braille entry from spoken words.
We list a few popular writers and notetakers
Reader, Scanner and OCR Apps
PDF Scanner App, Document Scanner - PrimeScanner
PrimeScanner is an easy-to-use and free pdf scanner app with OCR, which makes document scanning and sending simple. Prime Scanner can be used as free camera scanner and free pdf scanner too, as it allows to import images not only from the camera, but from a file browser and gallery as well.
100% free scanner app with:
Unlimited number of scanned documents
Image to PDF Converter: Clear high quality PDF or JPG output (no watermarks)
Unlocked sharing services (Gmail, Dropbox, Evernote, etc.)
Free Document scanner with unlocked OCR (text recognition) functionality
Features
Find document edges automatically
Crop the unwanted background parts
Straighten and unwarp the document
Apply built-in filters to finalize the document preparation
OCR - Recognize text on the image
Add signature or seal to the document
Image to PDF Converter: Produce high quality image to PDF or JPG output (no watermarks)
Android (4.6)
Universal photo-based scanner app that for scanning and recognizing text documents, business cards, and images, and then exporting them as PDF/Text, vCard, or JPEG/PNG.
Fully compatible with VoiceOver, it provides voice guidance to help position an iPhone when taking document pictures and will find the text orientation automatically if it is turned left, right or upside down.
Simple Text Reader - Text to Speech (by TTSReader)
TTSReader app reads out loud written content - plain text, text files and web pages
Features
Editable text
Import web pages
Shows images
Multiple languages and voices
Set reading speed
Tap anywhere to set reading location
Caches & bookmarks reading location where stopped
Accepts shared text from any other app
Accepts shared web page url's from your browser
Internal browser to search and play web pages
Import text files from device storage
Highlights and follows the sentence currently being read
Text-to-speech reading apps for iPhone and iPad that allows people to listen to web pages and other electronic content instead of reading the information from the screen. Individual users have the option of using Capti for free for an unlimited time but with limited functionality or subscribing for an individual premium plan that will enable all premium plan features.
2021 Apple Design Award Winner
Text-to-speech app with a configurable screen layout from VoiceDream
Features
Dyslexia friendly font, text and audio synchronization
Customizable font size and colour combinations
Full VoiceOver support
Supports reading PDF and Word documents, DRM-free EPUB and DAISY eBooks, web pages and more.
Directly integrated with Bookshare, Dropbox, G-Drive, Evernote, Pocket, Instapaper, and Gutenberg.
36 built-in iOS voices are available for free and 146 premium voices from Acapela, NeoSpeech and Ivona in 24 languages available through in-app purchase.
Many navigation and reading options including:
navigation by sentence, paragraph, page, and chapter
adding bookmarks, notes, and highlights
reading speed control
pronunciation dictionary
Further reading
A Review of the Voice Dream Reader for iOS: A One-Stop Solution by Bill Holton (AFB)
Using the VoiceDream app to read books, Tutorial from NNELS
Use Optical Character Recognition software online. Service supports 46 languages
Use OCR software: Recognize text and characters from PDF scanned documents (including multipage files), photographs and digital camera captured images.
Convert PDF to Word: Convert text and Images from your scanned PDF document into the editable DOC format. Converted documents look exactly like the original - tables, columns and graphics.
Free Service: OnlineOCR.net is a free OCR service that allows you to convert 15 files per hour (and 15 pages into multipage files). Registration will give you ability to convert multipage PDF documents and other features.
Adobe Scan: PDF Scanner with OCR, PDF Creator
It is a camera scanning and OCR application.
Of course, the final document is a PDF, which you can only directly edit with a paid version of Acrobat, but copying the text over to a word processor of your choice is no hassle.
App that turns text to speech or publishes it in braille with a refreshable display on iOS, Android and Windows 10 Devices.
Features
Reads printed text - mail, receipts, class handouts, etc.
Reads printed materials in a variety of languages
Reading modes for single and multicolumn formats
Synchronized text highlighting with braille and high-quality speech output
Text navigation by line, sentence, word and character
Viewfinder for live field of view
Tilt guidance and report to assist aligning the camera
Automatic text detection for hands/touch-free operation
Capture and read documents, brochures, and books.
Read&Write is a text-to-speech program that provides visual and auditory feedback of text. The program includes reading, writing and literacy support:
Features
Touch and hold to hear text read aloud with easy-to-follow on-screen highlighting
Speak As I Type
Word prediction
Talking Dictionary and Picture Dictionary
Spell checker
Hear2Read Indic Text To Speech (TTS) Engine
Indic TTS
Hear2Read Ⓡ Text-To-Speech (TTS) service engine is for use with all Hear2Read voices. It supports many Indic languages including Hindi, Gujarati, Odia, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Tamil, and Telugu. The App is useful for users with Talkback option.
Hear2Read engine switches back ad forth between English and the preferred Indic TTS voices. Numbers are spoken in the Indic language whether written in English or the Indic script.
Screen reading Apps like @Voice Aloud Reader determine the content language to select the TTS engine and voice.
eBook reading Apps like Voice Dream Reader allow the user to select and associate a TTS Engine and language for each book.
Kibo, for reading Indic text in PDF has a built-in OCR for many Indic languages and can read clean scanned .pdf files as well.
Android (4.0)
Further reading
Supersense - helps blind and visually impaired
Supersense is the smartest assistive app that helps blind and visually impaired users to read, find objects, and explore places independently.
Details under Lifestyle
Read Aloud: A Text to Speech Voice Reader
Read Aloud the current web-page article with one click, using text to speech (TTS). Supports 40+ languages. It can read PDF, Google Docs, Google Play books, Amazon Kindle, and EPUB (via EPUBReader)
It trims, enhances, and makes pictures of whiteboards and documents readable.
You can use it to convert images to PDF, Word, PowerPoint, and Excel files, digitize printed or handwritten text, and save to OneNote, OneDrive, or your local device. You can even import images that are already on your device using Gallery.
Features
At Work
Scan and upload your notes, and documents
Capture whiteboard at end of the meeting
Scan printed text or handwritten meeting notes
Keep your business contacts by scanning business cards
Save as PDF, Image, Word or PowerPoint formats into cloud
At School
Scan classroom handouts and annotate them in Word and OneNote
Scan handwritten notes to digitize and edit
Take a picture of the whiteboard or blackboard
Keep class notes and your own research organized with OneNote
Amazon Kindle - Read eBooks, comics & more
App that allows users to use their Android phone, iPhones and iPads as a Kindle device and access their eBooks purchased from Amazon as well as directly download eBooks to the devices
It supports 5 Indian languages - Hindi, Tamil, Marathi, Malayalam and Gujarati
@Voice Aloud Reader (TTS Reader)
Listen to the app reading aloud or read on screen web pages, news articles, long emails, TXT, PDF, DOC, DOCX, RTF, OpenOffice documents, EPUB, MOBI, PRC, AZW and FB2 ebooks and more. It's an HTML reader, document reader and ebook reader all in one, both for reading on-screen, or listening
Legere Technologies LLC was formed in 2020 as the new home for the Voice Dream Android Reader and Scanner apps
Legere Reader is an accessible reading tool for mobile and tablet devices. It supports reading PDF, DRM-free EPUB and DAISY eBooks and more.
It supports synchronized reading capability that integrates text and voice.
Features
Voice Reading
Listen to documents like it's music
Continues reading when you lock the screen
Change voice and reading speed (50-700 wpm)
Visual Reading
Switch between original layout and text-only view
Synchronized word and line highlighting
Improve focus with reduced text area and auto-scrolling
Font size up to 80 points
Adjustable margin, line and character spacing
Navigating
Navigation by sentence, paragraph, page, chapter, highlights, bookmarks, 15, 30, and 60 seconds
Bookmarking, text highlighting and note taking
Full-text search
Voices
Any built-in voice
Premium voices from Acapela 24 languages available in-app purchase
Languages: English and several from Europe
Aims to provide faster communication for the blind and visually impaired people through their mobile phones
Features
Writing
Carried out in two ways:
Using the standard system keyboard (takes time searching for the characters)
Using the speech-to-text feature (violates the privacy of the user)
Six point Braille keyboard for tap to write
Different beeps for the keys, a variety of swipes across the screen (to delete a character, delete a whole word, enter a space, enter a new row etc.) simplicity and speed are provided in using the keyboard
Reading
Talk Back with easy navigation
Google Vision API: Uses the phone camera to detect text. Later the text, using text-to-speech, is read to the user in real time.
Google Lens lets you search what you see
Features
Scan and Translate Text
Translate words you see, save a business card to your contacts, add events to your calendar from a poster, and copy and paste complicated codes or long paragraphs into your phone to save time.
Identify Plants & Animals
Find out what that plant is in your friend's apartment, or what kind of dog you saw in the park.
Explore Spaces around you
Identify and learn about landmarks, restaurants, and storefronts. See ratings, hours of operation, historical facts, and more.
Find the look you like
See an outfit that catches your eye? Or a chair that's perfect for your living room? Find similar clothes, furniture, and home decor to the one you like.
Know what to order
See popular dishes on a restaurant menu based on reviews from Google Maps.
Scan Code
Quickly scan QR codes and barcodes.
Android (4.5)
Google Docs has an in-built OCR program that can recognize text in JPEG, PNG, GIF, and PDF files. But all files should be 2 MB or less and text should be 10 pixels or higher. Google Drive can also auto-detect the language in the scanned files, though accuracy with non-Latin characters might not be great.
Steps
Log into Google Drive account
Upload the PDF or image file
Right-click on the document and click on Open with Google Docs
Google converts your PDF or image file to text with OCR and opens it in a new Google document. The text is editable and you can correct the parts where the OCR failed to read it right.
You can download the finetuned documents in the multiple formats Google Drive supports.
Features
Text translation: Translate between 108 languages
Tap to Translate: Copy text in any app and tap the Google Translate icon to translate
Offline: Translate with no internet connection (59 languages)
Instant camera translation: Translate text in images instantly by just pointing your camera (94 languages)
Photos: Take or import photos for higher quality translations (90 languages)
Conversations: Translate bilingual conversations on the fly (70 languages)
Handwriting: Draw text characters instead of typing (96 languages)
Phrasebook: Star and save translated words and phrases for future reference
Cross-device syncing: Login to sync phrasebook between app and desktop
Transcribe: Continuously translate someone speaking a different language in near real-time (8 languages)
Speak! aids the visually impaired who require reading assistance. Besides English and several Latin based language it supports Hindi, and Urdu too.
