Announced last year, Google has released its Lookout app which helps the visually impaired to locate the surroundings around them. The Lookout app uses AI to identify objects with the help of the phone’s camera. The app can read the texts in signs and labels, it can scan barcodes, and also identify currencies.
Currently, the app will be available for downloads in the US and only on the Pixel devices. Google says that the results of the app won’t be 100% correct, and the company requires feedback from early users which will help Google to improve the app’s performance.
To use the Lookout app, Google recommends the user to wear their pixel phone on a lanyard in front of their neck or placed in front of a shirt or coat which will help the app to get a clear view of the world and can identify the objects and texts.
Google has provided no word when the app will be available to other devices or countries, but the company is sure that the app will definitely reach other devices too.
Lookout isn’t the only app that uses AI to help the visually impaired identify the objects. Microsoft also launched the Seeing AI app in 2017 and a new update of the app helps users feel the shape of the objects using the haptic feedback of iPhones.
