BlindSquare is pioneering accessible navigation both indoors and outdoors. Know where you are, know where you're going, travel with confidence.
BlindSquare is a new solution that combines the latest technology to help the blind with their daily lives. It has been developed in collaboration with blind people and carefully field tested. You need either an iPhone or an iPad to get started. It also supports some additional accessories to enhance the experience.
How does it work?
BlindSquare uses GPS and the compass to locate you. It then gathers information about the surrounding environment from FourSquare. BlindSquare has some unique algorithms to decide what information is the most relevant and then speaks it to you with high quality speech synthesis.
“What's the most popular café within 200 meters radius? Where is the post office or the library?”
You can control BlindSquare also through voice commands. The Voice Command feature is a premium service requiring purchase of credits for continuous use. Voice Command Credits are available as an in-app purchase on the App Store.
Using BlindSquare as a GPS solution:
When you start the app, it will start telling you the interesting places and street crossings around you. By changing the radius, you can limit the area you are interested in. You can also search by search term or by category. You can select an interesting place from the search results and perform the following tasks:
1) Get contact info (address, phone number)
2) Open twitter feed or restaurant menu (if provided)
3) Make a phone call
4) Start tracking the place (BlindSquare will assist you by repeating the distance and the clock face direction)
5) Start your favourite navigator for turn-by-turn instructions (TomTom, Navigon or Apple Maps)
BlindSquare is aware of when you travel by car, bus or train and starts to report interesting places in front of you (for example, the next stops) and street crossings when you are passing them.
You can also save your own private places to iCloud so they will be found with your every device.
Using BlindSquare as a Foursquare client:
If you like to play Foursquare, you can do the following with BlindSquare:
1) Get a list of nearby FourSquare venues
2) When you are in a place, you can check in by shaking your device
3) Do a check in with commenting and twitter/facebook sharing
4) Correct the location of the place
BlindSquare supports the following languages: English, Arabic, Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean (South Korea), Norwegian, Polish, Portugues, Romanian, Russian, Spanish, Swedish and Turkish.
VoiceOver usage is supported but it also includes higher quality additional speech synthesis by Acapela Text-To-Speech from Acapela Group.
Instructions in English: https://www.blindsquare.com/user-guide/ and https://www.blindsquare.com/faq/
Please note: This app retrieves data in real time from Foursquare and Open Street Map. Use of a flat rate data plan is highly recommended.
Continued use of GPS running in the background can dramatically decrease battery life.
Having only been released in May 2012, BlindSquare has already received several prizes and awards:
- GSMA: Global Mobile Awards 2013, Best Mobile Health Product or Service
- Apps4Finland 2012
- OpenCities App Challenge 2012
- The Finnish Information Processing Association: Best Product 2012
Please note: To use BlindSquare, your iCloud account has to be active so BlindSquare can access it to save your settings and places.
Continued use of GPS running in the background can dramatically decrease battery life.
Hide..Show more..
Screenshots
User Rating
4.15 out of 5
48 ratings
in United States
5 star
27
4 star
11
3 star
4
2 star
2
1 star
4
Ratings History
Reviews
Not happy with this app at all
To hear to speech synthesizer’s talking at the same time is a bit much. I have sensory overload and that can be a bit of a toll. I thought this would help and it doesn’t. I can’t even log into my Swarm account. I put in the right password so that I could link this but apparently I can’t. This app made a lot of improvement in my personal opinion. This is why I gave it a one star review. I’m hoping to talk to the developer so that maybe there would be a demo of the app before you buy it instead of spending the $39.99 for it. I got this app on my phone and was immediately displeased with it.
I finally got this app.
I bought this app yesterday, and I cannot feel happier. I really wanted to enhance my navigation skills and this app is feature rich. I am glad that this app is updated frequently, and I hope that it won't discontinue like Soundscape, because it was the closest comparison from this app. again, thank you.
BLIND people pay extra to use voice on BLINDSquare?
I’m BLIND. After paying $39.99 to get the app, it appears that a BLIND person has to purchase voice command credits to use voice commands for the BLINDSquare app. I’m emphasizing BLIND because an app for BLIND people should not be free for sighted or low vision people and have extra fees for BLIND people. I want to be wrong about this but it’s impossible for me to get through all the instructions since I can’t read them. Voice over would take forever to get through the instructions, too. What am I missing? Am I correct or incorrect about this? I like the idea of this to help me navigate but I can’t use the app unless I can use my voice.
Awesome app
The app is pretty good overall. But you have a couple bugs to figure out. Like you should update on your locations. And when you’re coming to a corner it should say what two streets you’re at. And the accuracy should be a little bit better than 16 feet.
I feel naked wihtout it :)
At first i had to get used to this app but now lately i feel naked without it, i have it always on now every time we leave home . I have a single sided newbee earpiece over the ear and it talks to me every way i go its not distracting to me its a matter of getting used to . You dont want it too loud when you are with others but for a permanently blind person having a voice taklng in your ear where you are is very nice and i dont have to ask each time 'where are we now ??' I havent used it on my own walking tho only out with my sighed wife but like i said i would miss it if i dont have it with me :) mak, love the updates got 5g now i hope this will become more precise with the new technology. Also i have not tried the indoor bluetooth yet its nowhere around anchorage as far as i know. Ok thanks makkenai
Great app
I’ve been using this app for years, but recently I’ve discovered other apps which can tell me on what side of the street an upcoming street is on. For instance, 350 ft. E. 1st Street right side, W. 1st St. left side or something like that. I would love to see this in Blind Square. Browsing the reviews I see others asking for this as well, so it would be quite a welcome feature. Thank you.
Thankful for Blind
Some Of the streets where I live have no curbs Or curb cuts. They are just flat. Blind Square always tells me when I'm coming up to one of these and keeps me safe. Only problem I have had with it ischattering, listing all of My Places, as I start walking, blocking out trabbffic sounds. A Thankful 4
rating from meffstar
Poor reliability
I am a certified orientation and mobility instructor in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area.
I used this app in my training programs for several years with good success. Unfortunately, the app is no longer working properly. I contacted the company. They appear to have fixed one bug with the most recent update, but other problems remain. BlindSquare could no longer recognize some familiar shops and cafes that are found on google and Apple Maps. Directional headings were variable and unreliable.
Best GPS program for blind people
I had had it for A number of years and use It all the time. you have to pay once and use as long as you want. Most other Apps like this you have to pay every year. It helps me Get around everywhere and it is cheaper than most others
