New apps (applications) for iOS devices are frequently released, and the following is list compiled of the apps which were most highly rated by students who are blind or visually impaired. Many of these help to support various areas of the Expanded Core Curriculum (ECC), including recreation & leisure, social interaction, independent living, and assistive technology.
Editor's note: This is a follow-up to Academic Apps, Part 1. For other lists of apps, click here to see Linda Mamer's other blog posts.
Apps are organized into the following categories:
Books
Users can browse, search, download, and read books directly from Bookshare using this app. | |
Read eBooks, listen to audiobooks, and watch streaming video from iPhone / iPad library. | |
Smash is the Comic and Manga Reader for your iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch. |
Streaming
Subscription service for watching TV episodes and movies on your phone. | |
Borrow popular movies, music, audiobooks, and television shows from your local library and play them on your iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch. | |
Watch movies & TV shows for free on the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad. |
VoiceOver
This app provides a basic introduction to VoiceOver and the gestures used throughout iOS. | |
This app reads PDF and Word documents, DRM-free EPUB and DAISY eBooks, and Web pages. Directly integrated with Bookshare, Dropbox, G-Drive, Evernote, Pocket, Instapaper, and Gutenberg. | |
This app transforms any natural or artificial light source it encounters into sound. Point the iPhone camera in any direction and the app will emit a higher or lower sound depending on the intensity of the light. | |
Using VoiceOver, users simply double tap the screen to take a photo of anything, at any angle, and hear the app speak the identification back. | |
This app reads text from the camera on the iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad. Point the camera and sort through mail, read menus, cards, product packages, medication labels, and all kinds of other print. |
Independent Living
Using VoiceOver, users simply double tap the screen to take a photo of anything, at any angle, and hear the app speak the identification back. | |
This app uses the camera on your iPhone or iPod touch to speak the names of colors in real-time. | |
Turns the iPad into a full-featured, text-aware low-vision magnifier. | |
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Turns iOS device into a powerful high definition visual magnifier. |
Research
This free app ensures that iPhone and iPod Touch users get the most from searching premium EBSCOhost database content. |
Click here to download .pdf of these apps.
Please note that you may need to check whether the app has been updated or whether it only works with certain operating systems. Please let us know if you have any information to share about any of the apps on this page! You can email us or leave a comment below.