Google will soon roll out its new app Lookout to help visually impaired and blind

To make the world more accessible to them, we need to build tools that can work with the ever-changing environment around us, the company blogged.

Google has announced the development of its new Android application 'Lookout' with the motive to help blind and visually impaired people, assisting them to learn about their surroundings. The app will be available to the Play Store in the US this year and will aid visually impaired by giving auditory cues as they encounter objects, text, and people around them.

After opening the app, and selecting a mode, Lookout processes items of importance in your environment 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 Lookout delivers spoken notifications, designed to be used with minimal interaction allowing people to stay engaged with their activity.

There are over 253 million blind or visually impaired people in the world. To make the world more accessible to them, we need to build tools that can work with the ever-changing environment around us, the company blogged.

The app comes with four different modes to choose from within the app:

• Home
• Work and Play
• Scan
• Experimental

Lookout will deliver information that's relevant to the selected activity when a particular mode is selected.

Lookout will also use machine learning to learn what people are interested in hearing about and will deliver these results more often.

Additionally, the core experience is processed on the device, which means the app can be used without an internet connection. Accessibility will be an ongoing priority for us, and Lookout is one step in helping blind or visually impaired people gain more independence by understanding their physical surroundings.

To make the world more accessible to people who are blind or visually impaired, we're launching Lookout, a new @Android app that gives spoken cues about the objects, text and people around them → https://t.co/646WS1DXRH #io18 pic.twitter.com/RmOEEUNyiV

— Google (@Google) May 8, 2018