Exeter residents are being urged to sign up for a ground breaking app that helps blind people with situations when they need it.
The new app from Denmark, 'Be My Eyes', connects blind people to a sighted volunteer using a live video chat. The volunteer can then answer questions and see the blind person's surroundings using a phone's camera.
The app will is set to help blind people with everyday acts such as checking the expiry date on food or navigating through a train station.
Since the app was launched on Thursday, it has assisted people over 2,600 people on more than 5,400 occasions, according to the Be My Eyes website.
This number keeps growing as the number of volunteers willing to "lend" their eyes continues to expand. Over 30,000 sighted people had joined the app at the time of publication. All sighted helpers are taking part in the project as volunteers.
The Denmark founder, Hans Jorgen Wiberg, who is visually impaired himself, said:
'Be My Eyes makes life easier for the blind, by connecting them with sighted helpers through a smartphone app.
'This allows the blind to handle big and small tasks, while sighted get the joy of helping someone else in an easy and informal way.
'It only takes a minute to choose the right tin can from the shelf, look at the expiration date on the milk or find the right thing to eat in the fridge - if you have full vision that is.
'For visual impaired individuals smaller tasks in their home can often become bigger challenges.
'Be My Eyes hopes to change that.'
Sighted assistants are encouraged to take a more active participation in the project via points assigned for each act of kindness and a "level up" system.
The app is currently free, but as the firm explained, when its initial funding comes to an end in September 2015, they may consider subscription model or donations.
