There are dozens of apps specifically designed to help people with visual impairments live their best lives. Here are 25 of the best apps for the visually impaired.
Access Note
AccessNote is a sophisticated note-taking app designed to support visually impaired students and working professionals. AccessNote is compatible with VoiceOver.
Availability: iOS
Aipoly Vision
Aipoly Vision 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.
Availability: Android, iOS
Ariadne GPS
Ariadne GPS allows visually impaired users to navigate directions using talking maps and an innovative interface. Ariadne works anywhere accessible by Google Maps.
Availability: Android, iOS
Audible
Audible provides a wide selection of audible books, including recent popular titles, classics, and academic text.
Availability: Android, iOS
Be My Eyes
Be My Eyes is an app that connects visually impaired people with sighted volunteers who provide virtual assistance through a live video call. Be My Eyes is available in 180 languages.
Availability: Android, iOS
Big Digital Clock
Big Digital Clock is the perfect time-telling app for the visually impaired! This app tells digital time using the entire phone screen; brightness and colors can be adjusted according to the user’s preference.
Availability: Android, iOS
Blind Bargains
Blind Bargains assists the visually impaired community by providing the latest deals in one place. Users can purchase Braille printers, screen readers, and other accessible products.
Availability: Android, iOS
Blind Square
Blind Square is a highly accessible GPS app designed for the visually impaired. It describes the surrounding terrain and announces street intersections.
Availability: iOS
Color ID
Color ID assists the visually imapired 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.
Availability: iOS
Digit Eyes
Digit Eyes was 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.
Availability: iOS
Facing Emotions
Facing Emotions is an app that translates seven major emotions on the human face: anger, fear, disgust, happiness, sadness, surprise, contempt into corresponding sounds, this allowing visually impaired users to have a deeper connection with the person they are talking to.
Availability: Android
Kindle
Kindle is an app that allows users to download books from Amazon. Kindle offers accommodations for the visually impaired, including large print and narrators.
Availability: Android, iOS
KNFB Reader
KNFB Reader translates written words into speech or Braille. This app also allows users to easily send and share documents.
Availability: Android, iOS
Light Detector
Light Detector helps blind users hear light rather than seeing it. Users will be able to gage the intensity of light based on how high or low the correlating sound is.
Availability: iOS
Learning Ally
Learning Ally is designed for K-12 students who learn best by listening; this app provides audible grade-level content and is appropriate for both sighted and visually imapired users.
Availability: Android, iOS
LookTel Money Reader
LookTel Money Reader 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.
Availability: iOS
Magnifying Glass with Light
Magnifying Glass with Light is designed for low vision users. This app allows users to magnify text or other objects up to ten times their natural size. This app is perfect for someone with a mild visual impairment who wishes to read a menu, a recipe, etc.
Availability: iOS
My Vision Helper
My Vision Helper is an app that focuses on the following: magnification, color contrast enhancement, and optical character recognition (OCR). It is also integrated with Apple Speech Recognition, which means it can be operated (almost) exclusively via voice commands. You can learn more here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89ZvpP8Oppw
Availability: iOS
Prizmo
Prizmo is a photo-based app that allows users to scan documents to PDF using advanced text-to-speech features. Prizmo utilizes OCR (Optimal Calendar Recognition) and is available in 23 languages.
Availability: iOS
Smart Braille
Smart Braille allows Android users to communicate via an app-version of braille. Smart Braille features two majors, one that allows users to write text in braille and the other that allows them to translate text into braille.
Availability: Android
Talking Calculator
Talking Calculator provides voiceover support to audibly add, subtract, multiply, and divide. This app is useful to both the sighted and the visually impaired and is appropriate for all ages.
Availability: Android iOS
Talking Tags
Talking Tags is designed to help blind users create labels or tags for everyday items. These coded tags can help users select which box to fill when moving or which jar to take out of the fridge.
