**5. Use among visually impaired and blindness**

Smartphones, both its accessibility features and applications are being used for a wide range of daily living tasks that might have executed previously with the help of traditional assistive devices, e.g., magnifiers. The operating system can download a third-party accessible application to have a customised functionality. These accessible apps can be used for object and obstacle identification, sighted help, communications, emailing, reading e-Book and writing (Access Note, Be My Eyes, KNFB Reader, TalkBack, Braille Touch), news reading & listening (AccessWorld, Blind Bargains), entertainment, calendar functioning, currency identification, GPS navigation (Mani app, BlindSquare, Seeing Eye GPS) social networking, recording memos and color identification, talking calculator, so on.

An exploratory study on smartphone use among people with visual impairment shows that more than 90% of respondents used their mobile for activities such as calls, sending and receiving message, browsing the web, reading emails; 70–80% of them used smartphone for calendar functions, listening music and social media, and networking; 60 to 70% of them used for reminders and to take photos for reading with Optical Character Recognition [18]. This study also shows that 80% of participants used a smartphone for outdoor GPS navigation. An online survey conducted in a developed country in 2014 reported that 81% of respondents with a visual impairment used smartphone apps for various routine activities [19].

In a global survey on the use of accessible apps, more than 95% of people with visual impairment reported that these special apps were useful, and being used to accomplish their daily activities [20]. The most frequently use apps were Be My Eyes, ColorID, CamFind, followed by screening reading and writing apps, e.g. TalkBack,

*Smartphones for Vision Rehabilitation: Accessible Features and Apps, Opportunity… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.97703*

KNFB Reader BrailleTouch. The study population of this global survey highlighted about the satisfaction of these special accessible apps of smartphones. In many cases, the smartphones apps can function for multipurpose tasks that facilitate independence living. Natalina et al. study also highlighted that the smartphones are replacing many traditional assistive solution to a great extend in doing daily activities [18]. A few studies reported that participating in digital arenas and accessing digital technology, including smartphones, reduce loneliness feeling, improve social contact, information sharing, gaining a better interaction with friends and family [21–23].

A study on tele-rehabilitation services for visually challenged students, in which smartphones were used exclusively, reported that smartphones based tele-health services offer a safe and an efficient way of providing all reliable information of COVID-19 pandemic, including various preventive strategies among students with visual disability. Such a tele- health services help to avoid the direct face to face contact between providers and patients. The study also highlighted such a platform helps in psychological counseling for fear and panic, facilitating and addressing the many unseen challenges faced by visually disabled people during the lockdown and pandemic period [24].