Features
READ TEXT. Takes a photo, extracts the text, presents it and reads it out loud
SCAN TEXT. Continuous text detection
SCAN OBJECT. Continuous object detection
SCAN COLOR. Continuous color detection
SCAN BAR-CODE. Continuous bar-code detection
SCAN MONEY. Identify U.S Dollar bills
IDENTIFY. Identifies products and reads out loud the result
Additional features
Share text, images or pdf files to speak for reading.
Automatically detects language of text
Supports huge fonts and different color contrasts for partially sighted
Full text extraction or relevant text only
Set talking speed and text to speech engine
Zoom in and out using pinch gestures
Scan paper documents with the camera and recognize text. Listen using built-in text-to-speech. Save and export. It uses AI to analyze the live feed from the camera for text, angle, rotation, and document edges.
Works with Voice Dream Reader, full-featured text-to-speech reader.
Features
Scanning
ScanTone
Live edges/crop detection
Flashlight
Batch mode
Intelligent auto capture
Image
Automatic edge detection
Manually cropping
Automatic orientation detection and rotation
Manual image rotation
Automatic image enhancement
OCR
Fast
Offline
Private: Local device
Language detection
Text To Speech
Premium voices in Voice Dream Reader available
Change speech rate
Spoken word is highlighted
Import and Export
Load from Photo Library
Export plain text
Export to Voice Dream Reader as PDF
Limitations
Only languages using Latin alphabets are supported
Kibo: Accessibility for all (Blind & Low-vision)
Indic Text PDF Reader
Kibo is an Android app that aims to be a one-stop solution for all the reading and learning needs of people with print disabilities.
This app is accessible with the Talkback screen reader. The app includes features to provide a pleasant reading experience whether the text is printed, handwritten, in audio or in digital formats such as DAISY format or EPUB. It supports English and several other international languages. This app has been developed by Trestle Labs from India and it also supports several Indian languages. The app supports book search, download and reading from the Bookshare and Sugamya Pustakalaya online libraries.
The app features are explained below. Kibo User Guide is available online for more information.
Android (4.2)
Audiobook / eBook Reading Apps
Audiobooks are a primary resource for the print disabled, Hence, there are several audiobook readers available. The desirable features of audiobook players include:
Handle other formats from the same platform, such as ebooks, comic books, or magazines
Support CarPlay
Provide sleep timer
Offer reading speed controls
Support and sync bookmarks and notes
Seamless sync of last-reached position
Offer options to choose between downloading for offline use and streaming
Include built-in audiobook store
Provide a stable audiobook playback
Audible: Listen to the Audiobook & Podcast library
Audible is the world’s most popular audiobook platform. You can buy audiobooks on their own or subscribe for some free books and discounts on others.
This is a rather unique business model and you can go the way you want to go. The app works well enough on mobile and it’s easy enough to listen anywhere else as well. The overall experience is actually very simple. You log in, start buying books, and then listen to them like you normally would.
Scribd is an ebook and audiobook platform with decent upside
Features
Its subscription cost is lower than most competitors
It boasts a collection of over one million titles along with a reasonable amount of playback controls such as a sleep timer
You also get the usual stuff like offline download support.
A decent alternative to Kindle and Google Play Books
Google Play Books - Ebooks, Audiobooks, and Comics
Google Play Books is an excellent platform for both regular reading and audiobook listening.
Features
It boasts a ton of audiobooks as well as regular books.
You buy a book and it’s yours to read or listen to with no subscription options.
The app lets you preview audiobooks before you buy and it works multi-platform with iOS and the web
You get offline support and a night mode if you need it
Audiobooks.com - Listen to new audiobooks & podcasts
Audiobooks.com rivals Audible as in the audiobook apps space.
Features
Sign up and buy books, Or
Subscribe, get some books for free ever month, and get discounts on others
Large collection of audiobooks and 700,000+ podcasts
Download for offline listening with variable playback speed
Apple offers its own book-reading application.
Features
If you have recently listened to an audiobook, it will appear right away in the Reading Now section.
A significant advantage of Apple Books over other book and audiobook apps is that you can shop directly in the app. It makes discovering and buying new audiobooks a much easier task.
OverDrive is excellent for those audiobooks on a budget
Features
A media platform that lets you rent various media from your local library over the Internet
Anytime, Anywhere
It only works with participating libraries and you need a valid library card, but this is an excellent source of audiobooks
Libby, by OverDrive, is an app that presents only audiobooks and ebooks
Sora, by OverDrive, is for the school students
LibriVox Audio Books is a small, but decent audiobook platform. It boasts a collection of 24,000 free audiobooks.
The app also features a sleep timer, a bookmark feature so you never lose your spot, and support for Chromecast as well as Android Auto.
NDLI integrates all audiobooks from LibriVox
Developed by OverDrive, Libby is an app to manage the content you borrow not from one, but multiple libraries as you register more than one library card.
Features
Borrow an ebook or audiobook - download audiobooks for offline use or stream
Content from different libraries appears in a unified shelf, across formats they are.
Play the ebook within the app
Besides free classic books, Libby offers newly released books and bestsellers
Wait in a queue to borrow popular titles from your library
Kobo Books - eBooks & Audiobooks
Kobo Books, along with Google Play Books and Barnes & Noble’s Nook, is one of Amazon’s biggest competitors.
Features
The app works a lot like the Amazon Kindle app.
You can purchase and download regular books as well as audiobooks.
The main focus is regular books but the audiobook thing is getting more and more attention.
Smart AudioBook Player is a lot like MediaMonkey except this one is only for audiobooks.
Features
Provide your audiobook files, the app takes care of the rest
The app features variable playback controls, Chromecast support, and progress saving
It has the ability to fill in details about the book online
The premium version adds some extras features such an equalizer
It is an outstanding music player with the capacity to play other types of media. You can watch video content, listen to podcasts, and listen to audiobooks. This isn’t an audiobook platform like Kobo or Amazon so you can’t buy or download audiobooks with this app. You can listen to audiobooks you already downloaded.
The app includes support for Android Auto s. The UI is also simple enough to use and the premium version isn’t expensive.
App for National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS) patrons who have BARD accounts. Allows users to download nearly 50,000 books, magazines, and music scores in audio and braille formats, with new selections added daily.
With BARD Mobile, users can play the audio materials on their device and if the device is connected to a refreshable braille display through Bluetooth, they can also read the braille materials available on BARD.
Audiobook Reader - Turn ebooks into Audiobooks
It will read all of your e-Books aloud. While you are reading, the text in the eBook is highlighted in real time, so you can follow along or simply listen on your smartphone or tablet.
As audiobooks are usually more expensive than eBooks, it helps when this apps reads out an eBook as an audiobook.
The app is based on Amazon Polly that Alexa is built on.
NOOK Audiobooks App™ is from Barnes & Noble. Thousands of bestselling audiobooks are just a tap away – all at great prices and no subscription required!
Features
Enjoy a massive selection of thousands of audiobooks at great discounts. Choose from over 100,000 titles.
Listen to select FREE audiobooks.
Get FREE samples of most audiobooks. Explore the best of fiction, sci-fi, mystery, romance, religion, and more.
Allows you to listen to audiobooks in your Bluetooth®-enabled car.
Use the mini-player as you Browse.
Scribl Books - Free and Original Audiobooks
Play all the audiobooks you've added to your library at Scribl.com, including paid and free audiobooks. Please be aware: You CANNOT create an account or add books through the app. The app is only a player for your account on Scribl.com, which you must create via your web browser.
All paid titles feature Scribl's CrowdPricing ($CP), where prices are set by fans and even the highest prices are a great deal. It's the fairest pricing on the Internet. If you're looking for self-published audiobooks, Scribl has you covered.
It is an award-winning reading app, designed for students who learn through listening. Students who have a reading deficit, are blind, visually impaired or have a physical disability receive equitable access to grade-level content at their fingertips. Students receive unique login credentials, allowing them to download any of our more than 80,000 audiobooks to their personal online bookshelf, giving them 24/7 access.
Features
Elementary School: Grade 3-5
Read books at grade level
Create and study vocabulary lists
Develop a love of reading
Middle School: Grade 6-8
Create bookmarks and notes on specific pages and share them with the teacher
Customize text and color to help with readability
Support comprehension and critical thinking skills
High School: Grade 9-12
Learn as you go with the in-app dictionary
Manage time and large projects with note sharing
Control the reading speed to encourage participation and discussion
Not available in India
Download or steam over 160,000 amazing audiobooks on the go! Start listening to bestselling titles in fiction and non-fiction in seconds. Save big with our Club Pricing Plan (30 day free trial) or purchase audiobooks at our everyday low price (no plan required). There is also unlimited access to 1000's of free audiobooks!
Accessible ebook reader for reading titles from Bookshare, an accessible online library for people with print disabilities with over 345,000 titles.
Features
Access, browse, search and download books from the Bookshare collection
Read words on the screen with synchronized text-to-speech
Read with highly natural Acapela voices and navigate with VoiceOver gestures
Read with Apple VoiceOver gestures and voice
Read with many choices of font size, color and backgrounds, and no voices
Read with braille displays connected via Bluetooth
Save books into Read2Go so you can read anywhere
Adjust font size up to 70 pts
Adjust text-to-speech audio, either on or off for text-only or text-to-speech mode
Adjust rate of audio
Set bookmarks
Read from where you left off
Serial Reader - Read Classic Books in Daily Bits
Read classic books in daily bite-sized bits! Choose from more than 700 classic books and receive a new issue every day. Each issue can be read in 20 minutes or less.
The Storynory App brings you wonderful audio stories weekly with the beguiling voice of Natasha Gostwick. These classic fairy tales, legends, poems, and original stories are prefect for entertaining your little ones on the go. The cast of characters includes Prince Bertie the Frog, Katie the Ordinary Witch, and the Wicked Uncle. Storynory is ideal for family journeys, bedtime, and schools.
