Exciting new times for Be My Eyes for Windows / updates

At some point last year, you guys released a video showing off live AI. It was able to detect an incoming Uber. What happened with that? Also, while I value, informing everybody of the new things that are happening, does it have to be presented in such a way that it seems like your marketing at us? I always prefer sincerity over corporate speak. Please don’t provide a scripted post and then push the idea that we are supposed to be thrilled and excited. These are harsh words. And I’m sure some people won’t agree with me.

AND, I believe they need to be said. If only to encourage some improved communication. I would never dispute the fact that be my eyes has improved the lives of thousands of people. It’s an important accessibility tool. In many ways. Please don’t become corporate. We’re human beings. Just like you. Just talk to us. Nothing needs to be sold. Nothing needs to be pushed. Tell us what we don’t know. Not what you think We need to know right now.

On double tap Mike said that ... had he known what openai would not give them he'd have never done that video. TLDR too much power needed for that type of request, among other reasons of why this will probably not be there anytime soon, if never, as far as I understand.
Keep doing what you do @be my eyes.

Hello, thank you for your work. The new update is nice. The Turkish language is not available yet. When will it be added? Thanks again.

When I press the login with email button, both fields aren't labeled.

When You press enter on the describe my screen button, or use the shortcut I assume, the edit box where you can type to the AI isn't labeled.

Also when you tab to the 3 buttons, be my AI, settings and history, I think it would be nice to know if one is pressed so that you're not tabbing around, for example, if you alt tab away from the window; you might forget where you are once back in the app.

I haven't had the chance to check out the new update yet, but I think you all are doing some awesome work! I think Brad already provided some very good feedback. These are all things I think I would have pointed out too. Keep up the great work.

Well haven't tried it out yet but when I did the update all buttons were labelled correct. It all seems to work smoothly.

Good job, an improvement for sure.
Few feedback points:
A. Login with Google didn't work, I had to reset my password and login via Email, and it warns me that after resetting password, login via Google will not work.
B. The edit box stays white even in dark mode.
C. It's nice that the app doesn't ask for a confirmation while exitting. Please don't change it.
D. I would like the app window to come up only when I request for some description, and not occupy space in my alt+tab menu or app-switcher when not in use. Essentially remaining invisible to the user. Rest of the time, it can remain in Windows notification area and users can bring up the chat window with a keyboard shortcut if needed.
E. When I am on some screen, browsing internet for example, and I request screen description using alt+ctrl+A, the app does take screenshot but doesn't automatically verbalize the generated description using our screen-reader. We have to navigate to the chat window using app-switcher and read the description manually. I think there's a way to verbalize the description once it's generated using accessibility API, notification or something of that sorts. Don't move the focus to app window, we would like to listen to description and move on to next thing.
Lastly, Mac users, I smell something burning!

I have a Windows gaming computer, so I will definitly try the new update. But what about the Mac app?

hi, i tried the update last night and it was able to describe my screen once but i tried again and i got the sound playing for a long time and it never gave me a description, i hadd to close be my eyes from task manager forit to stop

I've been reporting this at every juncture with all of your offereings. How utterly tone deaf can you be to be presenting software that does not provide any form of dark mode UI? I've been pointing this out for YEARs and all I ever get is that it is on the list. Clearly not a priority. Yes, you do lots of great stuff, but your UI's are INACCESSIBLE to this photo phobic person. I guess my needs mean nothing to you.

Hi Jessica,
I already have the app, but I haven't received the update. Do I need to redownload it, or should I just wait for Windows to spoon it out to me?
Thanks for all you do!

Cheers,
Tim

Try putting your Windows in dark mode through Windows settings app, Be My Eyes will respect that and also appear in dark mode. At least mine does.

If you're going to be for the blind and VI, then a dark mode is needed to help people with eye strain and such.

Go to the microsoft store, then tab until you get to the treview, arrow down until you get to download and press enter, you'll land on a check for updates button, press it and wait for the app to be done checking for updates, I think it will then start downloading the apps for you but I could be rong, if not, you should be able to tab around to a download button, it might say download all but I'm not sure.

Hi, I noticed the “Sign in with Apple” option seems to be missing in this updated version.

I’d really prefer not to create another account, since I already have one.

This issue also came up when it was first introduced on Windows, but it was resolved after being reported.

First, let me say that Be My Eyes has been a very useful and helpful app for blind individuals, particularly since you've added the AI capabilities. I've always felt shy or uncomfortable about connecting with a sighted volunteer. The team has done a great job of expanding and improving this service over the years.

That being said, since the AI capabilities of Be My Eyes have been introduced, AI has come a long way and I would like to see Be My Eyes take advantage of some of what is new. In particular, many AI tools now include multi-modal capabilities like including the ability to interact directly using a voice interaction rather than a text chat interaction mode.

Although the current text-style chat interaction with Be My Eyes AI works well, it is slow and sometimes a bit frustrating. One has to activate the camera button to take a picture. Then if one has a follow up question one has to first flick to the edit field, then activate the edit field, then dictate or type one's query, and finally flick to the "submit" button and activate the button. This can be a rather tedious process when one is looking for some quick feedback.

