MAKING A DIFFERENCE

Expand Your Horizons

Be My Eyes helps people live more independently.

Be My Eyes

See the world together

View

Be My Eyes was created to help people who are blind or low-vision—connecting them, via a FaceTime-like chat, with volunteers who can help with basic tasks, like checking the expiration date on a milk carton.

But the app has had just as profound an impact on its volunteer community as on those it was designed to serve. “This concept of micro-volunteering and connecting people who just want to help each other out is very powerful,” says Alexander Hauerslev Jensen, the app’s community director. “This is just pure connection between people.”

Indeed, users of Be My Eyes have shared many beautiful moments.

[Photo description: Be My Eyes user Nicole Harris sits on a wooden bench near a cliff overlooking a vast coastline in Pacifica, California. Behind her, the mountains slope down toward the water. Harris uses Be My Eyes to help her accomplish a variety of tasks, including reading the signs on hiking trails.]

There was the bride who asked a volunteer to check her wedding dress for stains just before going down the aisle. And Jensen still remembers the story of a sighted couple who started off their day helping a couple who are blind read their pregnancy test results.

Although early versions of the app had a gamification element, where volunteers earned points for participating, that’s no longer a feature. “We thought it would be difficult to get volunteers, but it’s actually proven to be the opposite,” Jensen says. Almost 4 million volunteers have signed up to assist more than 200,000 people in more than 150 countries and 180 languages. The commitment is minimal—most volunteers receive one or two calls every six months, and requests usually take only a few minutes.

[Photo description: Harris walks along a hiking trail through a field covered with green succulents and light purple flowers. Purple is one of her favorite colors. She recently dyed her hair purple, using Be My Eyes to help find her preferred product in the store and to mix the dye at home.]

Hans Jørgen Wiberg, the app’s inventor, who is blind, came up with the idea to serve his own needs. “He felt like a burden, always having to decide who to call and bother for help,” says Jensen. “Before, you would have to talk to your friends or family to get answers to your most personal questions; now you can get the answers in the privacy of your own home with everything anonymized.”

The simple nature of the app—which Wiberg had developers work on with their eyes closed—helps people who are sighted too. The organization has received emails from people with dyslexia asking if they may use the service. “It's not only blind people who need a pair of friendly eyes,” says Jensen.

[Photo description: Harris smiles after finishing her hike, standing with yellow flowers behind her. In the distance, the deep blue ocean meets a lighter blue sky.]

One user who lives with sight loss described Be My Eyes as “a good deed waiting to happen in your pocket.” Whether you’re in need of help or want to lend a hand, it certainly has the power to change your day for the better.