The following free or Low Cost Assistive Technology programs, software, websites, and apps focus on different forms of Vision Support. The information about the following applications has been summarized from the applications’ websites and/or from experience testing the applications. We update this page approximately once a year. Please refer to the applications’ websites for the most up to date information.
Content created and shared by Augsburg University. To use, please correctly cite Augsburg University CLASS Office.
VISION
Aira
Features:
- Visual interpreting application for people who are blind or have low vision
- 5 minutes of free use every 48 hours
- Connects customers to trained agents to support visual access
- More Information: Aira Website
Cost: Free and priced plans
Compatibility: iOS; Android
Be My Eyes
Features:
- Free mobile app for blind and low vision individuals for visual assistance
- Sets up a video call with the user and a sighted volunteer
- More Information: Be My Eyes Website
Cost: Free
Compatibility: iOS; Android
Can You See Me
Features:
- Checks for camera position to ensure that the camera is positioned correctly in front of the user
- Tells the user where they are located in the camera frame
- Useful for online meetings such as Zoom or Microsoft Teams
- More Information: Can You See Me Website
Cost: Free
Compatibility: Windows (compatible with NVDA, Dolphin Screen Reader and JAWS)
Color Enhancer
Features:
- Google’s accessibility extension for color adjustment on webpages
- Customizable settings to help with color perception
- More Information: Color Enhancer Chrome Extension
Cost: Free
Compatibility: Chrome Extension
Envision
Features:
- Visual description and OCR application
- Can read in over 60 languages
- Includes features such as handwriting recognition, color detection, finding objects and people, scene description, and more
- More Information: Envision’s Website
Cost: Free
Compatibility: iOS, Android
High Contrast
Features:
- Google accessibility extension for high contrast
- Contains various options for default color schemes for user’s preference
- Keyboard shortcut to enable or disable extension
- More Information: High Contrast Chrome Extension
Cost: Free
Compatibility: Chrome Extension
Lookout – Assisted vision
Features:
- Google’s vision assistance app that utilizes a phone camera
- Available Lookout modes include: text, explore, food labels, documents, and currency
- Contains optical character recognition (OCR)
- More Information: Lookout – Assisted vision Application
Cost: Free
Compatibility: Android
NVDA Screen Reader
Features:
- Nonvisual Desktop Access (NVDA) is a free, open source screen reader built for Windows based operating system computers
- Download to your computer directly or to a USB drive and run on any computer
- Works with many popular applications such as web browsers, email, and Microsoft Office programs
- Works with many refreshable braille displays
- More Information: NVDA Website
Cost: Free
Compatibility: Windows
Seeing AI
Features:
- Free Microsoft iOS application that “narrates the world around you.” (Microsoft, 2023)
- Through using your phone’s camera, the app can speak text aloud, identify objects that have barcodes on them, provide photo descriptions, recognize people, describe currency, and more
- More Information: Microsoft’s Seeing AI Website
Cost: Free
Compatibility: iOS
TapTapSee
Features:
- Use this app to help identify everyday objects for anyone with a visual impairment or who is blind
- Double tap the screen, take a picture of the object, and hear what the object is spoken out loud
- More Information: Tap TapSee Website
Cost: Free
Compatibility: iOS; Android
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