Google launches Lookout app for the visually impaired

Google has announced a new app called Lookout that helps the blind or visually impaired become more independent.

The Lookout app for Android helps the blind or visually impaired by giving auditory cues as they encounter objects, text, and people around them. It uses the phone’s rear camera and processes the items of importance in the user’s environments and shares information it believes to be relevant—text from a recipe book, or the location of a bathroom, an exit sign, a chair or a person nearby.

Google recommends putting the phone in a lanyard around the user’s neck or in a shirt pocket, with the camera pointing away from the body. From there, Lookout delivers spoken notifications, designed to be used with minimal interaction so users can stay engaged with their activity.

Lookout allows the user to choose from four modes: Home, Work & Play, Scan or Experimental (this allows you to test out features Google is working on). When you select a specific mode, Lookout will deliver information that’s relevant to the selected activity.

The Lookout app will arrive in the Google Play Store in the U.S this year.