Availability: Android iOS
Tap Tap See
Tap Tap See is a mobile camera app designed with the visually imapired user in mind. Tap Tap See uses a voiceover function to take photos of any object, identifying it out loud for the user.
Availability: Android, iOS
Visual Braille
Visual Braille is an easy way to learn braille, making this a useful app both for the blind and the sighted. Visual Braille allows for self-paced instruction.
Availability: iOS
Viz Wiz
Viz Wiz allows low-vision users to take a photo of an object and ask a question, which is answered through a series of algorithms. For example, a user might photograph two cans of vegetables and utilize the app to determine which can contains corn and which contains carrots.
Availability: Android, iOS
Voice Brief
Voice Brief reads content aloud, such as the weather, blog posts, or emails. This app is useful for both the blind and sighted alike.
Availability: iOS
More Apps Coming Soon
Ability is an app that helps people with any type of disability to successfully navigate public places and search for accessible features at any public space (example: store, restaurant, park, etc.)
Do you have any we need to add to the list? Or any that you love?
Let us know in the comments below!
There is a great mobile app designed by Vodafone Egypt named e3rafli. “E3rafli” (an Arabic word for “Know for me”), aims to help the visually-impaired and blind identify basic objects using their mobile phones. From recognizing colors, to reading taxi meters and supermarket registers, charging prepaid scratch cards and identifying currency bills and count it on the go by directing the mobile camera towards the selected item,
I am looking for an app which will let me dictate phone numbers and emails to my Samsung Galaxy phone. . I can’t see the numbers or keyboards.
Is there something better than Bixby?
Hi, try the look out. You must be happy to use it…
WeWALK is a navigation application developed for blind people.
You can learn the buses that come with WeWALK, explore the around places while walking, and get navigation to a location. WeWALK is also a smart cane. You can visit https://wewalk.io for more detailed information.
Thanks for sharing these apt I’ve just gotten smart phone and will experiment with some…Will let you know how it goes, and if any apts found around with other vp & bpeople..
You might consider to put two other apps from Sao Mai Center for the Blind which are designed completely accessible and friendly.
1. SM Braille Viewer: reading txt, rtf, docx, pdf, epub, html, brf and brl files via connected Braille display; and can also translate text from any other apps into Braille by sharing to SM Braille Viewer. Read more on Sao Mai’s website at: https://www.saomaicenter.org/en/smsoft/sm-braille-viewer
Or, it’s available for Android at: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.saomaicenter.brailleviewer
2. SM Music Reader: reading music scores with speech, MIDI sound and Braille. In addition, visually impaired users can access freely thousands of scores via its built-in library and built-in guitar tuner. Read more on Sao Mai website at: https://www.saomaicenter.org/en/smsoft/sm-music-reader
Available on Android at: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.saomaicenter.music.reader
Both apps are free!!!
Thank you so much for this article. I referenced it in my post that I am currently writing. Very informative. I really like that you have big and bold letters to assist low vision people.
Hello everybody,
I did some free apps for Android to assist visually impaired users:
– OCR Speech:
Scan, read and reproduces any message or document with a synthesized voice.
Reproduces messages with voice in your language from posters, cards, signals, books, etc
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.e7company.ocrspeech
– QR Speech:
Scan, read and reproduces the message of QR codes with a synthesized voice.
· Attach printed qr-voices in tuppers, recipients and sculptures/arts describing what it is, useful for accessibility
· Help to people with loss of vision to find objects
· Reproduces messages in original holidays cards or send funny and ciphered messages inserting qr-codes as image attachment
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.e7.qrspeech
– What is the color?:
Select an object, focus the camera, touch the screen and hear the color by voice.
– Great app for people with vision loss.
– Detect a lot of colors.
– Simple and fast to use.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.e7.whatisthecolor
Supersense is the smartest and simplest scanner application for the blind and the visually impaired. It is fueled by unique AI technology and a super-accessible user interface.