Compare this with an app such as the "Ally" app from Envision and how seamlessly it works with voice interaction to produce the same result. Using Ally, one simply asks "What am I looking at?". The app then automatically takes a picture and provides spoken feedback. If one has a follow up question, one simply asks their question and feedback is provided. No flicking around to find buttons or edit field that need to be activated, no extra tapping to activate such elements, etc. This is a much more seamless and efficient process for the user to acquire the information that they are seeking.

In summary, I would like to see Be My Eyes try to optimize the user experience and make use of Be My Eyes more efficient by taking advantage of the new ways that other AI tools are being used these days.

Keep up the good work.

--Pete

There are better ways to communicate now, you should be utilising them because if you don't, you'll slowly be left behind. I just remembered, aren't you using chat gpt as a backend LLM? If so, you can talk to it, I've been doing that on and off for the last 6 months now.

I'm not a huge fan of the envision glasses, having said that; I'm looking forward to their app/addon, according to what I remember; it's meant to be able to help you fil out forms, tell you about unlabeled elements, take pictures of your screen, and more.

Honestly, if BeMyEyes doesn't catch up soon, tonnes of people will be using BeMyEyes to call a volunteer and that's about it because there will be newer and better AI's out there and even the calling a volunteer thing will slowly dwindle as we won't need them anymore because of the improvements.

I think it's fair to ask as a user of your product, what does your roadmap look like for the next year or so?

Hi, everytime I try to login with Facebook or Google, I am taken to a screen which has the return to appp button which doesn't take me back to the app. I then re-installed Be My Eyes app after deleting it but tht didn't make any difference at all. Now I regret updating the app after reading this thread.

I like that I can share a picture with be my eyes but because of the LLM you're using and the settings that we can't change, it's way to descriptive.

I don't need to know that it's a youtube video that's 18 minutes long and that the background is, blah blah blah, I just want to know the funny comment and move on with my day.

sadly Seeing AI has done the same thing, AI is great people but let us choose how we want to use it.

It's like you're giving us a glimps at the world but you're saying, you must see it our way or you'll go backk to how it used to be. We need more control.

1. when you press alt control a to take a picture of the screen, once it's done, instead of reading it out or putting you in the window; it leaves you where you are.

2. you can't seam to close the app with control w.

I have the high contrast setting toggled on. Settings > Ease of Access > High Contrast. This is on a Win10 system. The color scheme is a dark mode (i.e., black background with white foreground text). I'm not doubting your experience. I'm merely sharing mine.

Hello,
I just would like to thank you for this update, I'm sure that you've worked on it for quite some time.
However, I needed some interface described, so I launched the app.
I was greeted by the get started screen, so I clicked on login with google and chose my account on there.
However/, when I click return to the app, it opens, and then immediately disappears.
When I go and open the app again from the start menu, it takes me back to the login page. I tried to login with email, but the app gave an error, saying the account was created with google, so I need to login with google.
It simply won't let me login to the app. Can you get a fix for this asap?
Thanks.

FWIW I think Be my Eyes was right to pull back from the live video, they're tied to open AI and that's not open Ai's strength. I'm just about to test the project astra in Aira and it seems like google is the better bet for that need, just as openAI is better with pictures and their niche. That demo last year looked really doctored to me which, fair enough, but the market has the last word in the end.

I also faced the issue of not being able to log in via Google, exactly the way described in the posts in this thread. When using email to log in, it would say the account is created through Google and would ask me to log in through Google only. The workaround I found was to reset password and then log in through email.

It is not able to get out of it's own way when I press ctrl+alt+a to get screen description. If my window is focused on Be My Eyes, it ends up describing it's owon window, which the old app use to not do, it use to temprorily hide itself and then capture screenshot.

hi! Jessica,
great update...
and my question is:
will it have live vedio chat with the AAI in the near future?

Obviously with the comments it is understood that sign in with any of the other services like Google, Facebook and Apple is broken. I also experienced it, so I chose to sign in with my mail ID. and I was up and running again. Although the application on my phone is signed in using my Google account.

The feature request I had which I had mailed a long time ago to Hans was the ability to share a document and have it described. I mean not just the currently visible page but the whole document. This need of mine is I think to a great extent being met by Gemini, Zod I cannot even remember if I tried it!

Hi Jessica,

Unless I'm missing something there is no way to either automatically, or, manually update from within the app. Surely there should be a check for updates option in settings? As it appears there is not how do we update? I have v12.30 released on 15/05 UK or 05/15 US and you quote above there was a release today. Please help.

I also had problems trying to log in with Facebook, but then I got clicking to open in the app. But when I log in, I end up entering as a user with vision and not as a blind person. Thus the program says I have no possession to enter like this
And I don't even have the option to say that I would like to enter as a standard user. Interestingly, it continues to work normally in my iPhone.
I use this app a lot in my daily life. Help!