Go Read is directly linked to the Bookshare library, letting you find, download, and read Bookshare books within seconds. You can use Go Read with or without TalkBack and enjoy reading Bookshare books with useful features that make reading accessible to people with visual, physical and learning disabilities.
Features
Read on-the-go with a variety of Android devices
Access and download books directly from Bookshare
Read with voiced navigation and text-to-speech
Read books in DAISY 3 text and EPUB 2 formats, including those with images and image descriptions
To access Bookshare content, readers must have a qualifying print disability and have an active Bookshare membership.
Go Read is developed by Benetech, a nonprofit technology developer, and is based on the open source FBReader
MD_evReader presents text from books in a scrolling stream across a screen, in a similar way to a news ticker or a display board on a train.
This allows reading using the Eccentric Viewing technique which is a useful reading aid for people with macular degeneration or other central vision loss.
Features
Enlarge text size
Change text, background color
Alter speed of scrolling text
Use a moveable fixation point to aid Eccentric Viewing
Writer, Notetaker, Brailler and Dictation Apps
First notetaker for the iOS platform designed particularly for VoiceOver users looking for an efficient, feature-rich notetaking experience. An inexpensive alternative to traditional notetakers, it allows users to combine efficient notetaking with the other features and functions of the iOS devices, allowing blind and visually impaired people in classroom or business settings to use the same popular iOS devices that their sighted peers are using.
Further reading
AccessNote: AFB's New Note Taker for Your iOS Device, AFB, 2012
Numbers includes support for Multi-Touch gestures and Smart Zoom, so users can create powerful spreadsheets using just their fingers.
Visual Brailler is the simple braille editor. It’s a braille writer for your iPad (and iPhone), and it has a place in every braille transcriber’s toolbox. Use it for NLS certification exercises or to practice UEB.
Features
6-dot braille on-screen keyboard
Support for any and all 6-dot braille codes
An indefinite number of 40-cell braille lines
Cut, copy, and paste braille manipulation
Refreshable braille display input and output
BRL (unformatted) and BRF (formatted) braille file export
App that allows users to take notes, capture photos, create to-do lists, record voice reminders and make these notes completely searchable.
Basic storage is free, but a larger storage will require subscription
Otter: Meeting Note, Transcription, Voice Recorder
Otter is an AI-powered assistant for someone who has a lot of meetings and interviews. If you are a person who needs to take notes during meetings, Otter can help! With Otter, you can record and transcribe meetings, and share them with other people. You can also search keywords inside your documents and upload your own notes. Otter is a subscription-based application for individuals, teams, and education.
Otter is where conversations live. It records and takes meeting notes for you in real time, so you can stay focused on the conversation and rest assured that information, actions, attendees are captured, easily searchable, and shareable with your team. Also available online at https://otter.ai . 600 minutes free every month. English only.
BrailleTouch is a smartphone app that allows blind and visually impaired people to type on a touchscreen. It is based on the familiar six-key braille keyboard found on the Perkins Brailler and many electronic Braille notetakers. Both the free trial version and full version are available for download. BrailleTouch was made possible, in part, by the Wireless RERC’s App Factory and the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR).
Pages is a word processor on mobile device. Start with an Apple-designed template to instantly create gorgeous reports, digital books, resumes, posters and more. Or use a blank document and create your own design. Easily add images, movies, audio, charts and shapes. You can even draw and annotate using Apple Pencil on supported devices, or your finger. Pages has been designed exclusively for the iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch.
With iCloud built in, your documents are kept up to date across all your devices. And with real-time collaboration, your team will be able to work together at the same time on a Mac, iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch — even on a PC.
Dragon Anywhere: Professional Grade Dictation App
Dictate your message, and Dragon types it out on the screen with Dragon Anywhere. Your options for delivery of this message include text message, email, copy-and-paste, facebook, and twitter.
Further reading:
VisionSim by Braille Institute
App for iPhone or iPad with digital filters that allow people with healthy vision to see the world through the eyes of a people experiencing one of nine degenerative eye diseases. Using sliding touch-screen controls, the user can manipulate the severity of the symptoms. Still images from the simulations can be saved by the user and stored or shared.
iTalk Recorder is a full-featured recording app with a streamlined and intuitive user interface.
Whether you're recording minutes of a meeting, a lecture, or the sounds of birds singing in a meadow far from any electrical outlets, iTalk Recorder puts the sound quality you need in the palm of your hand.
Features
High-quality handheld recording
Easy, convenient user interface and controls
Email your recordings directly from iTalk
Supports iTunes File Sharing
Auto-noise cancellation
Built-in search function to locate recordings by title
User-selectable Good, Better, Best sound quality
The functionalities of the application can be divided into two purpose sets:
Writing on a mobile phone: The application offers a Braille alphabet based keyboard that consists of six keys that occupy the whole screen. By this, the user, knowing the alphabet, can write messages privately, quickly and without error.
This is preferred because using standard system keyboard takes a lot of searching for the characters and using the speech-to-text feature violates the privacy of the user.
Also, Keyboard User Mode can be customized for standard characters combinations.
Reading a text: This is based on the Google Vision API, which uses camera on the phone to detect text. Then the text, using text-to-speech, is read to the user in real time. Tapping the screen toggles to start or stop reading.
Text-to-speech proofreading app from VoiceDream designed for people with reading disabilities. Also useful for anyone who needs a little help proofing in reducing mistakes. Phonetic and meaning search help in using the right words, and an active outline helps in organizing and improving writing.
Further reading
Magnifier Apps
Your phone’s magnifying glass lets you see the small stuff, any time, anywhere.
Check How to Use Your Phone as a Magnifying Glass for setting magnifying glass properly in Android and iOS.
In addition, there are hundreds of Magnifying Glass apps that provide various assistance in reading and viewing for the visually impaired. We present some popular ones.
BigBrowser by Braille Institute
It is an internet browsing application designed to help Low Vision users more easily navigate the web on their iPads. It offers an extra large keyboard and controls, expanded pinch zooming, and multiple color themes make content easy to read.
The Simplest, Easiest-to-Use Magnifying Glass – Flashlight (LED Torch Light), Digital Magnifier, Restaurant Menu Reader, and Prescription Bottle Reader all-in-one.
Simply turn on the magnifier and watch as it auto focuses the text, while providing you the ability to zoom in/out further.
It is a handheld video magnifier that works by streaming a real time video feed to your iPhone or iPad's screen from your device's back-facing camera. You can zoom the feed in and out, and apply image filters to make things easier to see. Also you can turn on your device's flash light for extra illumination and a sharper image.
Designed by the visually impaired for the visually impaired, See It is the world's only portable CCTV video magnifier
This app turns your device into a magnifying glass with camera zoom, auto-focus and LED flash. Onscreen controls make it easy to zoom, auto-focus, freeze, and flip magnified images, or to use your device's LED flash to add more light.
Android (4.3)
My Vision Helper is the number one app for visually impaired individuals who need advanced camera video magnification, color contrast enhancement, and Optical Character Recognition (OCR) capabilities. Integration with Apple’s Speech Recognition allows My Vision Helper to be operated almost exclusively with voice commands. Easy to understand video tutorials and reference guide can be conveniently accessed at any time within the app.
Claro MagX, a High Definition Vision Enhancement App for Zooming and Magnifying, turns your phone into a powerful high definition visual magnifier. MagX makes small items bigger. Make small text in books and newspapers readable, study and photograph small objects and labels, see menus in the dimly lit restaurant. The wide range of magnification, high contrast and color viewing options makes the text easier on your eyes.
"Brighter and Bigger" is a reading glasses tool for people who have difficulty reading fine print and focusing on nearby objects due to presbyopia, eye illness, etc.
This application helps you to read small letters by making the images bigger, brighter and clearer with scientific color changing methods.
This app incorporates various functions for assisting persons with weak eyesight, illness of the eye, etc.
This app offers live image stabilization. It magnifies images and reduces blurred images due to shaking. Buttons are large and highly visible. It has been highlighted in Technology News for People Who Are Blind or Visually Impaired published by the American Foundation for the Blind.
From reading small print at near distance to seeing signs at far distance, SuperVision+ magnifier (magnifying glass) is your go-to app for seeing better and clearer.
It allows to use the phone as magnifying glass. This allows people with sight problems to easily read small text or watch small items. Seeing Assistant Magnifier, beside magnifying image, also allows image adjustments such as contrast, brightness, and color space of displayed image. Application can use back and front camera.
This app turns your mobile into a talking portable electronic video magnifier. Increases magnification up to 16x and offers color filter modes. Allows user to connect with a cable or wireless to view on an external screen.
It is a new category of handheld electronic magnifier that utilizes your smartphone. It is designed to help people who are visually impaired with with Low Vision conditions including AMD, Glaucoma, Diabetic Retinopathy, Cataracts and color blindness.
It is an electronic magnifying glass for your iPhone or iPod. Not only does it magnify items, it can also keep a running history of images and can save or share these images with your friends via e-mail, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Locked images can be magnified 10 times, or even more with ideal lighting, and can also be automatically mirrored to your Dropbox account.
Lumin also controls the camera flash on your device, so you can illuminate and magnify dark, hard-to-reach places with ease.
weZoom - Magnifier and Low Vision Aid
weZoom as a low vision aid that extends the functionality and accessibility of basic magnifier and magnifying glass apps by adding color filter modes, themes, intuitive gesture control and one-hand operation.
The main goal of this app is to support people with visual impairments by providing an easy to use digital magnifier.
Features
Color filter modes for high contrast (black-white, black-yellow, blue-white, blue-yellow, black-green)
Adjustable threshold for the color filter modes
Smooth magnification up to 8x (extendable zoom levels)
Exposure compensation
Switch between manual focus and auto-focus
Freeze of the live video preview (you can still change the magnification level in this state)
Photo sharing (with messenger apps)
Volume key actions can be enabled
Toggle to hide all other UI elements (full-screen mode) to use more of the screen for zooming - very useful in combination with the volume key actions
Android (4.3)
Navigation, Mobility and Orientation Apps
Be My Eyes - See the world together
Free mobile app that connects blind and visually impaired individuals to sighted helpers who can provide assistance for a variety of tasks, such as finding lost items, describing pictures, paintings or other artwork, matching or explaining colors, reading labels on household products, etc. from all over the world through a live video call. A user logs onto the app and the main screen displays a button that allows the user to call a sighted volunteer and establish a video connection using the phone’s camera and microphone. The sighted helper will explain the things that a user points at the camera. Volunteers are called at random, and the technology matches are based on language and time zone. Most calls are answered within 60 seconds.