You can visit: https://www.supersense.app/ for more information
I have supersaense, and I’m thinking about purchasing the premium version of this app in hope of improved recognition for some harder jobs using online mode, and to encourage further development . There are other OCR apps for the blind as well as some with a mainstream focus. A few have been around for years, e.g. KNFB Reader and Google’s goggles, now lense, while others are less known, to me anyway, & others new releases. Prices vary from free to pretty h, & I can’t afford much pricy software. Will 1 OCR app be enough, or do some work better in some cases but fail under other conditions? A printed page vs. a LED display or appliance touchscreen, etc. Any good comparison reviews around?
I thought KNFB is “broken” at this time.
Is there an app for crosswalk lights to tell the user if the light is red or green?
I would like to bold all print and change colors to black
Envision AI makes print bold and color reversed. Maybe something for you?
https://www.letsenvision.com/download
correct misspelling of imapired to impaired
Fixed it, thanks!
Thank you, but how about an easy calender
I am trying to find an app that will allow my mother (who has macular degeneration)to hear text messages or emails & reply to them by speaking-since her family lives all over the country, it isn’t always easy for us to connect by phone-any suggestions would be appreciated!
I think getting her an iPhone to use voiceover and Siri may help her a lot. I’m newly visually impaired and that’s what I did. So far it’s the easiest way I’ve found to hear and send texts by voice. iPhone accessibility is great.
Hello all. First of all, thanks very much for this article. I’m going to try out some of the apps mentioned. Just a question please? Is there an app around that can help blind people to take their own photos,. I’m planning a plant nursery, and I don’t want to ask for sited help each time I need to take a photo of a plant. Such an app will, like Be my eyes and cash reader, give me still greater independence. Thanks very much.
Be My Eyes Is a free app for android and iOS that connects you with over 1000 people all over the world in most languages that will help you 24 hours a day seven days a week. The volunteers would be happy to help you as many times as you need as often as you need.
Hi! 🙂 I am looking for some new games that I can play. Blindfold games doesn’t have anything new. So… I want to get some new games. Does anyone have any ideas?
Please advise on apps for android use that narrates tv shows..for an elderly person who rarely goes out, tv is essential.
American counsel for the blind has a complete list of tv programs that are audio described so you can listen on your phone.
Hi, please consider adding Speaking Email to your list. Find it at https://speaking.email.
We have many blind users telling us our app makes a huge positive impact on their lives and we need to promote it more, as they have had a hard time finding a good email app for mobile. Here are some comments from our users:
From Fergal Foley:
I have since subscribed to the Premium package and find it great !
My wife found your Appfollowing a visit I paid to the National Council for the Blind Ireland, where I had enquired about aids to reading documents, but was not told about your App.
From Arin Gilbert:
A friend of mine uses your product. They essentially are blind. We tried multiple ways for them to access their email and then suddenly stumbled onto your product. It’s been a life saver for them and it’s the only way they are able to communicate via email. He praises your app daily and really appreciates having something that supports him with communicating in email. It is truly a wonderful product and has improved this particular individual’s life tremendously.
I’m wondering if there’s something new, replacing the now defunct overTHERE app that identified all signs in the vicinity. I haven’t yet explored weWalk, but assume it accomplishes the same functions
Is there any app which would aid a visually impared person in transferring blackboard writings and lectures in class into a laptop?
Has Zoomit disappeared? I had it on my Mac and it started putting the magnifying loop in the background, rather than the foreground. I deleted with thoughts to reinstall. I now cannot fine it in the app store. Website is ZoomItApp.com but there is no download link.
This one is also interesting : https://apps.apple.com/de/app/finderr/id1457760748?l=en
Blessed day!
This Angel from the Philippines.
I am a blind person.
I am looking for scanner for the computer that can scan a book and convert to PDF.
God bless!
Do you know the Genarus app?
Maybe you can consider Genarus app, it is free and works offline , no data plan needed
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/dina/id1540129033