Google Lookout app helps visually challenged people to identify information about their surroundings. The company said that it had been working on the Lookout app since it was announced last year. And with the launch of Google Lookout app, the company adds another app/service to its ever-increasing list of accessibility apps. According to a Google’s blog post, the Lookout app uses Artificial Intelligence (AI), similar to Google Lens, and it lets users search and take action about the objects around them using the smartphone. The company has also promised that the app works in situations where the visually challenged people might need to most help.
Patrick Clary, Product Manager of Google Accessibility Engineering, wrote in the blog post, “We designed Lookout to work in situations where people might typically have to ask for help—like learning about a new space for the first time, reading text and documents, and completing daily routines such as cooking, cleaning and shopping.” Google also stated that the new Lookout app can help the visually challenged people by identifying text, people, objects and other things. To use the Google Lookout app, the users can download it Play Store. Once they open the Google Lookout app, they need to keep their phones pointed forward and the app will do the rest on its own.
The app’s description on Play Store reads, “Lookout uses the camera and sensors on your device to recognize objects and text, and gives you spoken feedback, earcons, and other signals to inform you about what it sees.” Currently, the Lookout app will work on the original Pixel along with Google Pixel 2 and Pixel 3 smartphones running Android 8.0 Oreo or higher. Other than Google, Microsoft also offers something similar to Lookout. Microsoft’s app is called Soundscape and it is also aimed for the use of visually challenged people. But Soundscape is available only for the iOS compared to Lookout for Android. Microsoft has another app which performs similar function named Seeing AI, but it too is exclusively for the iOS platform only. For the latest gadget and tech news, and gadget reviews, follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. For newest tech & gadget videos subscribe to our YouTube Channel.