Fully accessible turn-by-turn GPS iPhone app with all the normal navigation features plus features unique to blind users. Instead of multiple layers of menus, three important navigation elements are included on the lower portion of every screen: Route, POIs and Location. At intersections, the cross street and its orientation are announced. Intersections are described (e.g. four-way) with the clock face orientation of the streets. There are two choices for POI data (Google Places and Foursquare). Directions are configured appropriately for pedestrian and vehicle routes, including heads-up announcements for approaching turns, turn now, continue straight and upcoming turns. If one wanders off the route, it's automatically recalculated and updated turn information is announced.
Seeing Eye GPS: Referred in Infra in Mobility
Aira works in the same way as Be My Eyes since it connects non-sighted people with sighted ones to help them in various tasks such as finding the gate of an airport.
What sets this app apart is that the sighted users, called agents, are specifically trained to assist blind or visually impaired users referred to as Explorers.
Although the app can be downloaded for free, users are charged according to the different plans and services Aira provides. Depending on the formula they choose and their needs, the cost can thus be high.
INDOORS
NavCog is an iPhone app, created by Carnegie Mellon University Cognitive Assistance Laboratory, aimed specifically for the blind to help those people “explore” the world without vision. NavCog is open-sourced as a part of Hulop project.
When in an unfamiliar place, people tend to use a walking navigation system on their device to compare the map location to the surrounding views. However, visually impaired people cannot check the map or the surrounding scenery to bridge the gap between the ground truth and the rough GPS location. NavCog aims for an improved high-accuracy walking navigation system that uses BLE beacons together with various kinds of sensors with a new localization algorithm for both indoors and outdoors.
How it works
Enter destination
Enter your destination into our app, and it will calculate the route
Turn-to-turn voice navigation
Your phone will direct you to your destination with auditory feedback
Arrive at destination
You will be notified when you arrive at your destination
It is an application dedicated to blind and visually impaired people. It helps them get around safely by acting like a remote control that triggers audio beacons located at the entrance of buildings and at pedestrian crossings equipped with Bluetooth.
Features
Personalize their profile (language, volume)
Receive notifications from APS and audio beacons nearby
Locate building entrances and stations equipped with audio beacons
Interact with a selected audio beacon to get additional audio information
The application only works when Bluetooth is switched on.
Waymap app to help blind people use Washington subway system, inshorts, 2022
Google Maps - Navigate & Explore
INDOORS
Navigate your world faster and easier with Google Maps. Over 220 countries and territories mapped and hundreds of millions of businesses and places on the map. Get real-time GPS navigation, traffic, and transit info, and explore local neighborhoods by knowing where to eat, drink and go - no matter what part of the world you’re in.
Get there faster with real-time updates
Beat traffic with real-time ETAs and traffic conditions
Catch your bus, train, or ride-share with real-time transit info
Save time with automatic rerouting based on live traffic, incidents, and road closures
Discover places and explore like a local
Discover local restaurant, events, and activities that matter to you
Know what’s trending and new places that are opening in the areas you care about
Decide more confidently with “Your match,” a number on how likely you are to like a place
Group planning made easy. Share a shortlist of options and vote in real-time
Create lists of your favorite places and share with friends
Follow must-try places recommended by local experts, Google, and publishers
Review places you’ve visited. Add photos, missing roads and places.
More experiences on Google Maps
Offline maps to search and navigate without an internet connection
Street View and indoor imagery for restaurants, shops, museums and more
Indoor maps to quickly find your way inside big places like airports, malls and stadiums
Walky Talky - Walk while you type and not run into anything!
With Walky Talky, you can walk down a busy street without having to look up. It allows you to look out for on coming obstacles and avoid them...all while texting, tweeting, emailing, journaling, and just about anything else that requires typing.
Features
Character Count, useful if you are tweeting on the go!
Flash light built into the app, useful if you are walking at night.
Shake to share, simply shake your phone after you have typed and then text, tweet, post on Facebook, copy to clipboard, AirDrop, and more.
Walky Talky was developed as one of the 13 apps for Android by Project Eyes-Free - apps for anyone who wants to use their Android device without looking at the screen – that is, use it in an ‘eyes-free’ manner - which includes people who are blind or vision impaired.
How it works
Augmented reality, exemplified by Apple's ARKit, superimposes virtual elements onto the real world. In this case, we add virtual "keypoints" to navigate you through unknown areas.
As you walk to a location, your phone keeps track of its path with a series of virtual crumbs.
After you get there, your phone simplifies the path to a series of "keypoints" where you made a turn or used a stairway.
As you navigate back, your phone will give you instructions to each point, in reverse order, until you reach your starting location again.
You're now back at your seat
Moovit: All Local Transit & Mobility Options
For those taking public transportation, this app lists all the possible means of transportation, their itineraries, their timetables and other information on real-time traffic.
The app even indicates the users the names of stops while on the bus, the tram or the subway. This proves to be essential for blind or visually impaired people when voice announcements aren’t activated.
Moovit is Mobility as a Service (MaaS) solutions
You only need one app on your phone to navigate nearby buses and transit in the U.S. and across 112 other countries and in 45 languages!
Lazarillo is a specialized GPS app that brings mobility tools for blind people. Using audio messages, Lazarillo will tell you about nearby places, the street you are walking on, street intersections in your way and more! Like a radio, Lazarillo will announce the places around you while you move
Supersense is the smartest assistive app that helps blind and visually impaired users to read, find objects, and explore places independently. It provides a set of digital eyes to make the physical world more accessible for the blind and low vision community.
Supersense - helps blind and visually impaired
Supersense is the smartest assistive app that helps blind and visually impaired users to read, find objects, and explore places independently.
Details under Lifestyle
This app lets you know your position and to get information about the street, number, etc. as well as lets you explore the map of what is around you. You can drag your finger over the screen to identify streets and numbers around you!
You can also explore a different region than the one around you by telling the app the street and the city.
You can ask for information about your position at any time, also activating a function, called monitor, that will give you this info periodically
Free Amtrak mobile app for the iPhone® and Android™ that allows users to do the following: Book one-way, round-trip and multi-ride tickets; check train status; show eTicket while onboard, including multi-ride and monthly passes; obtain station information; update reservations made online, through the app or in a station; connect to Amtrak Guest Rewards account; save trip information to a phone calendar; and load eTicket into Passbook™.
Immerse yourself in your surroundings and navigate effortlessly with Soundscape spatial audio. Microsoft Soundscape will place audio cues and labels in 3D space such that they sound like they are coming from the direction of the points of interest, parks, roads and other features in your surroundings.
Switch between using Soundscape in the real world, or the virtual world, to help you build a picture of a place effortlessly with Street Preview.
Features
As you walk, Soundscape will automatically call out the key points of interest, roads and intersections that you pass
An audio beacon can be placed on a point of interest, and you will hear it as you move around
"My Location" describes your current location and the direction you are facing
"Nearby Markers" describes nearby places you have marked
"Around Me" describes nearby points of interest in each of the four cardinal directions, helping with orientation
"Ahead of Me" describes points of interest in front of you, for example when walking down the street
INDOORS
Developed by Okeenea Digital, this app is an indoor and outdoor wayfinding solution for people with a visual impairment to navigate in complex venues such as museums or universities! It works like a GPS.
Compatible with VoiceOver and TalkBack, Evelity provides audio instructions to users to guide them step by step. People with disabilities can easily find the reception desk or the classroom without needing to know the premises in advance.
App that transforms any natural or artificial light source into sound. Point the iPhone's camera in any direction and the app will emit a higher or lower sound depending on the intensity of the light. Also useful for identifying the location of a light fixture in a room and whether it is on or off. Can also be used to determine the location of a window in a room and whether the shades are drawn.
BlindSquare is the world’s most widely used accessible GPS-app developed for the blind, deafblind and partially sighted. Paired with third-party navigation apps, BlindSquare’s self-voicing app delivers detailed points of interest and intersections for safe, reliable travel both outside and inside.
How does BlindSquare work
Location: After determining your location, BlindSquare gathers information about your surroundings on Foursquare and OpenStreetMap
Interests: AI determine what information is most useful to you such as popular cafes, post offices or libraries
Navigation: Shake your device to hear your current address and details about the nearest intersection and venues around you. BlindSquare will track your destination and periodically announce the distance and direction you’re headed
Filters: Filters can be applied to provide only the information you’re looking for
Favorites: Mark your saved places and Foursquare venues as Favorites
VoiceOver: BlindSquare uses Acapela voices in many different languages to announce information about your environment
Social Media: Share your check-ins on Facebook, Twitter, or keep them private
Languages: English and several languages from Europe and South-Asia are supported. There is no Indian language support
BlindSquare: Referred in Infra in Orientation and Mobility
RightHear - Blind and Visually Impaired Assistant
INDOORS
RightHear is a virtual accessibility assistant that helps users to easily orient themselves in new or casual environments
Features
Outdoor Mode
Current Location
Around Me - Outdoor nearby points of interest by OpenStreetMap
Nearby - Lists of near RighHear enabled locations
Record - Personal point of interest
Lens - Object recognition
Direction - Walking towards
Indoor Mode
For RightHear enabled locations only
Current Location
Around Me - Indoor nearby points of interest
Nearby - Lists of RighHear spots inside of the building
Call - Get local assistance
Link - A web page of info
Lens - Object recognition
Direction - Walking towards
It is an app from the American Printing House for the Blind (APH). Besides providing directions, it describes the environment in ways comparable to reading signs or observing road characteristics.
It uses the phone’s GPS and compass to provide real-time information about the user’s surroundings.
Impact accuracy due to GPS
Low cloud cover
Large buildings or Inside buildings that prevent a clear view of the sky
Solar flares or magnetic storms etc.
