HearLight Canvas

By onetrickpony, 9 January, 2026

Forum
iOS and iPadOS

Emerging from HearLight I’ve released an app called HearLight Canvas.
HearLight Canvas is a painting app for blind and low-vision users where painting means painting sound.
Colors are represented as audible elements, and painting consists of placing and shaping sound on a canvas using touch.
As you paint, you hear what you are doing. The same canvas can be explored again by touch and sound, allowing you to revisit and navigate what you painted.

The app supports:
• a direct-touch canvas with continuous audio feedback
• color selection, where each color has its own sound
• brush size and opacity
• pan and zoom to move across the canvas
• undo and redo, saving and loading images

There are two modes:
• Paint mode, for placing sound on the canvas
• View mode, for exploring what is already on the canvas by listening

The visible image is a normal picture that sighted users can see, but the primary experience is painting and exploring sound on a canvas.

HearLight Canvas is fully accessible with VoiceOver and is designed for users who enjoy exploratory, hands-on interaction.

I have five promotional codes available for blind users who would like to try the app for free.

Options

Comments

By Enes Deniz on Friday, January 9, 2026 - 15:12

May I request a promo code?
I don't know if the app already has any of these features or not, but here are some suggestions:
  • The ability to add text by tripple-tapping or something that works without interrupting the app's current functionality
  • Importing images (exporting images from other apps or via the Share Sheet) to explore and examine them in something like a read-only mode. The user should also be able to switch to editing mode and do everything that sighted users can do, including cropping photos, adding text/captions, applying effects and filters etc., and saving the image as PDF.
  • Taking a photo within the app to explore by touch or save to photos (The user should be able to customize whether the photo is saved within the app or to photos, or deleted).
  • The ability to get a description of the drawing by sharing it to other apps or using Apple Intelligence, to get a better idea of how sighted people would perceive it.

By onetrickpony on Friday, January 9, 2026 - 15:25

Code sent with PM.
Load and Save to Photos already works. Text and AI are good ideas!
Thanks!
Stefan

By KE8UPE on Friday, January 9, 2026 - 21:57

Hi,
If you have anymore promo codes left, I’d gladly take one & provide feedback.
I’m also willing to beta test upcoming releases & provide feedback on those, if needed as well.

By Paige on Saturday, January 10, 2026 - 02:44

This sounds very cool! I've always wanted an app like this. If you still have codes, I'd love to try it out.

By onetrickpony on Saturday, January 10, 2026 - 11:48

Thank you for your interest in HearLight Canvas!
I have sent your promotional codes via PM. Check your email.
Greets Stefan

By Ka Yat Li on Monday, January 12, 2026 - 01:34

Hi,
This definitely sounds interesting especially if AI is incorporated into it for editing. I tend to draw a ton tacktually using a tactile drawing board and a bit through handwritten SVG code for digital images. Does the app allow importing of SVG files and can we label different parts of an image using text regardless of format?
If you have any more codes left, I'd love to give this a try.
Thanks.

By Apple-fan01 on Monday, January 12, 2026 - 05:41

If you have anymore codes I would also like to give it a try
I do wonder what our pictures will look like visually!
Thanks

By onetrickpony on Monday, January 12, 2026 - 08:50

Dear Ka Yat Li! Thank you for your interest in HearLight Canvas! Code sent via PM.
You can save your rendered svg to Photos. From there you can load it in HearLight Canvas.
As of now there are no labels. Could you describe this requirement more in detail?
Kind regards, Stefan

By onetrickpony on Monday, January 12, 2026 - 08:56

Hi @Apple-fan01! Thanks for your interest, but there is no contact information in your profile yet for sending you a code. Kind regards, Stefan

By Apple-fan01 on Monday, January 12, 2026 - 09:45

I have just adjusted the settings
You may try again.

By onetrickpony on Monday, January 12, 2026 - 09:58

Sorry, but there is still no personal contact form in your profile. You can also PM me.

By Ka Yat Li on Tuesday, January 13, 2026 - 04:38

Hi,
Thanks for the code. In SVG, you can add a description tag to describe an image or parts of an image like alt text in HTML. If I drew a square and a cir circle and added a description tag to the circle or square and moved my finger around on the touch screen, that description text for the object can be announced. This can be very useful when figuring out complex images or multiple elements that make up an image.

By onetrickpony on Tuesday, January 13, 2026 - 08:05

Code sent with email. Enjoy!

By onetrickpony on Tuesday, January 13, 2026 - 08:09

For Scalable Vector Graphics, I’m considering a separate app. Right now, SVGs can already be explored by rendering them and importing the result from Photos. To make complex images easier to explore, different colors could help distinguish individual elements, with each color producing a distinct sound.