The U-M Kellogg Eye Center is not associated with these applications in any way, nor does it endorse or take responsibility for any of the content or functionality. This list of apps is provided for the convenience of our users.
Alphabetical listing of apps developed specifically for persons who are totally blind or who have low vision. This list is compiled by AppleVis, a community-powered website for blind and low-vision users of Apple computers, iPhones, iPads, iPod Touches, and Apple TV.
To view the list, go to: http://www.applevis.com/apps/ios-apps-for-blind-and-vision-impaired
Selected Apps
These apps are available in the iTunes App Store.
- Alarmed ~ Reminders, Timers, Alarm Clock - free by Yoctoville Multi-featured timer, alarm clock with snooze and a sleep timer. This app also has a flashlight. Through an in-app purchase you can access other features such as the ability to set interval timers for doing repetitive activities, such as laundry or cooking.
- Ariadne GPS - $4.99by Giovanni Ciaffoni Voice-controlled GPS. Settings and alerts can indicate street crossing, favorite points, and bus stops. Alerts include sound, voice and vibration. Works anywhere Google Maps are available.
- AutoRingtone Pro Text-To-Speech Ringtones for Talking CallerID - $0.99 by No Tie, LLC Personalizes ring tones for each of your contacts and have the ring announce the caller. You can choose from different voices and control the speed that the voice speaks.
- Awareness! The Headphone App - $6.99 by Essency Listen to your headphones while also hearing the sounds around you. This app uses the microphone to feed in noises as you listen to music or use another app.
- Be My Eyes - free by Be My Eyes Be the eyes for a blind person in need of help remotely through a live video connection if you are sighted or be assisted by the network of sighted users if you are blind.
- Big Clock HD - $0.99 Coding Monkey Displays a big digital clock on your iPhone / iPad that's readable even from a distance.
- Capti Web Player - $2.99 by Charmtech Labs, LLC. Listen to news, blogs, online books, encyclopedias, and other web pages. You will be able to browse the Web with a built-in browser, add web pages to Capti's playlist, and listen to them at your convenience. It is fully accessible with VoiceOver.
- Chime - free by Blacktree This app has the option to chime on the quarter, half or hour and there are different alerts to choose from.
- Color ID Free - free by GreenGar Studios Uses the iPhone camera to identify and speak color names aloud. It offers a setting for basic colors, such as "pale green" or more advanced colors such as "strong greenish yellow."
- Curb - The Taxi app - free by VeriPhone, Inc. Connect with over 50,000 taxis with the tap of a button. Easily request and pay for rides in 65 U.S. cities, including New York City, Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Miami, and Washington,DC.
- Evernote - free by Evernote Stores voice notes, photographs, and text so that they can be accessed from multiple devices. Photographs are scanned for text which can then be searched. Evernote has VoiceOver support.
- Fleksy–Happy Typing - free By Syntellia Text input system designed so that you can type without even looking at the screen. Uses tap and swipe functions for punctuation and custom words.
- Glucose Buddy - Diabetes Helper 3.5.5 w/BP + WT Tracking - free by oneAppOneCause Allows users to manually enter their numbers, exercise and food consumption into a log that is uploaded to a private account at GlucoseBuddy.com. The online web site also has other features such as an A1C estimator.
- HeyTell - free by Voxilate HeyTell is a cross between walkie-talkies and texting. Allows you to send and receive voice messages with other Hey Tell users with the press of a button.
- KNFB Reader - $99.99 by Sensotec NV The KNFB Reader converts printed text into high-quality speech to provide accurate, fast, and efficient access to both single and multiple page documents with the tap of a button on the iPhone.
- Learning Ally Link - free by Learning Ally Education Provides access to Learning Ally's library of more than 65,000 audiobooks is considered the best source for K-12 and college-level textbooks. A Learning Ally membership is required and is free to those with print disabilities, including visual impairments and dyslexia.
- Light Detector - $0.99 by EveryWare Technologies Using your iPhone camera, this app emits higher or lower sound depending on the intensity of light. Light Detector can help find any lights left on or locate windows or exits.
- List Recorder - $0.99 by Sixth Mode Solutions Allows users to record and organize lists using audio or text. List Recorder is designed to integrate with VoiceOver as well as Braille displays. Replay, sort, delete or email recordings with ease using custom gestures and motions.
- NantMobile Money Reader - free by IPPLEX Announces the denomination of paper money.
- Read2Go - $19.99 by Benetech From within Read2Go, you can browse, search, download, and read books directly from Bookshare using your Bookshare membership, as well as read DAISY books from other sources. The app gives you full control over visual choices for font size and color, background and highlighting color, and text-to-speech preferences.
- Stitcher for Podcasts - free by Stitcher, Inc. Stream all your favorite podcasts, from The Daily to This American Life to My Favorite Murder, or discover exclusive premium content. Stitcher has more than 100,000 shows to explore.
- Talking Scientific Calculator - $4.99 by Adam Croser A talking scientific calculator. Works with VoiceOver or has a high contrast options for those with low vision.
- TripIt - Travel Organizer - free by TripIt Simply forward your travel confirmation email to Tripit.com and Tripit will create your itinerary right on your iPhone Tripit app. Tripit recognizes confirmations from over 3000 booking sites for cruises, airlines, concerts and other entertainment venues. It is integrated with email and Facebook if you wish to share.
- Urbanspoon - free by Urbanspoon Uses the GPS on your device to find a restaurant near you. Urbanspoon allows searching by type of food, ratings or distance, or price. Has full VoiceOver support.
- Viskey - $3.99 by MPaja Viskey is the Visible Keyboard, with large text preview and good contrast you can leave your reading glasses in your pocket.
- VizWiz - free by ROCHCI Simply take a picture of any object and record your question. Then select whom you wish to send it to. Your choices are Web Worker, IQ Engine, email or Twitter. Web worker is a human volunteer who will review and answer your question. Email allows you to send your question to someone you know from your contacts and Twitter will tweet your question to your followers.
- VM Alert-Video Motion Detector- $1.99 by Adam Uccello Detects motion using the devices camera and alerts you with either a pleasant or alarming audible alert. It can also take a photo when it detects motion, which saves to the device’s camera roll.
- WeatherBug - free by WeatherBug Offers up-to-date weather reports and a forecast for the next 24 hours or the next week.
- Web Reader-Text to Speech- $1.99 by Chris Chauvin Uses text to speech technology along with web page content recognition to read web pages to you. You can configure web pages to read as soon as they are loaded, red pages manually after they are loaded or use cu, copy, & paste to read specific sections.
- Yellow Pages - free by Avantar LLC Searches via voice for a business or person nearby. Once located, the number and information can either be added to your contacts or called directly.
- 5-0 Radio Pro Police Scanner (Extra Feeds) - $1.99 by New & Popular If you hear sirens approaching and are curious as to what the emergency is, you now have an inside tool. Just turn on your iPhone and you can use 5-0 Radio Pro Police Scanner to listen in on your local emergency bands. Informative and interesting, 5-0 features live scanner feeds from over 35,000 fire, emergency, air traffic, railroad, police and more. If you want to test it out there is a free version.