Features
Provides surrounding and approaching streets, businesses, institutions, and public facilities
Continually updates distance and directional information to nearest or selected destination
Users are able to control the amount of detail they desire
It allows users to monitor or aid a driver with navigational information
It allows users to virtually explore the map
Nearby Explorer Online
This free and 'lite' version contains no onboard map data and requires a device with a network connection to use. It does not give directions, offer a map view, offer compass mode, or explore nearby intersections.
app is a free version offering route planning, advanced neighborhood scanner, searching for location, where am I functionality, route recorder, sharing points, text to voice and dropbox integration.
Seeing Assistant Move is an application developed by Transition Technologies S.A. in order to support blind and visually impaired people in everyday life. Application provides very advanced geo-location and navigation features.
Seeing Assistant Move has been developed in close co-operation with visually impaired people in order to address their needs as well as possible.
Features
fast access to OpenStreetMap points
route planning and following
automatic route recorder
support for LoadStone and OpenStreetMap POIs text databases
advanced neighborhood scanner with world directions
“nearest address” and “find address” functionalities
sharing points, databases and routes
entering text by voice
Dropbox integration
and the possibility to use voice commands!
Office and School Apps
Office Suite is a collection of apps that are regularly required and used at work and school. It includes - word processor, spreadsheet, presentation tool, mail clients, meet / chat interaction platform, calendar, contact, reader etc. These are mostly from Microsoft, Google and Apple. So they follow several accessibility features for the blind and visually impaired - like improving visibility by zooming or enlarging the text size, switching to dark or high contrast mode, or read out loud by TalkBack or VoiceOver.
These apps follow various accessibility guidelines and provide features for ease of use. To learn more about the features and their use, refer to the following blogs.
Sources:
Microsoft Office: Word, Excel, PowerPoint & More
The Office app combines the Word, Excel, and PowerPoint apps you know and rely on, with new capabilities that harness the unique strengths of a phone to create a simpler, yet more powerful Office experience on the go.
Easily organise with email, calendar, and files in one app with Microsoft Outlook. With intelligent email, calendar reminders and contacts, Outlook for Android lets you do more from one powerful inbox. Connect. Organise. Get things done.
Microsoft Teams helps bring people together so that they can get things done. It is an app that has chats, meetings, files, tasks, and calendar in one place—so you can easily connect with people and bring plans to life.
You can use it to convert images to PDF, Word, PowerPoint, and Excel files, digitize printed or handwritten text, and save to OneNote, OneDrive, or your local device.
Detailed under Readers
Get the official Google Calendar app for your Android phone and tablet to save time and make the most of every day.
Microsoft OneNote: Save Ideas and Organize Notes
Microsoft OneNote lets you take notes on your phone and sync them across all your devices.
Sync notes across your devices to access them anytime, anywhere.
Google Drive is a safe place to back up and access all your files from any device. Easily invite others to view, edit or leave comments on any of your files or folders.
OneDrive is the one place for everything in your work and personal life. It gives you free online storage for all your personal files so you can get to them from your devices.
Google Meet – Secure video meetings
Communicate and collaborate, anywhere and securely. Google Meet allows you to organize and participate in high-quality and secure video conferences with up to 250 participants.
Meeting Apps
Skype keeps the world talking. Use Skype to send SMS messages to mobiles worldwide and with SMS Connect, you can now also read and reply to your phone’s SMS messages from your computer.
Further reading
Stay connected wherever you go – start or join a secure meeting with flawless video and audio, instant screen sharing, and cross-platform instant messaging - for free!
Further reading
GoToMeeting – Video Conferencing & Online Meetings
This app gives you the accessibility & reliability you need to take your work with you on the road & across the globe.
Further reading
Cisco Webex Meetings delivers over 25 billion meetings per month, offering industry-leading video and audio conferencing with sharing, chat, and more.
Further reading
Talking Calculator Apps
A talking calculator has a built-in speech synthesizer that reads aloud each number, symbol, or operation key a user presses; it also vocalizes the answer to the problem. This auditory feedback may help an individual with visual perception limitations check the accuracy of the keys as they are pressed and verify the answer before he/she transfers it to paper.
Source: TALKING CALCULATORS, Job Accommodation Network (JAN)
A comprehensively featured calculator for adults and primary schools students. Designed for a wide range of users, this calculator has large colorful buttons, optional high contrast, full VoiceOver support, and the option to use speech for answers, button names and formulas!
Features
Reads answers, entered numbers and formulas aloud. For example:
1,234.56 is spoken as "One thousand, two hundred thirty four point five six."
2 + 5 x 3^2 is spoken as "two plus five multiply three squared"
Two entry modes:
Standard mode emulates traditional calculators: You need to be mindful of the 'order of operations'.
Formula mode takes care of the order of operations for you. Enter a mathematical expression, complete with operators and parentheses, tap the = button, and the expression is evaluated.
Paper log feature, designed particularly for classroom use. Calculations are recorded with a timestamp and can be viewed or emailed.
Built in recording studio and script. Requires only 5 minutes to record a new voice.
Supports VoiceOver standard and touch-typing input styles.
Speaks numbers and formulas naturally, not as sequences of digits.
The entire app is accessible to VoiceOver and Switch Control users, including the recording studio for recording your own voice and the use of complex formulas.
International number formats
Voice Calculator-Talking Calci With Multifunction (Simple, Scientific & Convertor)
This app is for fast calculation on daily basis. This a scientific voice calculator. It can be used as:
Scientific calculator
Bill calculator
Financial calculator
Digital calculator
Simplify calculator
The app is also designed as a compensatory-speech tool for the inclusion of pupils with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND).
Thanks to the clarity of speech, ease of use and size of the keys this application is ideal for anyone who has difficulty in recognizing numbers or figures and we can call it talking calculator for blind.
Graph functions, solve equations, find special points of functions, save and share results. Can be used with VoiceOver / Select To Speak.
Features: Supports features of GeoGebra Graphing Calculator AND:
Solve equations with powerful math engine
Find derivatives and integrals
A comprehensively featured calculator for adults and high school students. Designed for a wide range of users, this calculator has large colorful buttons, optional high contrast, full VoiceOver support, and the option to use speech for answers, buttons names and formulas!
Features: Supports features of Talking Calculator AND:
Numeric formatting of results:
Max fraction digits (default)
fixed fraction digits (useful for currency calculations)
Max significant digits (useful for science and engineering lab work)
International formatting
The list of functions includes: Trigonometric, hyperbolic, logarithmic, permutations, combinations, factorial, powers, roots, percent and bit-wise operations, conversion between hexadecimal and decimal, random numbers.
Full support for fractions (simple and mixed), conversion to and from decimal, fraction reduction, and use of fractions with all operators.
Paper log feature, designed particularly for classroom use. Calculations can be recorded with a timestamp to be viewed and emailed.
Big Digits HD Calculator with Large Buttons
When you need a basic four-function calculator with a high contrast display, use this Big Digits calculator app. If a dark background is preferred, the phone display can be configured to show inverted colors. This app works with VoiceOver and is approved to use with standardized testing.
Talking Scientific Calculator Pro
Designed for a wide range of users, this calculator has large colorful buttons, optional high contrast, full VoiceOver support, and the option to use speech for answers, buttons names and formulas.
It is a speaking calculator.
Features
Trigonometric functions
Support up to 400 Bajin Trillion Talking counting
Colorful layout auto adjust fonts
Speaks out every input as well as output that is displayed
Perfect layout history includes:
4 operations (sum, product, multiplication and division)
Functions such as square root, percentage, exponentiation and so on
The mute function that disables the sounds
8 Colorful layouts, select able between various shades.
The speech voice is also available in English and all other speaking languages
Designed for a wide range of users, this statistics calculator has large colorful buttons, optional high contrast, full VoiceOver support, and the option to hear numbers spoken in natural voice. Often used by adults and high school students as a companion to the Talking Scientific Calculator.
Features: Supports features of Talking Calculator AND:
Hardware keyboards are automatically detected if connected and support faster numeric entry.
Numeric formatting of results:
Max fraction digits (default)
fixed fraction digits (useful for currency calculations)
Max significant digits (useful for science and engineering lab work)
International formatting
Each statistic can be displayed, hidden or reordered to suit your needs.
The list of statistics includes: Count, Total, Total Of Squares, Product, Maximum, Minimum, Range, Mean, Median, Mode, Root Mean Square, Geometric Mean, Lower quartile, Upper quartile, Variance, Unbiased Sample Variance, Population Standard Deviation, Sample Standard Deviation.
VoiceOver pronounces numbers correctly up to 5-digits. So VoiceOver will read 10000 as “ten thousand”, but 100000 as “one zero zero zero zero zero.” This calculator offers an Enhanced VoiceOver Speech mode, which converts numbers to phonetic text for VoiceOver to pronounce more naturally. In this mode, 100000 is pronounced as “one hundred thousand.”
Calculator++ is a multipurpose calculator app with intuitive UI!
Features
Save your time!
Access additional features from the main screen of the app using gestures. For example, to use «%» slide button «/» up
No press of «=» - result is calculated automatically
Copy/paste with a single button press
Personalize!
C++ has two layouts: standard and engineer
Set theme you like
Add home screen widget
Do calculations without switching between the apps!
Calculate percentages, square roots, powers, trigonometric, a big variety of built-in functions and user-defined functions
Plot 2D and 3D graphs!
Powerful mathematical abilities
Do calculations with variables and constants
Use built-in functions or add your own
Integrate and differentiate
Do calculations with fractions and simplify expressions
Do calculations with complex numbers
Calculator 2 turns your device into an interactive piece of paper. Simply write a calculation and it gets you the result in real time. Develop it further with editing gestures or by adding new elements anywhere. Reuse previous results with drag and drop. Calculator 2 interprets everything you do on the fly.
Calculator 2 is based on MyScript Interactive Ink®, the next step for digital ink. It is the successor of the award-winning first handwriting scientific calculator.
Features
Write calculations in an intuitive and natural way without a keyboard.
Erase easily by using scratch-out gestures to remove symbols and numbers.
Drag and drop numbers from and to the canvas, the memory bar or to an external app.
Copy your results to the clipboard or export them to other apps.
Fractions: Display results using decimals, fractions or mixed numbers.
