Twilio (NYSE: TWLO), the cloud communications platform, has been selected by Be My Eyes to power its mobile app connecting sighted volunteers with blind and low vision users over video chat, the company said.
Across the globe, an estimated 253 million people have a visual impairment that affects their daily activities and can make them reliant on friends and family. Be My Eyes wants to bring visual assistance to blind and low vision people everywhere through the power of communication. In just a few seconds, a user can connect with a volunteer or a representative from one of the companies listed on the Be My Eyes platform.
By simply pointing their phone camera toward an object, the user can enable the volunteer to describe or assess the situation and provide assistance. The goal is to provide the independence that users want by helping with everyday tasks and pivotal life moments, from reading information on a packet of food to the results of a pregnancy test.
Be My Eyes launched its mobile app for iPhone and Android devices in 2015. Visually impaired people are able to use a smartphone via accessibility features that provide a synthetic speech and touch-based interface on iPhones and Android devices. The user requests help via the app and is connected to a volunteer or a partner company representative that speaks the same language within one minute, with 90% of connections being made within 30 seconds.
Be My Eyes now connects 178,000 blind and low-vision people with more than three million sighted volunteers to companies such as Microsoft, Google, Lloyds Banking Group, P&G and others for visual assistance through a live video call. Be My Eyes is available globally, spanning 150 countries and 185 languages, all with free and unlimited 24-hour access.
For more information on Be My Eyes, visit https://www.bemyeyes.com/.
Millions of developers around the world have used Twilio to unlock the magic of communications to improve any human experience. Twilio has democratized communications channels like voice, text, chat, video and email by virtualizing the world´s communications infrastructure through APIs that are simple enough for any developer to use, yet robust enough to power the world´s most demanding applications.
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