Free app: The eyes have it

A free mobile app is allowing sighted Kiwis to lend their eyes to the blind when they most need it via a live video connection.

About 3000 sighted and blind Kiwis have joined Be My Eyes, including Blind Foundation general manager of strategic relations Neil Jarvis.

Jarvis lives alone which can prove difficult when blind.

“It might be a really simple thing like you want to work out whether the tin you are about to open is a tin of beans or a tin of pineapple chunks, and that really matters when you’re deciding what to put on the plate.”

That’s where Be My Eyes comes in. With the press of a button, the app would establish a live video link between Jarvis and a sighted volunteer, who would be able to tell him what is in the tin or if it has passed the expiry date.

“In the past, you’d have to wait for a friendly pair of eyes that was round the house at some point, and that might happen later on in the day but it might not,” Jarvis said.

“It gives you immediate control. Also, you don’t want to be constantly using your friend as your eyes.”

Jarvis, 52, said the app gives users more confidence, more independence, more certainty and more control over their environment.

Since Be My Eyes was launched in 2015 in Denmark, more than 500,000 sighted volunteers and 42,000 blind and visually impaired people have joined.

The huge network of volunteers from around the world means that no matter when users request help it is almost guaranteed there will be someone available. The technology matches people based on language and time zone.

Be My Eyes community director Alexander Hauerslev Jensen was touched by the ways some people have used the app.

These included a blind woman in Finland who was able to watch her son’s basketball game through the eyes of a volunteer. A volunteer also reported helping a blind couple in the UK read the results of a pregnancy test via Be My Eyes.

“The sense of independence that goes with doing stuff yourself and also being able to do it relatively quick is something that brings great joy.”

“It is our goal to bring sight to everyone, everywhere.”