Be My Eyes is an app that lends your eyes to the blind

In a world where apps are created for the sole purpose of wasting time, there are some truly innovative apps out there that are helping change the world. There’s everything from Feedie that helps feed kids in rural South America, all the way to iRecycle, which tells you how and where to recycle anything.

In my opinion, the whole purpose of an app is to make your life easier. Don’t get me wrong, there are a TON of apps and services out there doing just that, but the one that truly caught my eye (no pun intended) comes from the team over at Be My Eyes.

Be My Eyes is an app that lends your eyes to the blind. It essentially connects blind people with volunteer helpers around the world via a live video chat.

Here’s how it works:

For examples sake, let’s pretend we’re blind for a second: One morning you wake up and go into your kitchen for some milk. You pull the milk out of the refrigerator, but don’t remember the expiration date. Being blind and all, reading is out of the question. And since braille isn’t offered on milk cartons, there’s really no way of knowing.

With Be My Eyes, all you have to do is request assistance through the app. Instantaneously, a notification is received by a volunteer for help, and a live video connection is established. From there, the volunteer can help by answering the question the blind person needs answered.

The app is currently free and only available on iOS. Plans for an Android release are unclear at the moment, but you can express interest here.

If helping people is your thing, this is totally the app for you. There’s really nothing more rewarding than being able to help someone else in need. If I had an iPhone or iPad, I would be using this app everyday.