All common scientific functions are support.
Magnet Calc is a large button calculator that performs basic calculations. A unique feature about the app is that the user can then drag the answer to their question to another location on the screen, like they are putting something on the board with a magnet. These calculations stay there until they are deleted, and the user can also use the sum function to add up all of the numbers displayed.
Features
Calculation results movable
Put it freely like Magnet
Drag result to clipboard, send and share
Drag to trash if the results do not use
One button click to get all Magnets sums
Basic function calculator for use in daily life
Skin of theme
Graph functions, find special points of functions, save and share results. Can be used with VoiceOver / Select To Speak.
Features
Plot functions, polar and parametric curves
Experience transformations with sliders
Get special points of functions: roots, min, max, intersections
Do regression with best-fit lines
Search for free learning activities directly from our app
Save and share your results with friends and teachers
Education / Learning Apps
National Digital Library of India
Ministry of Human Resource Development under its National Mission on Education through Information and Communication Technology has initiated the National Digital Library of India (NDL India) pilot project to develop a framework of virtual repository of learning resources with a single-window search facility. Filtered and federated searching is employed to facilitate focused searching so that learners can find out the right resource with least effort and in minimum time. NDL India is designed to hold content of any language and provides interface support for leading vernacular languages. It is being arranged to provide support for all academic levels including researchers and life-long learners, all disciplines, all popular form of access devices and differently-abled learners. It is being developed to help students to prepare for entrance and competitive examination, to enable people to learn and prepare from best practices from all over the world and to facilitate researchers to perform inter-linked exploration from multiple sources.
It gives students a superior way of independently hearing test questions read aloud with human speech or with mechanical speech. Students download their exams, putting earbuds in, and completing exams at the same time as their classmates.
Students are improving test performance because they are focusing on test questions and their answers to those questions instead of having to focus their attention on sounding out words. With improved question comprehension, test results reflect what the student knows about the subject, and test scores are way up.
Voice Wiki
Specialized Wikipedia voice and speech client for your mobile device. It responds to your voice search command and turns the online Wiki encyclopedia into an audio book. It also supports saving articles for offline reading.
Features
Wikipedia voice / text speech.
Shake to start voice search.
Voice command to jump to a Web link.
Easy navigation in article, automatic scroll to a section by selecting an item in table of contents.
View the same article in different languages - good for learning a new language. Can be used as a multi-language dictionary.
Optimized speed, fast response.
Save articles for offline reading.
Operations are easy: shake your phone to start search, long press on screen to bring up table of contents. On Text View, you can swipe on screen to navigate through the paragraphs.
Job Apps
App for CareerConnect, a free online resource center specific to career exploration, job-seeking skills, transition from school to work, e-mentoring, and navigating the employment process as a person who is blind or visually impaired.
Allows users to
Browse and utilize transition lesson plans
Browse and read "Our Stories," firsthand accounts from CareerConnect mentors
Browse and read blog posts from the CareerConnect Blog
Contact the CareerConnect team
Created by The American Foundation for the Blind (AFB) and offered by the American Printing House for the Blind, CareerConnect is a free online resource for those who are blind or visually impaired.
CareerConnect provides employment information, career exploration tools, and job seeking guidance for individuals with vision loss and the professionals who work with them.
APH CareerConnect does not provide jobs, do job searches, or job placement. Rather, it offers transition-age students and job seekers the tools to learn how to independently conduct exercises that will enable them to develop or advance a career.
App for Indeed, a comprehensive search engine for jobs. Offers free access to millions of jobs from thousands of company websites and job boards.
Allows users to
Search apply, using one’s Indeed resume
Personalize a message for each job for each job before applying
Save or email favorite jobs
Create a free Indeed account
Remember job searches
Follow favorite companies to get the latest jobs and updates
Have the newest jobs delivered to one’s inbox
Track which jobs one has visited, saved, and applied to
Preview page displays and full descriptions of job posting
See how companies are rated by employees
Read over 12 million company reviews
See photos of what it’s like to work at companies before applying
Review employers.
See a review of this app in the April 2019 issue of AccessWorld.
Monster Job Search & Career Opportunity
Monster Job Search App is your partner in your job search journey. The app enables you to create free job alerts and helps you browse jobs by location, skill, Industry, functions, and roles.
You can browse / search jobs by
Top locations such as Bangalore, Mumbai, Delhi NCR, Chennai, Pune, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Gurgaon, Noida, and Chandigarh among others.
Qualification like 10th pass, 12th pass, diploma, graduate, post graduate, MBA, B- tech etc.
Private jobs and government jobs.
In order to never miss a job, you can create a free job alert to get relevant jobs matching your profile straight in your inbox.
Helps you get the latest and relevant jobs matching your profile in your inbox
Save time in finding new jobs
Never miss a new job
Job Search
Simple, Intuitive, Faster
Search jobs by location, title, experience, keyword, industry, skill
Refine jobs by freshness, salary, company type
Job notifications matching your profile
Profile based job recommendations
Job Apply
Use your Monster profile to apply to thousands of latest vacancies
Apply on dashboard just by swiping the job card
Keep your profile updated to increase your chances of getting a call from the recruiters
See a review of this app in the April 2019 issue of AccessWorld.
Blind Abilities produces podcasts and blogs dealing with accessibility, technologies, devices and enhancing the opportunities in the job market for the Blind, visually Impaired and DeafBlind. With this app you are always connected to the latest episodes and the show.
Features
Car mode, rotate your phone to display larger playback controls
Streaming access to play episodes from anywhere
Always updated with the latest episodes- and an archived back catalog
Playback resume
Quick access to all the contact methods for the show like call, email, web, Facebook, and Twitter
Playback controls like continuous play, Speed 1x, Repeat Off, and Sleep Timer
Naukri.com Job Search App: Search jobs on the go!
Nauki app helps you stay ahead in your job search and explore the latest jobs in India. You can search jobs on the go and easily connect with 5 Lakh+ recruiters hiring actively on Naukri.com.
Benefits of using Naukri
Ease of job application tracking
Enhanced visibility with recruiters
Convenient job search
Personalized job recommendations
Hiring trends & insights
Lifestyle Apps
RAY Vision for the visually impaired
RAY app is a complete communication and support system designed for users who need a simplified smartphone experience. The RAY navigation fits the screen to user’s touch, re-positioning the menu around the touch point of the finger on the screen, making discovery remarkably simple and intuitive.
Ray replaces the traditional click interaction with simple touch and directional swipe gestures to access most of the functions available in the Android device
Features
Eye free user interface: Communicate and do with simple touch and swipe gestures in no time
Remote Assistance: Fully automated backup and restore of all the system functions and over the web management of device features including remote device identification
Telephony Services: Eye-free telephone dialer that replaces the standard device dialer and set an alternative Default Dialer for making calls, call history, read out of names and numbers of incoming calls
Messaging Services: Complete messaging service including SMS where you can set it as Default SMS application, Email and WhatsApp.
Contact List Services: Store and dial contacts and favorites with quick access technology. Manage your contacts on RAY or from either the app or from the website.
Online Audio Books and Magazine Subscription: Seamlessly connect to online library, download audio content and listen anywhere.
And Value added services: GPS Navigation, currency recognition, color identification, time and alarm clock applications, scheduling, Voice recorder and Notes management system.
User-guides, vocal explanations and demonstration videos: RAY Project
Health Apps
App for the DiabetesPal, a diabetes management software that enables user to track, analyze, and share blood glucose (BG), medication, and food data manually and automatically. All data is synchronized and viewable at https://mytelcare.com for free.
The built-in logbook is updated with a single tap to display all BG readings from the user’s Telcare BGM®, as well as manual blood glucose, medication, and food entries.
Provides user with the ability to see automatically generated graphs of trends over a selected period, including BG averages over time, averages based on meal tags, and breakdowns of highs and lows. An email report may be sent in PDF form to a doctor, caretaker, or loved one right from the app’s home screen.
Syncs via SSL with a secured web server. All protected personal data are stored on a secured, encrypted separate volume in a database behind a firewall.
Android (3.8)
Glucose Buddy Diabetes Tracker
App for connecting with Glucose Buddy, a data storage utility for people with diabetes. Users can manually enter glucose numbers, carbohydrate consumption, insulin dosages, and activities and view all their data on their free glucosebuddy.com online account.
Android (4.0)
Diabetes management app that works with the OneTouch Verio' Flex Meter, automatically transforming data into quick snapshots that connect user’s blood sugar with food, insulin and activity. Automatically sends user a notification on a smartphone when a high or low pattern or recurring pattern is detected, so action can be taken to avoid them in the future. Has a goal tracking functionality, so user can set up and track personalized goals and visualize progress over time. Its A1c comparator lets user compare lab A1c to the average blood sugar readings from the last 90 days. Personalized dashboard highlights patterns and provides 14-day visual summaries with ColorSure™ technology. Automatic pattern finder shows a timeline of important blood sugar events and activities, highlighting when person has been repeatedly out of range. Provides fourteen, 30, and 90-day result summaries of highs and lows.
Android (4.1)
A companion app for all Fitbit devices. This digital app records and organizes all the data from the devices. The app allows users to sync a piece of Fitbit hardware with their smartphones to gain better fitness tracking abilities. There are quite a few physical characteristics that Fitbit can track depending on the physical model of the hardware, including calories burned, distance traveled, and even rankings compared to other Fitbit users. The app is easy to use and can be downloaded for any Android or iOS device, but it requires a piece of Fitbit hardware to function.
Android (3.6)
Social Network Apps
This popular social media app supports various accessibility options for the blind and visually impaired.
Further reading
This popular social media app now includes an alternative text feature that lets users add and hear rich descriptions of photos as they browse. This feature works together with the device’s screen reader.
Further reading
This popular app has been expanded for its voice command features for video navigation.
Further reading
This popular app has accessibility for the blind and visually impaired.
Further reading
Pandora - Streaming Music, Radio & Podcasts
This popular app is now empowered with a "Hey Pandora" voice command for a variety of tasks.
