Google has launched a new app designed to help blind people explore their surroundings. The free app, called Lookout, is currently available to users in the United States who own a Google Pixel device. The company says it hopes to bring Lookout to more devices and additional countries soon. The app was first announced at Google’s I/O developer conference in May 2018. Since then, the company says it has been testing and working to improve the quality of its results. The app uses technology similar to Google Lens. That product uses machine learning to recognize text and objects through a device’s camera. Users can then receive information about or take actions related to the text and recognized objects. Lookout builds on this same technology, but aims to provide assistance to people who are blind or have low vision. The app uses a device’s camera to recognize text and objects and then provide voice descriptions about what it sees.