Further reading
A free, accessible app for iPhones and iPads from for rehabilitation professionals, teachers, doctors and other health care professionals. Provides information about vision rehabilitation services to individuals with vision loss and/or their families. Has a directory of services searchable by service, zip code, and distance, available in the U.S. and Canada, resources and tips for living independently with a visual impairment, links to useful information on VisionAware and FamilyConnect websites, information on products and technology, and a way to save directory search results and email them.
Sero, currently available from Pneuma Solutions, is the World’s Largest, Easy-to-Navigate, Social Network and Multi-Media Repository for Blind People on the Web.
Features:
Organize and manage all your e-mail with our popular, easy-to-use e-mail feature.
Keep up with your local and global news in text or audio.
Enjoy thousands of hours of entertainment content.
Tell Amazon Alexa to read your news or play your favorite audio content.
Create and publish your own blog.
Listen to mainstream and blindness related podcasts on demand.
Enjoy listening to global and 128K Streaming radio stations.
Create playlists of your favorite audio with the media player.
Catch up with Sero friends in our many dedicated chat rooms.
You’ll have everything your digital lifestyle craves, and almost no learning curve.
The TalkBox Voice Messenger app is a voice messenger on mobile that allows users to exchange, share and publish their voice messages. It is similar to a global walkie talkie!
Further reading:
This app translates the 7 key emotions detected on the human face, into 7 unique sounds - making it possible for the blind and visually impaired to have a richer experience and understanding when communicating with others.
The app is available for Huawei Mate 20 Pro.
The power of AI
Using the back cameras, the application scans the face of the person with whom the blind person is talking, and identify elements of the face: like eyes, nose, brows and mouth, along with their position in relation to each other.
AI then processes the identified emotion into a defined sound heard on the phone (or in the earphone the blind person is wearing). All of this happens in a real time and in offline mode.
The app doesn’t require an Internet connection to work. The process of recognizing emotions is carried out by AI within the Mate 20 Pro.
Interface for the blind
Black and yellow create the highest contrast
Yellow is the last color visible to people with visual impairments or color blindness
White is also a high contrast color and is used to highlight the interactions and animations.
It is a cross-platform voice messenger & walkie talkie that allows you to instantly talk with friends & family who use Android, iOS, and Windows Phone 7 devices with the press of a single button.
This app lets you create and share amusing messages using a narrator’s voice of your choice.
With a wide range of languages and reliable, pleasant sounding voices.
Simply speak or type a message, then choose the language, voice and any special effects for the app to use.
The end result is a customized narration of your original message, which you can share as desired.
Videos are one of the hottest projects for Narrator’s Voice, letting the narrator explain or comment on whatever’s happening on the screen. In fact, many people have been using the Narrator’s Voice app to add audio to their YouTube videos, giving them a distinct voice that enhances the overall video’s vibe.
Can be equally successful when used with still images, slide shows, e-learning projects, or anything else that could benefit from useful commentary or clarification.
WhatsApp from Facebook is a FREE messaging and video calling app.
Further reading
Object Exploration and Recognition Apps
An Android application from PixelGrow for a digitally enhanced clothing label. Based on NFC technology and designed for people with impaired sight. The main goal for this MVP was to test what information blind and visually impaired people need while identifying their clothing. It works for tags on other products too.
Features
It work on Android devices supporting NFC, default language is English
It is integrated with a simple and cost-effective Cloud object storage service
It supports various tags that can be assigned an identifier
Is has a simple and intuitive UX including Text-to-Speech service
It can assign large pieces of information to the NFC tags
Envision is an award-winning OCR app that speaks out the visual world, helping blind and visually impaired users to lead more independent lives.
Use phone camera to scan any text, surroundings, objects, people or products and everything will be read out tby Envision’s smart AI and OCR
Recognition Features
Read all kinds of text: Read any text in over 60 languages; Scan paper documents with the help of audio-guided edge detection; Import PDFs and images to get a description of the image and recognition of all the text within it; Read handwritten cards, letters, lists
Know what's around you: Describe visual scenes around you; Detect color on your clothes, walls, books, etc.; Swiftly scan barcodes
Find what you're looking for: Find people and / or objects around you
Share: Images or documents from phone or apps like Twitter or WhatsApp by selecting Envision to be read and described
Envision AI is also built into Envision Glasses
Further reading
An app that can recognize images and speaks out what it finds. Recognizes almost any image within seconds--logos, landmarks, books, products, artwork, text and more. Shows the description of the image and speaks it out using the correct accent of the selected language.
TapTapSee is designed to help the blind and visually impaired identify objects they encounter in their daily lives.
Simply double tap the screen to take a photo of anything, at any angle, and hear the app speak the identification back to you
TapTapSee helps the blind and visually impaired become more independent in their day-to-day activities.
Features
Flash toggle
Auto-focus notification
Identify images from your Camera Roll
Repeat last image identification
Share identification via text, email, or social media
It is a free app that narrates the world around you. Designed for the blind and low vision community, this ongoing research project harnesses the power of AI to open up the visual world and describe nearby people, text and objects.
Recognition Features
Short Text: Speaks text in front of the camera
Documents: Provides audio guidance to capture a printed page, and recognizes the text
Products: Scans barcodes
People: Saves people’s faces so you can recognize them
Scenes: Hear an overall description of the scene
Currency: Recognizes notes
Color: Identifies color
Handwriting: Reads handwritten text
Light: Generates an audible tone for the brightness in the surroundings
Images in other apps: Just tap “Share” and “Recognize with Seeing AI” to describe images from Mail, Photos, Twitter, etc.
Photo browsing: Describes photos on your phone
Seeing AI is built to help you achieve more by leveraging the power of the cloud and AI
Further reading
It is an assistive technology from Nexart that utilizes the power of visual recognition to recognize objects and notifies the user about the object over the headphones to help the visually impaired navigate and understand the world around them.
Eyewey uses its custom Visual AI framework allowing it to recognize a much wider range of objects, learn scenarios through deep learning, read text as well as recognize and respond to speech.
Features
Allows for detection of large number of datasets.
Optimized Object Recognition combined with Deep Learning to help the app learn on its own from everyday scenarios.
TTS with Text-Extraction.
Speech Recognition
Android (4.3)
Further reading
It assists the visually impaired by distinguishing the colors in various items around them. Color ID works by identifying colors around the user and speaking those colors aloud. A visually impaired user could use this app when making clothing selections or to tell if fruit is ripe.
App for visually impaired users that reads aloud signs and written print using Apple's existing VoiceOver technology and camera feature.
Lookout is the equivalent app of Seeing AI on Android.
It uses computer vision to assist people with low vision or blindness get things done faster and more easily. Using your phone’s camera, Lookout makes it easier to get more information about the world around you and do daily tasks more efficiently like sorting mail, putting away groceries, and more.
Five modes of activities
Food Labels mode (beta): Quickly identify packaged foods by their label, in addition to scanning barcodes
Documents mode: Read a whole page of text
Text mode: Quickly skim text and hear it read aloud
Currency mode: Identify banknotes quickly and reliably
Explore mode (beta): Get information about objects in your surroundings
Lookout is available in more than 20 languages
vOICe is an interesting app that differs from the other apps for blind with augmented reality. Its motto is, “See with your ears!” It is a multimodal app, as well. Its core feature is transforming surroundings into soundscapes; it has a built-in live text reader, color identifier, compass, face detector, and GPS locator.
Images are converted into sound by scanning them from left to right while associating elevation with pitch and brightness with loudness. In theory this could lead to synthetic vision with truly visual sensations ("qualia"), by exploiting the neural plasticity of the human brain through training.
Android (3.6)
It utilizes artificial intelligence to help low-vision people better understand what’s around them. Users point the app at an object and simply press a recognition button.
Supersense - helps blind and visually impaired
Supersense is the smartest assistive app that helps blind and visually impaired users to read, find objects, and explore places independently. It uses the power of AI to not only describe things but actually solve problems for blind and visually impaired users.
Features
Read texts, documents and handwriting quickly using our unique auto camera guidance system
Locate specific objects such as a chair, door, trashcan, or person around by scanning the environment with the camera
Explore new and unfamiliar environments and hear about the objects that are around
Read texts on photos and PDFs from other apps
Every single feature works without an internet connection so that they can be used in any situation.
Has full TalkBack / VoiceOver accessibility support and is available in multiple languages
Supersense is developed by Mediate, an MIT-spinoff AI start-up based in Boston.
Further reading
Daily Chores Apps
A timer and reminder app for the iPhone accessible with VoiceOver.
Features
Pop-up reminder alerts with robust repeat scheduling, flexible snooze and full customization
Pop-up timers with custom messages, countdown / countup and pause
Useable with Siri to create reminders and import from the Reminders app into Alarmed
The digital clock shows the time using the the whole screen width.
Features
Adjustable colors
Seconds display is optional
Every screen orientation is handled
AM/PM-mode is read from the system settings.
The clock can move around the screen to prevent burn-in.
Weather app that offers some level of support with VoiceOver. Offers up-to-date weather reports and a forecast for the next 24 hours or the next week. Also provides information on barometric pressure, dew point and humidity.
YONO SBI: The Mobile Banking and Lifestyle App!
YONO SBI lets you Bank, Shop,Travel,Pay Bills,Recharge,Invest, avail IRCTC ticket booking, use UPI to transfer money, book movie tickets. With SBI YONO, convenience has a new name.
Zomato - Online Food Delivery & Restaurant Reviews
Whether you’re looking for biryani to feed your desi cravings, soul comforting pizzas and burgers, or even a salad with a cup of chai or coffee, Zomato is the only app you need for the quickest doorstep delivery of your favorites. With over 1.5 million restaurants and 285 million ratings and reviews, discover the best around you in no time – only on the Zomato app.
Further reading
How Can We Talk About Accessibility If I Can’t Even Use Food Delivery Apps?, 2020
How Food Delivery Apps are Becoming More Accessible for Visually Impaired, One Petition at a Time, 2020
Swiggy Food Order | Online Grocery | Delivery
Here’s everything you can do and find on the Swiggy app:
Order food, groceries, and other essentials online
Restaurant and Delivery Partners trained in hygiene protocols
Find top restaurants and stores in your city
30+ cuisines to choose from
Late-night delivery services
Further reading
How Can We Talk About Accessibility If I Can’t Even Use Food Delivery Apps?, 2020
How Food Delivery Apps are Becoming More Accessible for Visually Impaired, One Petition at a Time, 2020
News Apps
Free official app of AFB’s AccessWorld®: Technology News for People Who Are Blind or Visually Impaired, an online magazine dedicated to technology and people with vision loss. The app has been optimized for iOS VoiceOver and accessibility features.
Audio Internet Reading Service of Los Angeles provides free, on-demand streaming audio access through the iPhone, iPod or iPad to the Audio Information Reading Service of Los Angeles. Users can navigate through app using VoiceOver functionality. Brief signup is required, and the service is designed to provide a wide range of audio content to users who are blind or visually impaired.
iOS (1.0)
App that allows to download newspapers from NFB-NEWSLINE directly to an iOS device. Subscription to NFB-NEWSLINE required. User name and password required for the first time. NFB-NEWSLINE®, is a reading service by telephone that provides access to hundreds of newspapers, local TV listings, and several magazines.
To sign up, you have to register by calling your state’s Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped or the National Federation of the Blind.
App for playing podcasts, news, comedy, sports and talk radio shows on demand from an iPhone or iPad. Offers the best of NPR, CNN, Fox, BBC, WSJ, Adam Carolla, Joe Rogan, Rachel Maddow, Rush Limbaugh, Fresh Air, Freakonomics, Radiolab and over 25,000 shows, podcasts and live stations. stations.
Music, Games, and Entertainment Apps
Audio Game Hub 2.0 introduces 4 new games to the award winning Audio Game Hub with a fresh instalment of new features and sensational sound-effects!
Race against the clock and disarm bombs in Bomb Disarmer, follow Simon as he leads you through unlocking complicated patterns in Super Simon, or sit at the round table and enjoy a casual game of Blackjack.
Audio Game Hub is a set of experimental arcade audiogames that use audio as their primary interface – making them accessible for both sighted and non-sighted users.
Audio Game Hub provides a medium to develop and improve motoric, auditory and memory skills by training them in a fun and stimulating way!
Audiogames
Animal Escape
Bomb Disarmer (10 player)
Super Simon (10 player)
Blackjack (Casino)
Slot Machines (Casino)
Archery
Hunt
Samurai Tournament (4 player)
Samuari Dojo (4 player)
Labyrinth
Animal Farm (Memory)
Blocks (Bejeweld)
Runner
Blindfold Games is a series of audio games for visually impaired people, with dozens of games for the iPhone, iPad and iPod. Enjoyed by tens of thousands of people worldwide, the games are so popular because they are fun, appeal to all ages, and they just feel “right”.
ObjectiveEd exists to help teachers, parents and schools adapt to the new era of gamified learning.
ObjectiveEd continues to provide the Blindfold Games as a service to the visual impaired community.
Blind Cricket is first accessible cricket simulator with realistic sounds, easy user interface and accessibility features.
Play on your own or with teammates to make it to the top from school level to international cricket
The game is aimed not just at visually impaired people but also at anyone who loves gaming.
More: www.audiogamehub.com
Blindfold Solitaire
Blindfold Games are entertainment apps provided as a service to the visually impaired community by Objective Ed.
Solitaire is a fully accessible Solitaire card game for both sighted and visually impaired people, designed for rapid audio play.
The cards are not visible; instead, you play by listening. You can flick left or right, or up or down, to hear the cards. You move a card from one pile to another by tapping on the screen twice to start the move, and then tapping twice again to complete the move. A complete guide to the gestures is included in the help.
iOS (5.0)
It is a collaborative project of an audio-only action/adventure game for mobile phones created by DOWiNO. It’s based on a very innovative technology: binaural sound. In this game, the players are guided only by 3D sound and live the adventure by controlling their hero with multi-point tactile gestures. A Blind Legend” is above all a story: an adventure from the Age of Chivalry, to which we want to give epic scope.
The game is aimed not just at visually impaired (VI) people but also at anyone who’s hungry for an original sensory experience with a trailblazing video game.
For us, the game achieves two objectives:
giving VI people access to high-quality video games, but
also raising public awareness of this type of disability.
Hands-off, sound-activated, talking musical instrument tuner. It talks to tell you if you are in tune or not, so you don't even have to look at it. Uses built-in speech synthesis, so does not require that VoiceOver be enabled. Can assist in tuning a musical instrument without requiring user to look at or touch the iPhone's display. With the Auto-Speak switch turned on, Talking Tuner will listen for a note to be played, and then, after waiting for the end of the sound (so as not to talk over it), will speak the note name, and how many cents sharp or flat the end of the note is estimated to be. Using headphones may help make it easier to hear what this app is saying while tuning.
iOS (3.4)
App for an audio streaming platform that provides DRM-protected music and podcasts from record labels and media companies. As a freemium service, basic features are free with advertisements or automatic music videos, while additional features, such as improved streaming quality, are offered via paid subscriptions.
An app for headphones and earphones that allows users to listen to music without shutting out other noises in the environment (warnings, shouts, sirens, alarms or conversations). Works on iPhone 4/4S/5/5S/6/7, iPhone 3GS, iPod touch 4 or above, iPod touch 3 (with microphone headset), and all iPads running iOS7 and above. Will NOT work on iPhone 3G, iPod 2G or with Bluetooth or Wireless headsets.
Blindfold Sudoku
Sudoku is a fully accessible Sudoku game for both sighted and visually impaired people, designed for rapid audio play.
Sudoku comes with 5 Sudoku 9-by-9 puzzles - easy, medium and difficult - and is controlled through gestures. It doesn't require voice-over but is fully compatible with voice-over.
The Sudoku puzzle board is not visible; instead, you play by listening.
iOS (5.0)
Shopping Apps
Blind Bargains offers many ways for the Blind and Visually Impaired to view the site and search the product database.
It is a source for the latest deals and news for the blind and visually impaired.
Features
Browse and share the latest deals and articles posted to the Blind Bargains site
Check out the latest classified ads
Browse and listen to several hours of exclusive interviews and podcasts
Fully compatible with VoiceOver
It is created with the visually impaired shopper in mind. This app reads a manufacturer’s barcode and audibly the name of the product. Users can also record their own labels for household items.
Scan UPC / EAN codes and hear the names of over 37 million products! Make your own QR code labels on the Digit-Eyes website and print them on inexpensive address labels. These barcoded labels may contain text that VoiceOver reads aloud or they can be used to record audio on your iPhone or iPad that is played back whenever the bar code is scanned.
Amazon Shopping, UPI, Money Transfer, Bill Payment
The Amazon app conveniently allows you to shop and pay across a wide selection of products and categories at great prices, all within a single app. Shop mobiles, electronics, fashion, household items & more with the online shopping app. Pay for flights, bills and make payments easier with Amazon Pay, and conveniently order your groceries for home delivery with Pantry and Amazon Fresh. Play games and win prizes every day.
Further reading
Online shopping with Flipkart is very easy as you get to shop from the comfort of your home and get products delivered at your doorstep. By downloading the Flipkart free online shopping app on your Android phone or tablet, you can effortlessly browse our massive collection of more than 80 crore products from multiple categories including mobile phones, fashion wear, electronic devices, videos, accessories and consumer durables.
Further reading
The Power of Vernacular: Flipkart App to Give Native E-Commerce Experience in 6 Languages
Currency Reader Apps
The currency reader is a small, compact, handheld device which quickly identifies the bill's denomination in one of three ways:
a clear natural voice,
a pattern of tones, or
a pattern of vibrations for privacy.
The vibration mode also assists people who are deaf and blind.
Currency readers are also available as Android / iOS apps.
Source: Currency Reader Free to People With Visual Impairments, NICOA
EyeNote is a mobile device application to denominate Federal Reserve Notes as an aid for the blind or visually impaired to increase accessibility. Users can have the denomination of a note scanned and communicated back to the user.
Features
Scanning the currency commences once the application has loaded and will denominate the currency
This application does not authenticate a note as either real or counterfeit
Best money reading app for blind and visually impaired!
Point your phone's camera at almost any banknote in the world and hear the value instantly.
Notes are changing, but we keep an eye on more than a hundred currencies.
You will receive updates as new banknotes are issued, or taken out of circulation.
allows visually impaired users to accurately count their money. LookTel works to identify currency and speaks the denomination. This is a great app for blind users who wish to practice independence financially.
LookTel Money Reader instantly recognizes currency and speaks the denomination, enabling people experiencing visual impairments or blindness to quickly and easily identify and count bills.
Point the camera of your iOS device at a bill and the application will tell you the denomination in real-time. 21 currencies, including INR, are supported
LookTel Money Reader app for iPhone helps the Blind identify their cash
Money reader that quickly and easily identifies currency and speaks the denomination. Supports 21 currencies including INR. Denomination is also displayed on the iOS device in high-contrast large numerals, for those having sufficient vision to make use of the display. Also provides VoiceOver support for several languages.
IDEAL U.S. Currency Identifier
This is a free downloadable app that uses text-to-speech voice and advanced image recognition technology to read a note and provide users with an audible response indicating the bill’s denomination.
Features
IDEAL works locally on the device and does not rely on connection to the internet.
Notes being identified should be placed on a hard, flat, surface in good lighting.
A TTS voice is needed on the device
Notes that are wrinkled, worn, scanned in poor lighting, torn, or disfigured may not be identified or misidentified.
IDEAL Currency Identifier was not designed to, nor can it, identify counterfeit notes
MANI – Mobile Aided Note Identifier
MANI is a mobile application for aiding visually impaired persons to identify the denomination of Indian Banknotes. It has been developed by Reserve Bank of India.
Indian banknotes contain several features which enable the visually impaired to identify them:
intaglio printing and tactile mark
variable banknote size
large numerals
variable colour, monochromatic hues and patterns
Features
Capable of identifying the denominations of Mahatma Gandhi Series and Mahatma Gandhi (New) series banknote by checking front or reverse side/part of the note including half folded notes at various holding angles and broad range of light conditions (normal light/day light/low light/ etc.).
Ability to identify the denomination through audio notification in Hindi/English and non-sonic mode such as vibration
The application works ioffline
Ability to navigate the mobile application via voice controls for accessing the application features
This application does not authenticate a note as being either genuine or counterfeit